November 19, 2015

We’ve entered a time in which high quality data is at the heart of operating a successful organization. For many companies these days data IS the business. For others, data is a driver. In both scenarios its critical to maximize your data’s efficacy, and this means being sure you can trust that data. I’m talking about data integrity. It’s essential to be able to trust your data, and that means using a database you can trust that is actively working toward ensuring your data.  Microsoft SQL is a longstanding leader in the game. Their database offers top of the line stability and data integrity. If you are concerned about ensuring your data integrity this database might just be right for you.

Why Microsoft SQL Server? – Microsoft SQL Server 2019 features upgrades that will give your organization greater access to large amounts of valuable data quickly. Once it’s released, querying multiple sources of data, both structured and unstructured, will be simpler and more secure than ever. MS SQL preview CTP 2.0 is now available in preparation for the upcoming official release. If you’re interested in experiencing some of the new features beforehand, consider downloading it soon.

In the meantime, here are 5 ways Microsoft SQL Server enhances data integrity.

  1. Advanced Security- According to the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), the SQL Server is the least vulnerable database. With the upcoming release, you can expect the same controls with greater flexibility. Data continues to be encrypted using Always Encrypted, but thanks to the addition of Secure Enclaves, it can now be utilized to perform operations beyond just a comparison operation against your Always Encrypted data.
  2. Delivers Greater Insight- The MS SQL has expanded its reach to unstructured data in other non-relational databases beyond Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) using new Polybase connectors. You can now query Oracle, Teradata, MongoDB, and other SQL Servers without moving a petabyte of data. What this means is you’re able to pull the data you need from multiple sources, regardless of physical location or format, and integrate it in a way that makes sense to you. Data virtualization is on the rise, and Microsoft SQL Server is not missing out.
  3. Complete Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platform – It’s no secret that automated machine learning is high on Microsoft’s priority list, but it will be interesting to see how much it develops within MS SQL. With the new AI platform, data can be fed into machine learning model training routines using numerous programming languages, like Python, R, and Java. And once the models are trained, they can be deployed for integration into any application. These advanced analytics will make it easier for all users, not just data scientists and engineers, to extract data insights. As a result, the data flowing into company reports, dashboards, and other applications will add significantly more value to the organization.
  4. Big Data Clusters – The MS SQL database engine, Apache Spark, and Hadoop (HDFS) have all been combined into a singular data platform called a “big data cluster.” These big data clusters ensure applications have flexible scalability and quick deployment, whether deploying over the cloud or in on-premises. Users can enjoy consistent quality management services, like backup, monitoring, and log analytics.
  5. Reduced Database Maintenance Time – Database maintenance is a priority but can sometimes cut into business operations, threatening profitability. With the Always On availability feature, companies can enjoy an increase in business uptime. This feature allows the database to build a new index while users continue reading/writing on the old index. Once the process is complete, the tables lock briefly before the new index replaces the former.

Read more about the newest features in Microsoft SQL Server in these sources:

https://info.microsoft.com/rs/157-GQE-382/images/EN-US-CNTNT-white-paper-DBMod-Microsoft-SQL-Server-2019-Technical-white-paper.pdf

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/what-s-new-in-sql-server-ver15?view=sqlallproducts-allversions

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2019