Over the past year, we have had a first-row seat to just how fast the introduction of new technologies can change businesses across nearly every industry. The adoption of generative AI goes beyond a platform shift, it is transforming how we do everything and reshaping what’s possible for our business and in our day-to-day lives. And while we cannot yet see the ways AI will continue to impact the way we work, we at Microsoft know you need a platform that can grow with you and expand the horizons of what’s possible, powered by intelligent, limitless, and trusted solutions that can touch every corner of your data estate. We are committed to helping our developers and data professionals to build or access whatever they need, no matter the size, and Azure is delivering flexible options that make this possible.

This week, we are proud to be back in front of our community at SQLBits, together with our partner AMD to share the latest innovations from ground to cloud and beyond. From SQL Server, Azure SQL, to our powerful solutions like Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Copilot, these product enhancements are designed to help make application migration, modernization, and development easier so you can power what’s next.

Better performance with the next generation of Azure SQL Managed Instance ​ 

What sets the SQL Server family apart from other operational databases is that it’s all built on the same SQL engine. So, whether you’re running at the edge or in the cloud, the power to unlock the potential of data and AI is always there. We’re announcing the public preview of Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-gen GP, now even more powerful and performant. Accelerate your migrations and efficiently manage your unique workload demands. Enhance your productivity with superior performance and adaptable compute and storage choices. Join the preview to maximize your efficiency.  

We now have a way customers can get stated with Azure SQL Managed Instance. Our free offer gives you:

• A General Purpose instance with up to 100 databases
• 720 vCore hours of compute every month
• 64 GB of storage

Azure SQL Managed Instance

Enhance your productivity with superior performance and more

Try it now free

AI-power your Azure SQL Database experience with Copilot 

We are bringing the power of Azure SQL Database, now in limited public preview. Copilot in Azure SQL Databases delivers a set of AI-enhanced experiences built to help streamline design, operation, optimization of Azure SQL Database-driven applications, and improve productivity in the Azure Portal. This new functionality introduces two new Azure portal experiences: 

• Natural language to SQL: This experience within the Azure portal query editor for Azure SQL Database translates natural language queries into SQL, making database interactions more intuitive.  
• Microsoft Copilot for Azure integration: This experience adds Azure SQL Database skills into Copilot for Azure, customers with self-guided assistance, empowering them to manage their databases and solve issues independently.  

Sign up for the preview access.

Simplify your journey to Azure with SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc 

Earlier this month, we introduced a way to streamline migration to Azure SQL with SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc. Migration assessment removes some of the complexity around cloud migration by helping you better assess your SQL Server readiness for Azure SQL. Through the Azure Arc agent, customers can get help with:

• Streamlining discovery and migration readiness assessments.
• Evaluating and measuring the readiness of SQL Server instance and databases.
• Getting best-fit recommendations.   

Learn about this assessment “SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc, now assists in selecting the best Azure SQL target.” 

Deliver better value and power AI with Flexible Server in Azure Database for PostgreSQL 

In November 2023, we announced the preview of the new Azure AI extension, enabling you to integrate Azure AI services with your operational data in Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Now, we’re sharing that Flexible Server in Azure Database for PostgreSQL is now directly integrated with Azure OpenAI Service. Learn how to use Azure AI with Azure Database for PostgreSQL.

We were excited to have our AMD partners join us to co-sponsor SQLBits to showcase how best in class technology partnerships can help customers achieve their business outcomes for both SQL Server and PostgreSQL workloads. A recently commissioned Principled Technologies report found that for customers who migrated to Azure Databases for PostgreSQL—flexible server, backed by AMD EPYC™ processors—saw significantly faster online transaction processing (OLTP) performance, in fact, 4.71 times new orders per minute when compared to single server. Customers also achieved better value, 3.88 times the performance per dollar. Read the full report.

We look forward to the week ahead and connecting with you in person. 

Asad Khan

Vice President of SQL Products and Services

Asad Khan is the Vice President of SQL Products and Services. He leads all engineering and product management for SQL Server and all Azure SQL.

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