SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP3

Updated on 11/11/2009 7:47 PM

Note: The download links below will launch the Akamai download manager which is designed to provide you with more control over your download experience.

Download now Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP http://care.dlservice.microsoft.com/download/7/B/4/7B4A1F68-4D05-42C1-8982-E5CD8492C6FA/SQLFULL_x86_ENU.exe

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 add-in to Excel that allows very large sets of data to be manipulated efficiently aka Microsoft Gemini now its formal name is PowerPivot

Download: What’s New in SQL Server 2008 R2 November Community Technology Preview (CTP) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=89550298-D564-40C5-B586-30DC3F909F6F&displaylang=en

It’s now available for download for MSDN and TechNet subscribers,  and it will be available to the general public on November 11^th http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/archive/2009/11/09/announcing-the-sql-server-2008-r2-november-ctp.aspx

Pilot-View on Microsoft Gemini 1

I’ll take in somehow big series about Microsoft Gemini and its features, I found it great very fast while loading big dataset and also I submit bug once it occurs.

I’ll talk in this post about Load & Prepare Data (From Database) in Microsoft Gemini…

First, you should have Microsoft Excel 2010 Technical Preview (until now 12-9-2009) which in Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview, don’t you know what’s Gemini check this https://ramymahrous.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/what-you-need-to-know-about-gemini/

First, let’s install Gemini as it’s not by default installed on Excel 2010

If you download it from Microsoft Connect, it comes with two client versions, x64 and x86 choose which fits your processor architecture.

First official video about Gemini from Microsoft

Project Gemini for Excel 2010

What’s Gemini? Project code-name “Gemini” for Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology, such as fast manipulation on large data sets (often in millions of rows), streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through SharePoint 2010.

Video | http://www.microsoft.com/officebusiness/office2010/Default.aspx?vid=Geminiv

Overview of Gemini features

From Microsoft Gemini team blog…

The key question behind Gemini is: how much value can an Excel user derive from Microsoft’s BI stack without having to pick up a book on OLAP, Dimensional Modeling or Analysis Services?

More on http://blogs.msdn.com/gemini/archive/2009/08/24/overview-of-gemini-features.aspx

What you need to know about Gemini

What is Microsoft’s Gemini?
Gemini is essentially an add-in to Excel that allows very large sets of data to be manipulated. Why Excel? Simply because it’s a familiar environment for most people and the place where they expect to perform analysis.
But there’s more. Not only can Gemini handle very large sets of data, but it can also allow data from disparate sources to be cross analyzed. So, for instance, you might pull in some data from your data warehouse and cross-correlate it with data from the Internet or with data you already hold in Excel.
Let’s face it — Excel doesn’t have a great track record of being able to handle big sets of data. So Microsoft has added a new in-memory column store to handle the data. Can Gemini? Well, the demo I watched was run on a desktop with 8 GB RAM and a quad processor, and costs just less than $1,000. It was handling 100 million rows of data effectively instantaneously. So, I’d take that as a yes.

TOP 10 DEMOS FOR MICROSOFT BI

I liked this post from THE BI BLOG and I like to share it with you

Here’s a collection of some cool Microsoft BI Demos that I use regularly to showcase aspects of the Microsoft BI stack and show interesting examples of what insight to information can actually accomplish.

Top 10 demos for Microsoft BI

10. Sales Dashboard in Silverlight – visualize sales performance, select regions, identify who’s a performer and who’s not in a very visual and intuitive way.

9. Hello Hockey fans – a fun example of how you could track your favorite hockey team using NHL data and Microsoft Silverlight.

8. Sustainability Dashboard – how can lowering your organizations carbon footprint equal more money to the bottom line? See how BI can help gain access to information that will help your company become more efficient and greener

More on: http://blogs.msdn.com/bi/archive/2009/04/23/top-10-demos-for-microsoft-bi.aspx