March 7th 2012 ! This was the day when SQL Server 2012 was launched virtually to everyone.I was looking forward for this event with great expectations.Even though we had a initial delay for the launch,everything was in place very soon and the platform http://www.sqlserverlaunch.com was open to everyone who had registered.

Wow!!! That was the first word which came out of my mouth as soon as I opened the site.The site was truly amazing and it was the right platform to launch a product like SQL Server.

The major sections of the portal was

1. Watch Key Note

2. Sessions by Track

3.Visit Expo Hall

4. Networking Lounge

What key notes were all about

There were 2 keynotes which were quite impressive.The first one was from Ted Kummert(Corp Vice President,Business Platform Div MSFT) and second was from Quentin Clark (Corp Vice President,Database Sys Grp MSFT)

Ted Kummert officially confirmed that the Evaluation version of SQL 2012 will be available from March 7th 2012 and the General Availability of SQL 2012 RTM will be from April 1st 2012.

MSDN subscribers will get the RTM bit before the GA.

Both the keynotes were focusing on Microsoft’s road map for the future and what SQL Server 2012 is bringing to the table.

What sessions were all about

The sessions were divided mainly into 3 tracks,the tracks clearly shows what SQL Server brings to the table.The tracks are

Mission Critical Confidence

Break Through Insights

Cloud On your terms

There are over 30 sessions with some exciting demos,and they are a must watch.

My top sessions are  –

1.Fast Time to Solution: Introduction to SQL Azure and Cloud Database Solutions by Greg Leake

2.Scale on Demand: Enable On-demand Scale with SQL Azure Federation by Cihan Biyikoglu

3.Required 9s and Data Protection: Automating SQL Server AlwaysOn Management  by Eric Kang and Will Snavely

4. Required 9s and Data Protection: Introduction to SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn, New High Availability Solution by Santosh Balasubramanian

5.  Blazing-Fast Performance: Explore FileTables, Full-Text Search and Semantic Search for Faster, More Meaningful Results Across Unstructured Data by Michael Rys

6. Required 9s and Data Protection: Protect Data with Higher Chance of Recovery – Includes Recovery Advisor by Kevin Farlee

7. Optimizing SQL Server 2012 for Private Cloud by Darmadi Komo

8. Synchronizing Data “From On-Prem to Cloud” or “Cloud to Cloud” Using SQL Azure Data Sync by Mark Scurrell

9. Big Data Analytics with Apache Hadoop and SQL Server 2012 by Saptak Sen

What Expo Halls are all about

Expo halls were the really cool part of the launch.You have the opportunity to browse through various technology giants workshops and they will have videos showcasing their capabilities around SQL 2012,cloud,infrastructre etc.

There is also a Microsoft pavilion and a PASS pavilion which I found pretty interesting.

What Networking Lounge is all about

Yet again great opportunity for technology lovers to discuss on various topics virtually.There are topic pods which you can join and start involve on any discussions.This was pretty neat.

The sqlserverlaunch site has some other interesting stuff around.There is a point system which will help you to earn points and achieve levels and virtual badges.You will also get badges after visiting a expo hall for a particular company.

Profile score after winning points and badges will look like  –

A detailed explanation is available at http://www.sqlserverlaunch.com/ww/PointSystem

Overall the launch was a great and it was an exciting event.I would request you to make use of these resources to get a feel of what SQL server 2012 is capable of and trust me,it will be exciting.

Thanks for reading.