Database Development

  • Overview of the Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket

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    Whether it is buying clothing, food, or software, consumers like the simplicity of the one-stop shopping experience. Product producers also benefit greatly by being a part of a community marketplace. These rules of commerce apply to data just as much as physical goods and mobile apps. The Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket is the marketplace for data set distribution in the cloud. In this session we will explore the benefits of the marketplace and the cloud for distributing data. Next, we will review the features and capabilities of Azure DataMarket. We will then walkthrough subscribing to, consuming and paying for data from Azure DataMarket. And finally, we will explore what this means for data publishers and how you can get data into the Azure DataMarket.

    Level: 100

    Speaker: Eric Boyd

    Topics: Azure & Cloud, Database Development

  • Maximizing SQL Server Insert Performance

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    SQL Server can handle the largest of databases. However, application architecture and design can unnecessarily limit potential performance. This session will demonstrate techniques to maximize performance of applications that need to sustain a rate of thousands of inserts per second.

    Level: 200

    Speaker: Dan Guzman

    Topics: Database Development

  • Open Spaces: SQL Server with Dan and Kim

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    Bring your Microsoft SQL Server quandaries to this session. Dan and Kim have extensive experience ranging from highly transactional OLTP systems to large BI implementations and will be happy to help answer questions related to SQL Server performance, design and implementation.

    Level: 200

    Speaker: Dan Guzman

    Topics: Database Development

  • .NET Development in Reporting Services

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    MS Reporting Services can be thought of as a Business Intelligence platform if one uses .Net languages to extend it. Reporting Services is basically a collection of .Net services. Developers can achieve more by thinking of certain MS products (the BI products and MS CRM) as supersets of the .Net framework.

    Level: 100

    Speaker: Phil Milner

    Topics: .NET Framework, Database Development

  • So You Wanna Build a Cube...

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    Owning Microsoft SQL Server and using its relational engine is a staple of many organizations. But owning SQL Server means you really own many other pieces of technology. One of those is SQL Server Analysis Services and having the ability to build multi-dimensional cubes to provide new analytics capabilities for your organization. The goal of this session is to provide an introduction to the cube building process and to help the audience take the foundational steps in delivering business intelligence – pushing the attendees to ‘take the leap’ and begin a new way of serving business users with information. Topics will include a comparison of relational and multi-dimensional data storage, data warehouse design, cube building, and related components that Analysis Services provides.

    Level: 200

    Speaker: Dean Furness

    Topics: Database Development

  • Introduction to Data Mining with SQL Server Analysis Services

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    While this topic is listed as an introduction and perhaps doesn’t have a catchy title, the effort to use statistical analysis and algorithms to peer into data does take a ‘deep dive’ approach. Luckily, Analysis Services provides us with some easy-to-use tools, making the use of data mining outcomes easier to approach. In this session, attendees will learn basic data mining methodology, learn the Analysis Services tools, and gain an introduction to the various algorithms used by SQL Server data mining. Additionally, the creation of prediction queries will help developers put to use information that might otherwise be more difficult to come by, or perhaps even avoided.

    Level: 300

    Speaker: Dean Furness

    Topics: Database Development

  • Execution Plans and Indexes

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    This session will offer examples of B-Tree indexes, as well as offer an introduction to the query optimizer. It will cover obtaining execution plan information, queries that use join operations and finally, myths about optimizing and indexes.

    Level: 100

    Speaker: Kim Tessereau

    Topics: Database Development

  • Add Spatial Capabilities to Your .NET Apps

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    Due to the pervasiveness of GPS data, today’s developers are being asked to incorporate geospatial information into their data-driven applications, often with no budget for procuring GIS software. SQL Server 2008 provides rich spatial support by means of the new Geometry and Geography data types, but some enterprises may not use SQL Server, or may be slow to upgrade their database platforms until years after a product release. There is still hope! .NET developers without access to SQL Server 2008 can still incorporate these new data types into their applications – no SQL Server required! Not only will this solve an immediate need using Microsoft-supported technology, but also provides an upgrade path to using SQL Server 2008 for more advanced querying support. In addition, developers can also utilize Virtual Earth technology to provide an interactive geocoding and visualization story to their end users.

    Level: 200

    Speaker: Jason Follas

    Topics: .NET Framework, Database Development

  • Exploit the XML Capabilities of SQL Server 2008

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    XML-based data is very prevalent in today's data world to the point that every database developer should know how to work with XML. Middle-tier translation of XML into relational data may be inflexible, and often leads to a loss of fidelity over time. One solution is to move the XML handling into the database itself in order to improve overall integration. SQL Server 2008 provides powerful XML processing features that allow easy access to data stored within XML without sacrificing any of the original fidelity.

    Level: 200

    Speaker: Jason Follas

    Topics: Database Development