Greater Uptime and Recovery

• Reduce OS patching by as much as 50-60%¹ with new support for Windows Server Core. Meanwhile, Database Recovery Advisor introduces significant user experience enhancements to the ways DBAs can restore databases using SQL Server Management Studio. Within Management Studio, customers can now move a logical copy of their SQL Server databases directly to Windows Azure SQL Database for more cost-effective and fully redundant data protection options.
  
  

  ¹The percentage reduction in patching varies and can be less based on the server roles that are enabled and the type of patches that are applied.

Support for Better Compliance

• More easily manage permissions around data access with User-Defined Server Roles to support separation of duties. Help increase manageability and decrease complexity of database schema through new Default Schema for Groups that allows a default database schema for Windows group user accounts. Better control database access to deployed applications while improving manageability through Contained Database Authentication that uses self-contained access information without the need for server logins.

Improved Manageability

• Simplify application testing and minimize errors on a single database with application changes, configuration changes, and upgrades using new Distributed Replay. Added support for Windows PowerShell 2.0 automates management tasks across the Microsoft platform and enhancements to Sys Prep help IT more efficiently create VMs for private cloud solutions. Meanwhile, updated management packs for System Center Operations Manager help IT centrally manage their infrastructure.

More Easily Integrate Data

• More easily integrate data from multiple disparate sources with enhancements to Integration Services which include rich DBA and IT Implementer support for the deployment and administration of ETL tasks, including better tracking of SSIS packet status, run SSIS as a server, and the ability to run administration and other capabilities as a separate SQL Server instance.

Enable Reporting and Analytics

• Support for multi-dimensional models allows IT to build business logic and scale to users through Reporting Services. Meanwhile, Report Builder 3.0 provides an intuitive report authoring environment for business users and supports many of the key capabilities of SQL Server Reporting Services. Additionally, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Data Mining Add-ins for Microsoft Office 2010 (Data Mining Add-ins) helps end users take advantage of SQL Server predictive analytics in Office Excel 2010 and Office Visio 2010.

Enable More Innovative Development

• Take database development to the next level with SQL Server Data Tools an integrated development experience for developers building next-generation web, enterprise and data-aware mobile applications across on-premises and public cloud. Meanwhile, the Data-tier Application Framework (DAC Fx) dramatically helps simplify the development, deployment, and management of database applications server to cloud.

Rich Support for Content

• SQL Server 2012 makes it easier to manage content as an integrated part of an application. New FileTable makes it easier to manage content into FILESTREAM blob storage with standard tools and applications. Improvements to full-text indexing help yield better performance and search functionality. Meanwhile, new statistical semantic search technology supports automatic concept extraction and innovative key phrase search options for more sophisticated search across unstructured files.

Extend Any Data, Anywhere

• SQL Server 2012 supports relational and non-relational data, including Big Data sources like Hadoop. Additionally, customers can extend heterogeneous environments using any industry standard APIs (ADO.NET, ODBC, JDBC, PDO, and ADO) across varied platforms including .NET, C/C++, Java, Linux, and PHP.