In Wednesday, Microsoft disclosed the main design objectives of the Katmai version of SQL Server database. Microsoft plans to release Katmai next year
At a meeting on business intelligence, Microsoft officials said it wanted to improve the data management and analytics capabilities of its flagship database products.
To enable more users to use report generation and data analysis capabilities, Microsoft wants to improve Katmai's integration with Microsoft Office System 2007, including Excel and SharePoint.
Microsoft also plans to introduce tools to transfer data from a central database to different products, and to improve existing management tools.
In addition, Katmai will be able to manage different data types including documents, geographic information, and XML.
Ted, vice president of Microsoft's data and storage platform, said in a statement that Microsoft is trying to provide business intelligence tools to companies of all sizes.