Microsoft has announced that it is bringing its relational database product, SQL Server, to Linux. It is currently available as a preview with only core relational database capabilities, and a full launch is planned for mid-2017. Till now, SQL Server was only available on Windows. Paul Cormier, President of Products and Technologies at Red Hat said, “SQL Server’s proven enterprise experience and capabilities offer a valuable asset to enterprise Linux customers around the world. We believe our customers will welcome this news and are happy to see Microsoft further increasing its investment in Linux. As we build upon our deep hybrid cloud partnership, spanning not only Linux, but also middleware, and PaaS, we’re excited to now extend that collaboration to SQL Server on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, bringing enterprise customers increased database choice.”
This announcement comes a few days before Microsoft’s Data Driven event in New York where the company plans to announce the features of SQL Server 2016. This includes new security encryption capabilities, in-memory database support, improved Data Warehousing performance, and more. Microsoft says that the SQL Server on Linux will provide customers with more flexibility in their data solutions. The company also says that bringing the server to Linux is a way of making its products accessible to a wider range of users.