The IT industry has always been full of buzz words and phrases. The latest phrase that everyone is spruiking is ‘Digital Transformation’. I’ve heard several definitions but I think Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella most accurately describes this change:
“systems of intelligence that help companies gain insight and take action from big data, optimize their operations and change the very nature of the business models around their industrial products” Read more.
At the heart of any digital transformation is a clear data strategy. Without this data strategy, departmental siloes prevent the sharing of data internally and externally. This limits purchasing or monetising of data and prevents broader data analysis for both the business and its customers.
If you find your digital transformation is not enabling you to utilise data strategically or it isn’t providing you with rich insights please get in touch and find out how we can help maximise your investment in data assets.
Database Security
Securing customer data while maintaining the highest levels of privacy have always been top priorities for Microsoft and the SQL organisation. As a result, SQL Server which also powers Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse, continue to be one of the most secure Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) on the market. Find out more about the security initiatives and advanced threat protection.
Integrate Power BI reports in SharePoint Online
The Microsoft Power BI team have been working with the SharePoint team building an out-of-the-box web part for SharePoint Online using their new Modern Pages infrastructure. The new web part recently released enables SharePoint authors to embed Power BI reports directly in SharePoint Online pages with no code required! Learn more about this feature.
Cost effectively monitor and ensure the availability of SQL Server
For most organisations, databases are the centre of your information systems but you are faced with the challenge of how to cost effectively monitor and ensure the availability of our SQL Server. In our latest blog post we explain how the Virtual DBA services makes first-class database support accessible and affordable. Read the blog post.
Gartner positions Microsoft as a leader in BI and Analytics
Gartner has recognised Microsoft’s vision and execution for the tenth consecutive year, positioning Microsoft as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms. For second year in row, Microsoft is placed furthest in vision within the Leaders quadrant. Find out more.
SQL Slammer
One of the world’s most famous net menaces, SQL Slammer, has resumed attacking servers some 13 years after it set records by infecting 75,000 servers in 10 minutes, researchers say. The worm targets a now-ancient SQL Server 2000 buffer overflow vulnerability. If you are struggling to upgrade from SQL Server 2000 the WARDY IT Solutions database upgrade and migration service can assist with modernising your SQL Server platform. Get in touch to find out how we can help or learn more about the detection of this threat.
SQL Server Healthcheck
Does your SQL Server environment need a Healthcheck? The WARDY IT Solutions SQL Server Healthcheck is designed to review and verify the implementation of common SQL Server Best Practices. We’ll cover all the usage and administration aspects of a SQL Server database, ensuring that your SQL Servers are managed and operated well. Our approach is to analyse the total health of your SQL Server environment and highlight areas of concern, providing recommendations to improve the health and performance of your database environment. Find out more and see what’s included.
SQL Server v.Next CTP 1.3
A new preview for the next version of SQL Server (SQL Server v.Next) is now available. Community Technology Preview (CTP) 1.3 is available on both Windows and Linux. In this preview, several feature enhancements have been made to High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR), including the ability to run Always On Availability Groups on Linux. Find out more about the next release of SQL Server.
Planning a SQL Server Installation
If you’re planning a new installation of SQL Server or undertaking an upgrade, you will need a planned deployment methodology. Microsoft have released a new SQL Server planning guide to assist with a successful deployment. Download the guide here.
SQL Server Support
Virtual DBA is our very own award-winning remote database administration service based here in Australia. Our Microsoft certified team of DBAs watch over your databases 24x7x365, providing a cost-effective solution to meet the day-to-day challenges of availability, performance and administration of SQL Server databases. Plans starting from just $1450 ex. GST per month. Find out more.
