May 2017 Roundup

May 2017 SQL Server 2017 Round Up

Artificial Intelligence is one of the fastest moving technologies today with application in almost every industry scenario ranging from assisting with the planting and harvest of crops to pricing algorithms for ride sharing services. Artificial Intelligence is being harnessed more broadly due to the explosion of digital data and computational power. This, coupled with advanced algorithms, enables collaborative and natural interactions between people and machines that extend the human ability to sense, learn and understand.

Microsoft SQL Server 2017 will be the first database platform with built-in AI, with additional support for R and for the first-time Python. The Microsoft Data Platform also supports pre-trained neural network models for sentiment analysis and image featurisation and GPU support for neural networks. At WARDY IT Solutions, we’re working with numerous clients to help them deliver innovation and digital transformation to solve complex business problems and uncover new revenue streams. Find out how we helped the rapidly growing fast food retailer Mad Mex obtain a single point of truth for their data to make better informed, data-driven business decisions.

SQL Server command line tools to generate T-SQL scripts

Mssql-scripter is a new multiplatform command line equivalent of the widely used Generate Scripts Wizard experience in SSMS.  The mssql-scripter tool enables developers, DBAs, and sysadmins to generate CREATE and INSERT T-SQL scripts for database objects in SQL Server, Azure SQL DB, and Azure SQL DW from the command line.

SQL Server 2017 CTP 2.1

A new preview for the next version of SQL Server (SQL Server 2017) was recently released.  Community Technology Preview (CTP) 2.1 is available on both Windows and Linux.  In this preview, manageability features have been added to make it easier to configure SQL Server in Docker containers as well as a preview of SQL Server Integration Services on Linux.

SQL Server 2017 Hotlaps

Due to popular demand, we’ve scheduled 2 additional dates for our SQL Server 2017 hotlaps. In these free 2 hour sessions, we will explain how the new version of SQL Server will improve database operations, developer efficiency and enable self-service Business Intelligence and Data Analytics solutions.

All our hotlaps are free but seats are limited so please register to secure your place.

Data Science End-to-End Walkthrough

If you are looking to get started with Data Science, this walkthrough is perfect for you. It’s based on a popular set of public data – the New York City taxi dataset. As you work through it, you’ll use a combination of R code, SQL Server data, and custom SQL functions to build a classification model that indicates the probability that the driver will get a tip on a taxi trip.  As part of this you’ll also learn how to deploy your R model to SQL Server and use server data to generate scores based on the model.

SQL Server on Linux Whitepaper

SQL Server 2017 enables you to choose the best platform for your data and applications, enabling you to deploy in Linux and Windows.  Microsoft has released a whitepaper detailing the SQL Server on Linux offering and how it provides a broader range of choice for all organisations and how it enables SQL Server to run in more private, public, and hybrid cloud ecosystems.

Introducing Power BI Premium

Power BI Premium builds on the existing Power BI portfolio with a capacity-based licensing model that increases flexibility for how users access, share and distribute content. The new offering also delivers additional scalability and performance to the Power BI service.

How Mad Mex used Data Analytics to drive competitive advantage

Rapidly growing fast food retailer Mad Mex faced a problem experienced by many organisations, with business data across many different systems and sources, accessing data to make better informed business decisions was difficult. They wanted to empower their staff and franchises to make better informed, data-driven business decisions. Mad Mex partnered with WARDY IT Solutions to build a single source of truth.