Welcome to the September 2014 newsletter from Australia's leading SQL Server Consultants, Trainers and Business Intelligence specialists

We are starting to see more and more interest regarding Microsoft Azure and how clients can start to use a flexible cloud platform to quickly build, deploy and manage applications. This interest is rapidly gaining as we get closer to the launch of the Windows Azure data centre in Australia later this year. To help organisations identify how they can leverage Microsoft Azure for deploying Microsoft SQL Server workloads WARDY IT Solutions has developed a free workshop to enable your organisation to leverage Azure. To find out more about this session contact WARDY IT Solutions today.

WARDY IT Solutions is proud to be celebrating Women in Technology on Ada Lovelace Day on Tuesday the 14th of October. Ada Lovelace was the founder of Scientific Computing and Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. WARDY IT Solutions will be hosting an afternoon tea to celebrate women in science, technology, engineering and maths and will feature guest speaker Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen. Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen is the founder of Tech Girls Movement and author of Tech Girls Are Superheroes. You can register for this afternoon tea here.

You can keep updated on all the latest WARDY IT Solutions SQL Server news on Facebook & Twitter:

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SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 3

SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 3 (SP3) is now available for download. SQL Server 2008 R2 service packs are cumulative and can be used to upgrade all releases of SQL Server 2008 R2 to Service Pack 3. SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 3 contains Cumulative Update 1 to 13 from SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2. You can download SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 3 from here.

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SQL Server 2014 Training

WARDY IT Solutions is now offering the SQL Server 2014 training course Updating Your SQL Server Skills to MS SQL Server 2014 (Course Code 10977). This five-day instructor-led hands on course teaches participants how to use the enhancements and new features that have been added to SQL Server and the Microsoft data platform since the release of SQL Server 2008. The course focuses on teaching individuals how to use SQL Server 2014 product features and other Microsoft data platform components. To find out more about this and other SQL Server training course refer to here.

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SQL Server 2014 Hot Lap in Canberra & Hobart

WARDY IT Solutions is delivering another series of SQL Server 2014 workshops in Canberra & Hobart. The workshops will be conducted as a free ½ day Hot Lap. A Hot Lap is a quick and concise way of finding out what is new in SQL Server 2014 and how these changes will improve database operations, developer efficiency and enable self-service Business Intelligence solutions. You can find out more and register for these free sessions here.

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Ada Lovelace Day Afternoon Tea

In honour of the world's first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Ada Lovelace was a leading 19th century mathematician and left a lasting legacy as a role model for women around the world. WARDY IT Solutions is proud to be supporting this event. Places are limited for this afternoon tea so register here.

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Azure Machine Learning

Azure Machine Learning is a fully-managed cloud service for predictive analytics. By leveraging the cloud, Azure Machine Learning makes machine learning more accessible to a much broader audience by enabling predicting future outcomes. To find out more about Azure Machine Learning refer to here.

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Azure VM Images Optimized for Transactional and DW Workloads

It is exciting to see all of the functionality in Microsoft Azure including the release of new optimized SQL Server images in the Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines Gallery. These images are pre-configured with optimizations for transactional and Data Warehousing workloads respectively by baking in performance best practices for running SQL Server in Azure VMs. You can find out more about these new images here.

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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. Our Database Healthcheck includes 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. For more details on our SQL Server Healthcheck refer here.

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End of Mainstream Support for SQL Server 2008 & 2008 R2

The 8th of July 2014 was the Mainstream Support End Date for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. You can find out more about the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy for SQL Server here.

If you haven’t yet migrated to SQL Server 2012 and 2014 then now is the perfect time to start planning this migration.

WARDY IT Solutions is offering a complimentary half-day upgrade assessment workshop onsite at your office including lunch to assist you upgrade your legacy SQL Server environment to an environment that is in main stream support. To learn more about how you can benefit from this upgrade assessment contact WARDY IT Solutions today.

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Free Exam Voucher

WARDY IT Solutions provides a bonus for all 5 Day Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) SQL Server training course. When you book any 5 Day MOC training you receive a FREE Exam Voucher. To take advantage of this offer contact us today.

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SQL Server Virtual DBA

WARDY IT Solutions Virtual DBA service was named one of Australia's 100 most innovative products or services for the third year running in the Anthill Magazine 'SMART 100' Index.

Something you may not know is that our Virtual DBA can be utilised for phone and email support. So, if your organisation just needs someone that they can call on for advice then why not use a Virtual DBA?

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