The software, due to ship by mid-2000, will offer four-node failover technology to boost its recovery and restore capabilities, as well as native Extensible Markup Language support. Scalability will also get a boost--SQL Server 2000 will support up to 64 Gbytes of RAM and can take advantage of the Windows 2000 DataCenter operating system to run on as many as 32 processors. The database will use Windows 2000's Active Directory services to register itself automatically when it's installed.

When SQL Server 7.0 debuted in late 1998, Microsoft said the software's scalability, advanced data warehousing functionality, replication, and improved manageability would help it compete with Oracle and other enterprise-class database systems. But it's not on par yet, some analysts say. "We still don't consider SQL Server 7.0 to be competitive with Oracle and IBM DB2 in the enterprise," says Terilyn Palanka, a Giga Information Group analyst. The software has been hindered by the limited scalability of the Windows NT operating system it runs on and by its inability to perform online recovery and restore operations.

Still, SQL Server 7.0 has a devoted following. Transamerica Corp.'s flood-hazard-certification business unit in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., uses the software to maintain a 120-Gbyte database of 100 million U.S. properties. Says David Lish, VP of information systems, "I don't see any scalability issues." But Lish eagerly awaits SQL Server 2000's ability to use 64 Gbytes of RAM--compared with 3 Gbytes in version 7.0--to boost the speed of his department's data query and processing work.

SQL Server 2000 is in early testing at 750 customer sites and is scheduled for wider beta testing in early 2000. The software will be available in a standard edition for Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server, and an Enterprise Edition that runs on Windows 2000 DataCenter Server. Pricing hasn't been set.