Microsoft on Thursday released its third Community Technical Preview of the SQL Server 2005 database.

The new code drop, the first CTP since December, includes the new ActiveViews-based Report Builder and updated Management Studio features as well as 64-bit support, Microsoft said.

The company also will post more Visual Studio 2005 bits to ensure that the recently released Visual Studio CTP works with this latest code.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said the third--and hopefully final--beta of the database is still on track for the first quarter, meaning that it must be released by the end of March. The CTP for the first SQL Server 2005, code-named Yukon, dropped in October, when Microsoft said it was adding another test round to the delayed database.

Last month, Microsoft executives announced pricing and packaging details--including a new workgroup option--of the long-awaited database.

Solution providers are anxiously awaiting the upcoming database along with the closely allied Visual Studio 2005 tool set. Many expect to develop business intelligence applications with the software's bulked-up analytics, reporting, and OLAP tools.

Some solution providers say Microsoft is under the gun afternumerous delays to SQL Server 2005 and aggressive price moves by Oracle and IBM. Both of those database powers are devoting resources to entrench their databases in smaller companies and corporate departments where SQL Server has held sway.