Datasheet

SQL Express is a big step up from MSDE, its predecessor and is a very viable solution for standalone

applications that require a managed data-store or even distributed applications with a minimal number

of connections.

SQL Express can be installed on any Microsoft desktop or server operating system from Windows 2000

and beyond, so a very small company can still leverage the database technology without making a large

investment. Once the company starts to grow, it will inevitably need to make the move to one of the

more robust editions, but the upgrade process from SQL Express to its bigger siblings is a piece of cake

because the data structures are nearly identical.

SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition

The Workgroup Edition replaces the SQL Server Personal Edition. It contains all the functionality of SQL

Server 2005 Express Edition and then some. This edition is targeted to those small companies that have

either outgrown the Express Edition or needed a more flexible solution to begin with, and yet do not

need all the features of the Standard or Enterprise Edition.

The Workgroup Edition is very flexible and contains many of the features of the more expensive edi-

tions. What the Workgroup Edition doesn’t provide is support for more advanced business intelligence

applications, because SQL Server Integration Services and Analysis Services are not included in this edi-

tion. The Workgroup Edition also has a reduced feature set in regard to Reporting Services, but the

Reporting Services features supported should satisfy most small organizations.

Like the Express Edition, the Workgroup Edition can be installed on both desktop and server operating

systems, with the exception of Windows XP Home (which is not supported).

SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition

Most of the capabilities of SQL Server 2005 are supported in the Standard Edition, which makes it the

ideal data platform for many organizations. What the Standard Edition does not provide are many of the

features designed for the support of large enterprise databases. These features include many of the high-

availability and scalability enhancements, such as Partitioned Tables and Parallel index operations. It

also lacks some of the more advanced business intelligence features and Integration Services.

SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition

The Enterprise Edition is the full-meal deal. Nothing is held back. Parallel operations, physical table

partitioning, complete business intelligence, and data mining support — you name it, the Enterprise

Edition has it.

If you require an easy-to-implement-and-maintain platform that can support millions of transactions a

second, 64 terabytes (TB) of RAM, and 64-bit processors, this release is for you. It is also an appropriate

solution if you just require advanced business analytics, and not necessarily the millions of transactions

a second that this edition offers.

Enterprise Edition is performance. Although the feature set between the Enterprise Edition and the

Standard Edition is not huge, the differences in performance between the two editions can be. The

Enterprise Edition fully optimizes read-ahead execution and table scans, which results in marked

improvement in read and scan performance.

Introducing SQL Server 2005

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