Microsoft has revealed that the public preview of the next version of SQL Server will be released this summer.

At the Ignite conference in Chicago, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella announced SQL Server 2016, the next iteration of its widely used database server and management software. The new version of SQL Server will focus on enhanced security and better integration with Azure.

The key improvements that will be part of SQL Server 2016 are:

• Always Encrypted: Data stored and utilized will be encrypted using technology developed by Microsoft Research.
• Stretch Database: SQL Server users will be able to dynamically stretch their data to Microsoft Azure to increase performance.
• Real-time Operational Analytics & In-Memory OLTP: The analytics technology that was first introduced in 2014 is said to be more advanced now, coupled with high performance real-time availability.
• Built-in Advanced Analytics, PolyBase and Mobile BI: With SQL Server 2016 there is greater scope for data analytics and technologies such as PolyBase will make them more accessible. Further, mobile BI will be used for graphichal representation of data on mobile devices.

Microsoft has announced that the first public preview of the product will be coming this summer and database administrators and developers who would like to know more should head to the preview site and sign up to be notified.

Source: Neowin​