SQL Azure SU3 is Now Live and Available in 6 Datacenters Worldwide

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[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.]

We have just completed the rollout of SQL Azure Service Update 3 and now available are some exciting new features we have been promising for the past couple months.

  • 50 GB Database Support – You can now store even more data in a single SQL Azure database as the database size has been increased to 50 GB. This will provide your applications increased scalability. For detailed pricing information on SQL Azure and how to create or modify your database to take advantage of the new size, see this blog post.

  • Spatial Data Support - SQL Azure now offers support for the Geography and Geometry types as well as spatial query support via T-SQL. This is a significant feature and now opens the Windows Azure Platform to support spatial and location aware applications.

  • HierarchyID Data Type Support – The HierarchyID is a variable length system data type which provides you the ability to represent tree like structures in the database. We will be following up in the coming days with a blog post on ways to use this data type in your applications.

In addition to these new features, SQL Azure is now also available in two new data centers providing your applications even more flexibility and a wider global reach. These two new data centers are located in the East Asia and the West Europe Region.

As always, your feedback matters. Please keep providing us feedback and we will do our best to prioritize the features you want.