Announcing SQL Server 2005 SP2

Today Microsoft is announcing the release of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2). New features include full compatibility with Windows Vista and Office 2007, enhanced BI capabilities and unlimited virtual instances of fully licensed SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition servers.

New features include compatibility with Windows Vista and Office 2007, enhanced BI functionality and improvements to Integration, Analysis and Reporting Services.  Microsoft has worked closely with the community to develop quality updates for this service pack. For details, go to https://download.microsoft.com/download/2/b/5/2b5e5d37-9b17-423d-bc8f-b11ecd4195b4/WhatsNewSQL2005SP2.htm

Microsoft is expanding virtualization use rights to allow unlimited virtual instances on servers fully licensed for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. 

When a customer licenses all of the processors in a server, they can run an unlimited numbers of SQL Server instances on an unlimited number of virtual operating system environments, at no additional licensing cost.  This enables Enterprise Edition customers to purchase one license per processor no matter how many virtual instances are deployed. For the Server/CAL model, customers can run any number of virtual machines from a server with a paid license.

Kevin