An election has come and gone.

SQL PASS is completed.

SQL Server 2008 is out.

It's time to prepare for the "State of SQL Server".  This was an idea of mine, to create a report and corresponding presentation to Senior leaders of my company on the "State of SQL Server", analogous to the Presidents State of the Union Address. 

It won't be in-depth as the Presidents address, but my job isn't either !

The goal of the report is to inform the Senior leaders of where the company is with SQL Server and where we are going with SQL Server, bringing together the knowledge from PASS and our unique knowledge of working with SQL Server at our company.  It also provides an opportunity to talk about where Microsoft is going with SQL Server and how our strategies are aligning or differing from that.

As DBA's we have the choice, we can present this information, or you can wait for the Microsoft Technincal Account manager (TAM) or sales representative to talk about.  I prefer to have these conversations with the Senior leaders before Microsoft does.

I can not share the report as it is proprietary.

An outline might be:

I.  SQL Server today

   A.  Provide an Overview of the environment

   B.  Used for What

II.  SQL Server 6-12 months

III.  SQL Server - The business intelligence platform

IV.  Other DBMS's