Microsoft SQL Server bound by ties to NT

Abstract

Microsoft Corp. customers praise SQL Server 6.0, the latest release of the company's database server, for its ease of use and flexibility, both features that Microsoft attributes partially to its tight integration with the underlying Windows NT operating system. However, many database buyers still perceive the database's availability only on NT as a liability. The Windows NT-only strategy may also be an impediment for SQL Server because of NT's limited scalability. This leaves SQL at a disadvantage against competitors, including Oracle Corp., Sybase Inc., and Informix Software Inc., that can scale across hundreds of processors through parallel versions of their databases.

MICROSOFT CORP.'s SQL Server database is making strides against entrenched Unix-based competitors, such as Oracle Corp. and Sybase Inc., but Microsoft's Windows NT-only OS strategy for SQL Server remains both a blessing and a curse, said users and analysts contacted last week.

Microsoft customers praise SQL Server 6.0, the latest release of the database server, for its ease of use and flexibility, both features that Microsoft attributes partially to its tight integration with the underlying Windows NT operating system. But many database buyers still perceive the database's availability only on NT as a liability.

One user, for example, said last week that Microsoft SQL Server was knocked out of contention at his company because it isn't available for Solaris on Intel, the company's primary operating system.

"We looked at Microsoft BackOffice, but it doesn't run on the right platforms," said Rich Malone, CIO at Edward D. Jones & Co., a financial services company based in St. Louis. Instead, Malone is testing Oracle7 as part of the InterOffice Server suite for his company's 3,200 remote locations.

Due in April, InterOffice Server may pose another threat to SQL Server's popularity, which depends partly on sales of Microsoft's BackOffice server application suite. InterOffice Server and IBM's upcoming Project Eagle for OS/2 LAN Server will compete against BackOffice.

The Windows NT-only strategy may also be an impediment for SQL Server because of NT's limited scalability. Windows NT 3.5, the latest release, will support as many as 32 processors in an OEM version for Pyramid Technology Corp. and Sequent Computer Systems Inc. servers. But the shrink-wrapped version of SQL Server supports only four processors with 100 percent scalability; 4-to-8-processor systems get 80 percent scalability, according to Microsoft documentation.

This leaves SQL Server at a disadvantage against competitors, including Oracle, Sybase, and Informix Software Inc., that can scale across hundreds of processors through parallel versions of their databases.

Although Microsoft officials have repeatedly said that the company will not deliver SQL Server on other platforms, the company is planning to overcome the scalability question, according to analysts briefed on Microsoft's strategy.

"The feeling is that

SQL Server

can't compete on scalability," said Stan Dolberg, analyst at Forrester Research Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. "But Microsoft told us they now have scalability through six processors with SQL Server. And they are moving up. Those limitations will go away within 18 months."