Online Transaction Processing in SQL Server 2008
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 provides a database platform that is optimized for today’s applications, and that can scale for any size of business. It drives cost-efficiencies by dramatically reducing downtime and enabling dynamic and proactive management that significantly reduces administrative overhead. Finally, SQL Server 2008 provides a highly secure platform that you can trust with your organization’s sensitive, business-critical data.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_oltp.mspx
Business Intelligence in SQL Server 2008
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 makes business intelligence available to everyone through deep integration with Microsoft Office, providing the right tool, to the right user, at the right price. The result is that employees at all levels of an organization can see and help to influence the performance of the business by working with tools that are both easy to use and powerful. Integration with the 2007 Microsoft Office System enables users to view business performance in a way that they understand and which feels comfortable; and the introduction of PerformancePoint Server 2007, helps customers to gain actionable insight into the entire organization so they can monitor, analyze, and plan their businesses, as well as drive alignment, accountability, and actionable insight across the entire organization.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_bi.mspx
Server Consolidation with SQL Server 2008
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 supports multiple options for server consolidation, which provides organizations with the flexibility to choose the consolidation approach that best meets their requirements to centralize data services management and reduce hardware and maintenance costs. By providing centralized management, auditing, and monitoring capabilities, SQL Server 2008 makes it easy to manage multiple databases and data services, which significantly reduces administrative overheads in large enterprises. Finally, SQL Server 2008 provides the reassurance of industry-leading performance and scalability, and unprecedented control over server resource to maximize the performance of consolidated data services.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_srv_consol.mspx
Choosing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Data Warehousing
The warehousing of corporate data into an architecture from which it can all be accessed is no longer an option for midmarket and large companies that want to be successful. Consolidating the information so that it is readily accessible, and to give the team visibility for reporting, analytics, spot queries, and predictive capabilities is now necessary. Fortunately, pioneers established this long ago and this requirement is met in the field of data warehousing (DW) and business intelligence (BI).
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql-for-datawarehousing_2008.mspx
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Data Platform Development
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and the Microsoft data platform provide developers with a comprehensive programming framework in which to create data centric solutions that target mobile devices, desktops, Web servers, and enterprise servers. This data programming environment improves developer productivity by integrating data access and management into the business logic of an application. It provides a comprehensive platform for data access and management from disparate data sources and a scalable solution for data storage and applications.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_dp.mspx