Microsoft sees big potential in the database market for desktop and mobile users, and is upgrading, but also scaling down, its SQL Server to meet the needs of this emerging segment.
There will be three or four versions of SQL Server 7.0 when it is released in the fourth quarter this year, Tom Kreyche, SQL Server product manager, says. They include one for small businesses, one for desktop and mobile users, and standard and enterprise versions which the software vendor usually offers.
The SQL Server 7.0 desktop version will run on Windows 95, 98 and NT.
Mr Kreyche says when Microsoft talks about scalability in SQL Server 7.0, it means two things - making the product more powerful, for example, to support clustering, or non-stop operation, and a very large database.
It also means to scale down the product and introduce data-warehousing applications to laptop users, who can run their data and applications off-line and receive database updates on the road via a dial-up connection.
Data-warehousing lets companies integrate and summarise information from different sources - for example, a company's different departments - so they can analyse it for business purposes.
The enhanced SQL Server is easier to use than previous versions, Mr Kreyche says.