Microsoft Engineering loves SQLBits
I have the blessed opportunity to speak at many customer events. SQLBits is always one of my favorites because of the great community that attends and the opportunity for me to travel to a great city like London. Well, for SQLBits 2018, it is not just me. Microsoft engineering is actually sending quite a few folks over the Atlantic to come talk about SQL Server 2017, SQL Server on Linux, GDPR, Performance, Security, Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, and Azure CosmosDB. The conference kicks off next week on Wednesday February 21st with Training Days and lasts through Saturday, February 24th.
When I started to write this post I thought I knew who all was presenting but then I had to go back over the session lineup to see for myself. Here is a list of sessions and speakers from Microsoft Engineering:
Training Days:
The training days on Wed and Thursday include these sessions:
A Data Engineer’s Guide to Azure SQL Data Warehouse - James Rowland-Jones, Simon Whiteley and Terry McCann. If you want to know anything about Azure SQL Data Warehouse, you have to come listen to JRJ!
SELECT * FROM Azure Cosmos DB - Andrew Liu. Cosmos DB has generated a huge interest. Spend a day getting immersed in technology with Andrew.
Best practices on Building a Big Data Analytics Solution - Michael Rys. I've known Michael for a very long time. If you want to learn about Azure Data Lake, there is no one better.
Friday Sessions:
SQL Intelligence excels your tuning and security expertise - Veljko Vasic, Ron Matchoro and Frans Lytzen. I want to come to this one myself. Come learn what we are doing in Azure to built in intelligence into the Azure SQL Database platform.
Adaptive query processing in SQL databases - Bob Ward and Conor Cunningham. I will somehow try to sound intelligent speaking along side someone who knows the QP far more than I. Should be fun to speak together with Conor.
Maximise compute performance with Azure SQL Data Warehouse - More JRJ on Azure DW. I need to teach him to properly spell Maximize!
Azure Cosmos DB: design patterns and case studies - Andrew Liu. Lot's of buzz about Cosmos DB. Come see what it is all about with Andrew.
GDPR-How did the Microsoft SQL team approach it - Conor Cunningham. I personally know Conor knows GDPR. He has spent a great deal of time on the subject so if this is an area you need to know, his session is a must.
0 to Hero: Troubleshooting SQL Server Performance Made Easy - Pedro Lopes. Here comes the Tiger Team!. Pedro makes it his mission to help customers with SQL Server Performance. He told me he is showing off some kind of fish in his talk.
Experience SQL Server on Linux and Containers - Bob Ward. Shamless blost post author plug. I've been spending alot of time on Linux lately. If anything just come to see me explain the architecture which is an amazing innovative piece of software.
Graph Data Processing in SQL Server, the “Relationship” db - Conor Cunningham. You may have "graph" data in your database and you don't even know it. Find out why this can accelerate your queries and make your life easier.
SQL Operations Studio: the state of the art and future - Ken Van Hyning. How would you like to actually be part of our engineering team without working for Microsoft? Ken will show you how. Plus I think there is some kind of SQL Agent integration "thing" he will talk about. I probably was not supposed to reveal that.
Securing your Data is Easier than ever with Azure SQL DB - Ronit Reger. Ronit will show you how Azure SQL Database brings new ideas and methods for securing your data in the cloud.
Saturday Sessions
Ok, Friday was not enough for you, we have more... Yes more on Saturday
Which database, when ? - Alain Dormehl. Even I will admit we have so many "data" services in Azure it is difficult to keep up. Alain will help you understand it all.
Experience SQL Server 2017: The Modern Database Platform - Bob Ward. You may be thinking about an upgrade to SQL Server but haven't made the move. I'll give you several reasons why SQL Server 2017 is a compelling story.
Deep Dive into SSIS 2017 and Beyond - SSIS. One of the best and most underappreciated features of SQL Server. Jimmy Wong is my contact for SSIS within Microsoft so it makes sense for you to come hear him if you are a SSIS fan.
Confidential computing with Always Encrypted using enclaves - Jakub Szymaszek. I love Always Encrypted. It is such an easy pitch on why it is a good feature. Jakub is a true expert here in the area of security with SQL Server and Azure SQL Database.
Maximizing the Query Performance with Columnstore Indexes - Sunil Aagrwal. For me, if I have a question I can't answer on Columnstore, I pretty much just ask Sunil.
Azure Data Catalog Adoption Patterns and Best Practices - Matthew Roche. Come learn how to manage your company's metadata using the cloud.
Modernizing ETL with Azure Data Lake - Michael Rys. More great Azure Data Lake with Michael
Finally, and I can speak for all the folks from engineering, we love customers! Contrary to anyone's perception, we are not afraid to talk to people<g>. So don't hesitate to just come up to us at the event and say hello. Or tell us your story about data and tell us how we can help you with your application, skills, or business.
The Pathway to the cloud using Azure SQL Managed Instances - Mike Boswell, Borko Novakovic and Vincent Rouet. If you have not seen what managed instances are all about, you have to come check out this session. It is a longer one (2 hours) but then again there is alot to cover. If SQL Azure Database doesn't have the look and feel of SQL Server for you, check out managed instances. I'm very excited to see this new upcoming service come to reality.
See you at SQLBits
Bob Ward
Microsoft