BI announcements @ PDC 2010

Exciting stuff today. For the first time in Microsoft’s history, PDC is happening on campus to a sold out crowd and were making lots of interesting announcements. Two that have be stoked are SQL Azure Reporting and the new Windows Azure MarketPlace, DataMarket(codenamed “Dallas”). 

SQL Azure Reporting enables you to embed reports into any application, anywhere, with the cloud at your back. Create your reports using the familiar SQL Server Tools (Business Intelligence Studio), publish and then use with the elasticity that is Azure. Exciting stuff. Literally take your report anywhere, and scale when and how you need it. Check out the webpage for more info, and sign up for the CTP.

DataMarket Place will provide data, imagery, and real-time web services from a variety of providers. From a BI perspective, you can access data within a common environment, mash-it-up with other data for creating unique perspectives, sharing this with your user community. What’s the common environment you ask? PowerPivot of course. We’ve released a new version of the plugin to Excel 2010 with direct access to the MarketPlace. Download it now from here. From the PowerPivot window, you’ll see a new icon to access the DataMarket directly. Let me know what you get cooking…