1. Microsoft released SQL server 2014 to the manufacturers this week. General availability of the database server scheduled for April 1, 2014.

2. In-Memory Transaction Processing / In-Memory OLTP is the new feature of SQL server 2014. This new feature could improve the speed of database operations up to 30 times faster. “Hekaton” was the code name of the Microsoft SQL server in-memory technology project.

3. Only the individual rows will be locked while the In-memory table read/write operations and storage procedures could also use In-Memory technology to improve the performance.

4. As per the released SQL server 2014 news’s, front-end applications are not required to be rewritten to use In-Memory technology. But the existing databases need to be modified to use In-memory technology. You can also find a demo code from Microsoft.

5. Backup and recovery of on-premises SQL Server databases using Windows Azure are easier. SQL Server 2014’s AlwaysOn technology was built to enroll Windows Azure virtual machines running SQL Server into a customers’ disaster recovery solution. One can get SQL Server with its in-memory features up and running in an Azure VM within few minutes. SQL Server 2014 will be available in a Windows Azure virtual machine image as part of general availability on April 1.

6. SQL server 2014 VM’s can be backed up to Windows Azure storage. These Databases can be deployed to Windows Azure VMs easier.