Release the potential hidden in your data
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise, which is the premium edition, delivers high-end data centre capabilities with accelerated performance, unlimited virtualisation, and full-stack business intelligence, enabling premium service levels for mission-critical workloads and access to data insights for end users.
The standard edition (SQL Server Standard), provides basic data management and business intelligence databases for smaller organisations to run their applications. It supports common development tools for on-premises and cloud—enabling effective database management with minimal resources.
Why Microsoft SQL Server for Business Intelligence?
For data management, Microsoft SQL Server includes SQL Server Integration Services, SQL Server Data Quality Services and SQL Server Master Data Services. Also bundled with the DBMS are two sets of tools for database administrators and developers: SQL Server Data Tools, for use in developing databases, and SQL Server Management Studio, for use in deploying, monitoring and managing database environments.
Microsoft SQL Server also includes a variety of data management, business intelligence and analytics tools. For example, in addition to the R Services and Machine Learning Services technology that appeared in SQL Server 2016, the current data analysis offerings include SQL Server Analysis Services, an analytical engine which processes data for use in BI and data visualisation applications, and SQL Server Reporting Services, which supports the creation and delivery of business intelligence reports.
What we do
- Provide fully managed proactive or reactive DBA support services
- Provide design and implementation consultancy for on-premises, hybrid or cloud-based SQL Server environment & licensing modernisation projects to deliver cost-effective, performance-led modernised database platforms
- Undertake SQL environment audits and health-checks to ensure that environments are secure, architected and configured to best practice recommendations
- Provide troubleshooting consultancy to ensure that environments are performing at their optimal efficiency and capability.
- Provide SQL Server licensing consultancy to make the very complicated world of SQL server licensing easier to understand, procure and assign.
- Provide design and implementation consultancy and support services for on-premises, hybrid or cloud-based bespoke end to end business intelligence reporting solutions
- Advise on the latest database and data warehouse technology including SQL, SSAS, SSIS, SSRS, SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory, Cosmos DB and Power BI
Key features:
The most secure platform
- Built-in security and compliance
- The fewest vulnerabilities for nearly a decade
- Always-encrypted data enclaves
Big data clusters for intelligence across all your data
- AI across all your data
- Break down data silos
- Manage both unstructured and structured data
Leading performance
- Intelligent database capabilities
- Number 1 in performance
Fully scalable cloud services
- Easily migrate on-premises SQL database environments to the cloud
- Run hybrid on-premises / cloud environments where required
High availability
- Lightning-fast database recovery
- Maximum availability
Choice of language and platform
- Run SQL anywhere
- Use SQL Server with Linux and Windows containers; deploy and use Kubernetes to manage them
End-to-end mobile BI
- Connect all of your data
- Visualise and explore your data
- Self-serve BI on any device
SQL Server End of Support
SQL Server 2012 reached the end of support on 12th July 2022, and Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 will reach the end of support on 10th October 2023. After these dates, these products will no longer receive security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, or technical support. Learn what this means and how to safeguard your data estate.
Introducing SQL Server 2022
SQL Server 2022 builds on previous releases to grow SQL Server as a platform that gives you choices of development languages, data types, on-premises or cloud environments, and operating systems.
Ocorian cuts costs and powers global growth with Northdoor Managed Services
“We chose Northdoor for our SQL Server modernisation project for several reasons: they held all of the relevant Microsoft certifications, supported by a proven track record, combined with compelling pricing. In addition, Northdoor could not only handle the rationalisation and implementation, but also run the new environment as a fully managed service.”
Stuart Geddes, IT Director, Ocorian
Awards – recognition for our work
Northdoor won the 2018 European IT & Software Excellence Award in the Data Management solution of the Year category for our project for Addaction.
We were also honoured to be finalists in the 2018 Microsoft Partner of the Year – Data Estate Modernisation Award.
We are a top tier Systems Integration partner with Microsoft Gold competencies in Data Platform and Business Intelligence. This is further complemented by our SharePoint capability, enabling us to utilise SharePoint as a portal for reports and dashboards using the Microsoft BI stack.
Technologies we use. Who we are doing this for:
ABRSM, the exam board of the Royal Schools of Music, wanted better business intelligence reporting to support its growing organisation. The previous static fact book relied on cumbersome manual processes and lacked the ability to drill into the data, and so was not relied upon.
We helped ABRSM to achieve its objective by constructing an online reporting solution that provides targeted data insights on a daily basis. The online suite was designed to allow for a more interactive experience for the business by providing both content already found in the fact book and new insights via standard reporting and dashboards.
Northdoor worked closely with an NHS Trust that was facing the prospect of substantially increased SQL server licensing costs of over £3m in the next financial year due to changes to the licensing model, along with the complexities of support multiple SQL Server versions. Northdoor advised on and implemented a platform move to a new version of SQL Server which provided a highly available solution integrated with the Microsoft Azure cloud.
The benefits to the client were annual licence savings of £400k per annum, along with lower ongoing support effort, and enhanced availability and disaster recovery capability.
Northdoor implemented a flexible business intelligence system based on Microsoft SQL Server. At the time, the solution was one of the largest-scale SQL Server replication projects in Europe, consolidating data from all of Medivet’s practices into once central repository. Each Medivet branch is still able to capture and store data on its own server, but the information is replicated on a cluster of central servers.
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