Microsoft plans to release a version of SQL Server 2008, code-named Kilimanjaro, that will use technology from the data warehousing appliance vendor to build massively parallel systems that can scale out into the "hundreds of terabytes," said , corporate vice president for data and storage at Microsoft.

Hardware vendors such as Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Unisys and Bull, which were previously working with DATAllegro, will build data warehousing appliances, code-named Madison, based on the combined SQL Server/DATAllegro technology.

Those appliances will be available by the first half of 2010, though a community technology preview version of Madison should be available within 12 months, Kummert said.

At its second business intelligence conference in Seattle, Microsoft also said it wants to "democratize" business intelligence and make it available to more employees inside a company by bolstering in a project code-named Gemini.

, president of Microsoft's business division, said that tools such as Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, along with SharePoint and , provide a complete stack that complements SQL Server and is superior to other vendors' "cobbled-together, disparate solutions."