The preview version includes all the new features planned for the final. In particular, the creation of business intelligence solutions will be easier. Two new versions support up to 256 logical processors.

Microsoft provides third Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 from now on download at. The preview version includes all the features planned for the final.

The R2 version of SQL Server 2008 is to facilitate, inter alia, the creation of business intelligence solutions. Also new are a multi-server monitoring and multi-server management.

With SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard and SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Server 2008 R2 Microsoft also is launching two new editions of the database for mission-critical applications that support up to 256 logical processors. The latter will be available as an appliance only in conjunction with server hardware from Bull, Dell, HP, EMC and IBM. The availability of the final SQL Server 2008 R2 has been announced for the first half of 2010.