Microsoft has upped the database ante again, including data mining features in its upcoming SQL Server 2000 database, due by midyear. Beta 2 code ships this week.
No other database vendor has done this, and Microsoft's accessible data mining interfaces and easy-to-use administration tools make this complex technology approachable.
Using SQL Server 2000's data mining engine, PC Week Labs drilled down to find the most important factors affecting specific criteria or to perform market segmentation analyses to personalise Web sites.
Data mining information is available through either a relational or an online analytical processing interface. Four decision trees and two clustering data mining algorithms are provided.
This release also includes distributed query features for scalable performance across shared-nothing clusters of servers.
For databases that can be divided into logical groupings, this feature is going to provide incredible speed boosts. Look for a full review of SQL Server 2000 in an upcoming issue of PC Week.
