Microsoft SQL Server 2016 – New features and enhancements

This version of SQL Server is going to be a major release with new features and will also overcome some limitations of SQL Server 2014.

SQL Server 2016 delivers breakthrough mission-critical capabilities with in-memory performance and operational analytics built-in. Comprehensive security features like new Always Encrypted technology help protect your data at rest and in motion, and a world-class high availability and disaster recovery solution adds new enhancements to AlwaysOn technology.

New features and enhancements :

1. New Performance Enhancements :
   • In-memory OLTP enhancements : Greater T-SQL surface area, terabytes of memory supported and greater number of parallel CPUs, provide up to 30x faster Transactions, more than 100x faster Queries than disk-based relational databases and Real-time Operational Analytics.
   • Query Data Store : Monitor and optimize query plans with full history of query execution
   • Native JSON : Parsing & storing of JSON as relational data & exporting relational data to JSON, as it is becoming a popular format to store NoSQL/Unstructured data.
2. Security Upgrades :
   • Always Encrypted : Help protect data at rest and in motion with the master key residing with the application & no application changes required. Read 6 Things You Should Know About SQL Server 2016 Always On Encryption.
   • Row Level Security : Customers can implement Row-level Security on databases to enable implementation of fine-grained access control over rows in a database table for greater control over which users can access which data.
   • Dynamic Data Masking : Real-time obfuscation of data to prevent unauthorized access
3. Even Higher Availability, with Enhanced AlwaysOn:
   • Up to 3 synchronous replicas for auto failover across domains, for more robust High Availability and Disaster Recovery
   • Round-robin load balancing of replicas
   • DTC & SSIS support
   • Automatic failover based on database health
4. Hybrid Cloud Solution :
   • Stretch Database : Stretch operational tables in a secure manner into Azure for cost effective historic data availability, that lets you dynamically stretch your warm and cold transactional data to Microsoft Azure.
   • Azure Data Factory integration with SSIS
5. Deeper Insights Across Data :
   • PolyBase : Manage relational & non-relational data with the simplicity of T-SQL
   • Enhanced SSIS : Designer support for previous SSIS versions and support for Power Query
   • Built-in Advanced Analytics: Bringing predictive analytic algorithms directly into SQL Server.

Check the SQL Server 2016 Datasheet here for more information on this: http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/D/3/FD33C34D-3B65-4DA9-8A9F-0B456656DE3B/SQL_Server_2016_datasheet.pdf