Transaction processing systems remain a key component of corporate database infrastructures. The selected database platform plays a critical role in accomplishing efficiencies through the use of technology; the database needs to provide strong online transaction processing performance in a concurrent environment to handle transactions during the day, and also strong decision support performance for end-of-day and reporting activities.

In addition, the ability to automate and customize the transfer of data to corporate warehouses is mandatory. As the best database for Windows, SQL Server is the ideal choice for high-end data warehousing systems, with innovations in ease of use, reliability, and scalability features like dynamic row-level locking, distributed query and very large database (VLDB) enhancements.