Earlier this month at the Microsoft Ignite conference, Microsoft announced SQL Server 2019 general availability. Microsoft has positioned SQL 2019 as their "highest performing SQL Server release to date," and SQL Server 2019 addresses many of the needs for a modern database, including:

• AI/ML integration
• A database designed to perform equally as well at the edge as at the core and that can easily function across operating systems and platforms;
• Efficient scaling across multiple platforms with expanding big data sets; and
• Improved security and availability.

Some or all of these things may lead you to look at modernizing to SQL 2019, and it can certainly address many of the needs for your business as outlined in Microsoft's latest blog.

Consider the infrastructure

But modernizing your database isn't just about choosing Microsoft SQL 2019. When migrating to SQL 2019 you must consider the infrastructure that will run SQL Server if you want to harness its full potential. Can your infrastructure supportandmaximize SQL 2019's capabilities?

Here is a suggested checklist:

• Is your infrastructure flexible enough to run SQL in any location from core to edge? And can it expand to meet your changing needs?
• Does it have the computing power to take full advantage of big data, AI and Machine Learning?
• Validated performance for SQL 2019 is a must, but how does it stack up in performance against other infrastructure solutions?
• Is it built for virtualization and containerized SQL? And does it integrate with the cloud for hybrid environment?
• Is it as modern as SQL 2019, taking full advantage of advancements in computing, networking and storage technology?

The numbers prevail

As reported in our blog Cisco Dominates Microsoft SQL Server...again, Cisco UCS and Cisco HyperFlex are great options for infrastructure solutions to run SQL Server 2019. Cisco UCS has the#1 TPC benchmark for any solution using Intel Xeon scalable 2nd generation processors. And if you are looking at hyperconverged infrastructure, look no further than Cisco HyperFlex. This Gartner Magic Quadrant leader offers All Flash and All NVMe HCI solutions that hyper-charge SQL performance anywhere you need to deploy it from core data centers to the edge. Cisco's trusted data center solutions give IT the confidence that they can modernize and lead new business innovations.

Learn more about Cisco Data Center solutions for SQL

Read other blogs in our Applications Modernization Blog Series.