Visual Studio Gets Database Edition

Microsoft on Wednesday announced a new addition to the Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Team Edition for Database Professionals. The product is designed to promote collaboration when building database driven applications, and is another step on the road to Visual Studio "Orcas."

Orcas is the next release of Visual Studio that will tie together SQL Server 2005, Windows Vista and Office 2007. It will bring support for Microsoft's new .NET LINQ query syntax and integrate "Atlas," the company's new tool for developing Web applications using AJAX.

In the meantime, Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals is designed for database architects, developers and administrators.

"It provides a foundation for change management, testing, offline database projects and deployment of databases through integrated functionality that enables database developers and administrators to be more productive, increase security and drive quality," a Microsoft spokesperson explained to BetaNews Wednesday.

The first Community Technology Preview of the new edition will be available on June 11 at Tech Ed in Boston. A final release is expected to ship by the end of 2006, and will cost approximately $5,469.