Leveraging SQL Server investment

I noticed recently that Attunity has just announced Change Data Capture (CDC) for Microsoft SQL Server. CDC is an important mechanism for making file transfer or Extract/Transform/Load (ETL) far more efficient, something that is highly desirable in a world of shrinking batch windows and demand for real-time or near real-term accuracy. When using CDC, only the changes to a file are captured for transmission. For example, a price list might be transferred to every location of a retail chain once a week, and then any changes during the week will automatically be passed on to these sites without having to incur the overhead of a complete new file transfer.

Attunity is reputedly the first vendor to deliver CDC for Microsoft SQL Server, and I think it is great news. Many companies have invested heavily in SQL Server, and yet the IT industry seems to concentrate on getting the most out of legacy databases rather than SQL Server. This functionality offers an important means to leverage SQL Server investment - after all, for many companies SQL Server should be considered as a legacy database in its own right.   

Steve