Microsoft competes with Oracle offering free SQL Server licenses and migration training

Microsoft continues to work at being a leader in Enterprise solutions, their latest effort could help in enticing even more users to their SQL Server. Microsoft has announced that any user of Oracle’s services can move their databases to SQL Server for free. To claim this offer, users will need to sign up for a software assurance package and all necessary licenses for SQL will be provided.

Alongside the software and licenses for SQL Server, users who take advantage of this offer get access to free training and subsidized services for deployment. This package includes hands-on labs and instructor demos on the key features of SQL Server and help in deploying your applications on-premise or in the cloud.

To help users understand some key benefits switching to SQL Server offers them, Microsoft has highlighted those areas under, “Why Switch to SQL Server?” It mentions:

• More secure. Get layers of protection for your data at rest and in motion. SQL Server is rated the least vulnerable database six years in a row by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.*
• Highest performing. SQL Server is ranked first, second, and third—and Oracle is ranked fifth—in the TPC-H 10TB non-clustered results, a standard benchmark for data warehousing workloads.**
• End-to-end mobile BI on any device. Publish modern reports using Power BI or Excel 2016 to an iPhone, Android, or Windows phone. Enable both self-service BI and mobility at a fraction of the cost of Oracle.
• In-database advanced analytics at no extra cost. Make better decisions with easy-to-use analytic tools that seamlessly combine enterprise data, external data, and unstructured big data.
• In-memory built-in across all workloads. Achieve exponential performance gains with the speed of in-memory online transaction processing.
• Consistent experience from on-premises to cloud. Get a consistent experience both on-premises and in the cloud with common development and management tools and common T-SQL.

Users can start the process of claiming their free SQL Sever licenses and package by leaving contact information for Microsoft here. With free training and subsidized migration good until June 30th, 2016, users have a few months left to take advantage of this offer. Let us know in the comments if you or your organization are looking into this offer and its advantages.