SQL Server 2012 RC0

SQL Server 2012 Release Candidate 0 is now available for download. SQL Server 2012 RC0 (previously code-named Denali) includes several new capabilities (most of which are related to the release’s new features) that weren’t available in SQL Server Denali CTP3, including the following:

• AlwaysOn—SQL Server 2012 RC0 offers multiple readable secondaries in AlwaysOn, which lets you better distribute backup and reporting workloads, and it now supports the FileTable and FILESTREAM data types.
• Resource Governor—According the SQL Server Team Blog, SQL Server 2012’s Resource Governor includes several new capabilities, including support for 64 resource pools, enhanced CPU usage controls, and enhanced resource allocation.
• Cloud Computing—SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) now supports snapshot backups to Windows Azure.
• Data Quality Services and Master Data Services—This release provides Change Data Capture (CDC) support for Oracle.
• Power View—The data visualization tool includes new features with SQL Server 2012 RC0.

For more information about the upcoming release of SQL Server, see Microsoft’s SQL Server 2012 page. You can download SQL Server 2012 RC0 here.