Microsoft said today that it will release the next version of SQL Server on 7 November as part of a worldwide mega-launch of three of its flagship software packages.

SQL Server 2005 will be launched alongside Visual Studio 2005 (with which it shares much code) and Biztalk 2006.

Key features of the forthcoming database software will be a reduction in software downtime due to maintenance or hardware failure, and enhanced application security, according to the software giant.

"The new code is designed to make life easier for developers and administrators," said Andrew Lees, corporate vice president of server tools at Microsoft, in his keynote address at Microsoft TechEd 2005 Europe in Amsterdam.

"Seventy per cent of IT budgets go on upkeep and only 30 per cent on new function. We want to change that by reducing complexity."

One of the key SQL 2005 advances is a database mirroring function that allows changes to be made to operating databases without the need for downtime.

To improve availability the system can be configured to allow different data centres to balance loads.

Lees demonstrated this by showing two linked databases handling requests, then taking a sledgehammer to one of the systems. The second database then took over requests.

Security has also been enhanced, according to Microsoft, with all data in the forthcoming product being encrypted from the ground up. Users are assigned levels of access so that as much or as little of the database can be accessed by those with different levels of clearance.

Lees claimed that set-up of the application has also been made more secure by making it possible to reduce the code's visibility to hackers.