Frequently Asked Questions – StreamInsight™
Q. What does this solution mean for customers?
A. While OLTP databases have matured and are capable of processing thousands of transactions per
second; they are not optimized for processing continuous high volume, low latency streams of data.
Microsoft’s innovative StreamInsight™ platform allows customers to use their own proprietary
algorithms to build custom real-time applications, ISVs to build industry specific solutions and
embedded system developers to offer low latency processing.
Q. What are some of the key scenarios that require support for complex event processing?
A. Algorithmic trading in the financial services industry, industrial process monitoring and control in
manufacturing, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals etc., click stream analysis on the web, electric power
utility grid monitoring, data center system monitoring, fraud prevention & detection, oil, and gas
pipeline monitoring are some of the scenarios.
Q. What are the key benefits for supporting complex event processing?
A. The benefits vary by industry and scenario but all are a result of the ability to process large volumes
of time varying events/data with very low latency and to take action(s) as a result. For example ability
to mine trading opportunities in almost real time in stock markets.
Q. Why is Microsoft making this investment?
A. Microsoft is committed to enabling customers to better manage their business through quick and
effective processing of information. Microsoft is delivering on its promise of “Enabling customers of all
sizes to derive value from ALL data, birth through archival". Besides allowing customers the flexibility
to develop their own applications, Microsoft is committed to enabling ISVs and embedded system
developers to develop products and solutions that customers can exploit.
Q. Are there specific customers with whom Microsoft has been testing this functionality to
date?
A: Many customers have expressed excitement about this functionality. We will publish more
information on customer references closer to the release.
Q. When will this technology be available for customers?
A. StreamInsight™ will be released as part of SQL Server 2008 R2 release which is expected in H2
fiscal year 2010.
Q. How will StreamInsight™ be licensed and priced?
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As of today we have not committed to any pricing or licensing strategies. More information will be
available as we get closer to the release in H2 2010.
Q. Do I need to install any other software to take advantage of this support?
A. StreamInsight™ will require Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 or higher, .NET Fx 3.5 or higher and
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 or higher for development.
Q. Are there benchmark results which support performance expectations for StreamInsight™?
A. There are no benchmark results available today. We will provide more guidance on actual
scalability of specific workloads when we are closer to release. We will consider industry standard
benchmarks.
Q. What applications are most likely to need support for StreamInsight™?
A. Applications that require extremely low latency processing with high scale and performance
include:

Process monitoring i.e. scheduling, control, and inventory including processing such as RFID,
bar codes, process monitoring at oil and gas refinery.

Financial algorithmic trading, compliance monitoring, fraud detection, risk management

Click stream analysis on websites , context sensitive navigation and ad-delivery model

Utility grid monitoring – demand from meters and supply from generation units combined
with energy trading

Patient Monitoring (Healthcare),

Network traffic monitoring, security intrusion detection

IT monitoring

Telecom network monitoring

Anomaly detection
Q. Will StreamInsight™ work/interoperate with non-Microsoft platforms?
A. StreamInsight™ was not architected/designed with a specific platform in mind. The platform can
integrate with other data sources and sinks with the help of right set of adapters.
Q. How is Microsoft fostering development of adapters?
A. Microsoft is committed to the development of a healthy adapter eco system. Microsoft will be
providing an adapter development kit (ADK) with a reference implementation.
Q. What does this announcement mean for partners?
A. Our partners such as ISVs, embedded system developers and adapter developers will get
opportunities to differentiate their product in solution capabilities and performance based on our
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platform. Partners will be able to save development cost and develop solutions faster using a platform
based on a set of proven and mature tools and technologies. High performance and complex query
capabilities amongst other features enables development of custom or industry solutions for a variety
of industries and scenarios. The ease of development and ready availability of skilled resources will
enable customers that have not been able to take advantage to build applications using the
technology. Implementation of this support by vendors ensures customer has the options and is able
to choose the solutions built on an enterprise class platform that best suits their business.
Q. With which ISVs is Microsoft working now?
A. We are working with many vendors to build solutions around the platforms. Several end user
scenarios require use of this technology and platform. The technology will enable actions and
business decision in near real time based on complex processing logic uniquely defined by the needs
of the business
Q. When will the next release be?
A. We plan to release the next major version of the product in 24-26 month.
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