Database developers and administrators (DBAs) who are eagerly awaiting the release of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft's next generation data management and analysis platform, can take immediate action to prepare their enterprises for deployment.

The SQL Server 2005 Ascend Program was created by Microsoft as a way for industry partners and their customers to adopt the next-generation data management and analysis software before it is made available to the public. Ascend goes well beyond conventional beta testing programs, providing industry partners with training tools and hands-on labs to walk them through and build confidence for the process of migrating applications to SQL Server 2005 (formerly known by the codename "Yukon").

To coincide with presentations on the SQL Server 2005 Ascend Program at this week's Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, PressPass convened a roundtable discussion with Tom Rizzo, director of product management for SQL Server at Microsoft, Bob Beauchemin, principal scientist, DevelopMentor, Reed Jacobson, senior architect, Hitachi Consulting, and Robert Beatty, vice president, Scalability Experts, to learn about the Ascend Program.