Current SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (32-bit) customers can switch to the 64-bit release at no additional upgrade cost. Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is the complete database and analysis offering ...

The main enhancement of 64-bit SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition is optimization for the Itanium 2 processor. Some earlier test versions of SQL Server were built for the original Itanium processor.

Microsoft said its applications, such as the SQL Server relational database, eventually will be written for 64-bit processing, although company officials did not offer a timeframe for that effort.

Microsoft officials previously had said the 64-bit version would follow by about 30-45 days the much-delayed Windows .Net Server, which is due in the second half of this year.

The federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations' (DEWR) recent upgrade of the back-end of its online services portal to Microsoft's 64-bit SQL Server 2005 database hit only one hitch ...

For its part, NEC Solutions America Inc. will integrate SQL Server 2005 into its Express5800/1000 server series, powered by Intels 64-bit Itanium 2 processors, and its Fibre Channel Storage S series.

The upcoming SQL Server 2005, code-named Yukon, will offer native 64-bit support. It is still expected by year's end, the spokeswoman said.