High Availability
Failover clustering and database mirroring technology in SQL Server 2005 enables enterprises to deliver highly reliable, available applications to employees, customers, and partners.
Management Tools
SQL Server 2005 introduces an integrated suite of management tools and management application programming interfaces (APIs) to provide ease of use, manageability, and support for operating large-scale SQL Server deployments.
Security Enhancements
SQL Server 2005 has been designed to help provide the highest level of security for enterprise data through features such as database encryption, more secure default settings, password policy enforcement, granular permissions control, and an enhanced security model.
Scalability
Scalability advancements in SQL Server 2005 include table partitioning, replication enhancements, and 64-bit support.
Common Language Runtime (CLR) Integration
SQL Server 2005 introduces the capability to develop database objects using any Microsoft .NET language.
Deep XML Integration
SQL Server 2005 delivers a new XML data type, enabling the storage of XML fragments or documents in SQL Server databases.
Transact-SQL Enhancements
New query types and the capability to use error handling in transactions provide developers with more flexibility and control in SQL Server query development.
SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition
Full integration of SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition with SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 provides a platform for developers to rapidly build applications that extend enterprise data management capabilities to mobile devices.
Analysis Services
Analysis Services provides a unified and integrated view of all your business data as the foundation for all of your traditional reporting, OLAP analysis, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) scorecards and data mining.
Integration Services
SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a next generation data integration platform that can integrate data from any source. SSIS provides a scalable and extensible platform that empowers development teams to build, manage, and deploy integration solutions to meet unique integration needs.
Reporting Services
SQL Server Reporting Services is a comprehensive, server-based reporting solution designed to help you author, manage, and deliver both paper-based and interactive Web-based reports.
Data Mining
SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) provides tools for data mining with which you can identify rules and patterns in your data, so that you can determine why things happen and predict what will happen in the future—giving you powerful insight that will help your company make better business decisions.