About James Serra
I am an independent consultant with the title of Business Intelligence/Data Warehouse/Master Data Management Architect and Developer, specializing in the Microsoft SQL Server BI stack.Need some help?
If you are looking for help in building a data warehouse or end-to-end BI solution, send me an email and we can discuss your needs. I am available for short or long-term projects.Follow Me!
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Recent Posts
- Consulting company: Perm/Salaried vs 1099/W2
- When the person you hire is not the person you hire
- Should placement companies use a markup %?
- Data cleansing in SSIS, DQS, and MDS
- Billing rates – other side of the fence, part 2
- Want me to do a presentation?
- Enhance your career by blogging!
- Consultants – Why pay more?
- Industry Expert Interview
- PASS Business Analytics Conference: the ultimate networking
Recent Comments
- Jeff Moden on When the person you hire is not the person you hire
- Sven Aelterman on Jumping from SSIS 2008 to SSIS 2012
- Dave Iffland on SSAS error when processing the cube
- Data cleansing in SSIS, DQS, and MDS | James Serra's Blog on Microsoft Data Quality Services in SQL Server 2012
- Charles Jenkins on SSIS 2012: Empty toolbox?
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Top Posts & Pages
- When the person you hire is not the person you hire
- Data Warehouse Architecture - Kimball and Inmon methodologies
- Salaried employee vs contractor
- Visual Studio 2012 does not support BI
- SSDT - Installation confusion
- Master Data Services (MDS): Miscellaneous tips
- Consultants: Corp-to-Corp vs 1099
- SQL Server 2012: Multidimensional vs tabular
- Create SQL Server scripts with Visio 2010
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Category Archives: Appliance
PASS Business Analytics Conference Presentation Slides
Thanks to everyone who attended my sessions “Overview of Microsoft Appliances” and “Building an Effective Data Warehouse Architecture” at the PASS Business Analytics Conference. Here are the PowerPoint presentations: Overview of Microsoft Appliances and Building an Effective Data Warehouse Architecture. Overview of Microsoft Appliances … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, Data warehouse, PASS, Presentation, Session, SQLServerPedia Syndication
2 Comments
Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance 2000
As a follow-up to my blog Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance for SQL Server 2012, Dell announced the availability of the second appliance in the Quickstart family: the Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance 2000 (QSDW2000). This is a pre-built appliance for data warehouses … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, SQLServerPedia Syndication
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SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Appliance Update 3 (AU3)
In the next few weeks there will be an update to the SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) called “Appliance Update 3″ or “AU3″. More than just a cumulative update, an Appliance Update is a complete refresh on the entire solution including software, hardware, … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, PDW, SQLServerPedia Syndication
12 Comments
Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance for SQL Server 2012
As a follow-up to my blog Microsoft SQL Server Reference Architecture and Appliances, Dell recently announced the future availability of Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance based on SQL Server 2012. Right now only HP has a Business Data Warehouse appliance (BDW). Basically these … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, SQLServerPedia Syndication
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Houston Area SQL Server User Group Presentation
Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation “Scaling SQL Server to HUNDREDS of Terabytes” at HASSUG. Here is the PowerPoint presentation: Scaling SQL Server to HUNDREDS of Terabytes As a followup to a question from the presentation about clustering the appliances, I … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, Career, Presentation, Session, SQLServerPedia Syndication
4 Comments
Microsoft and HP’s Database Consolidation Appliance
Microsoft and HP have announced another appliance, called the Database Consolidation Appliance (DBC) (see my blog about the other two appliances). In short, this appliance consolidates databases into a single, virtual environment. In more detail: Many customers continue to struggle with … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication
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Microsoft’s Data Warehouse offerings
If you are the decision maker in your company and you are tasked with purchasing one or more servers to be used solely for SQL Server and solely as a data warehouse, be aware there are options outside of the usual … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, Data warehouse, Fast Track, PDW, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication
2 Comments
Microsoft SQL Server Reference Architecture and Appliances
Microsoft has made available SQL Server appliances and reference architectures that allow customers to deploy data warehouse (DW), business intelligence (BI) and database consolidation solutions in a very short time, with all the components pre-configured and pre-optimized. These appliances include all the … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, Data warehouse, Fast Track, PDW, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication
7 Comments
Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Explained
Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW), formally called by its code name “Project Madison”, is an edition of Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 R2 that was released in December 2010. PDW is Microsoft’s reworking of the DatAllegro Inc. massive parallel processing (MPP) product … Continue reading
Posted in Appliance, PDW, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication
12 Comments
