Introduction For many years, working with text in SQL Server has been a frustrating task. While some engines offered advanced support for regular expressions, others had to rely on combinations of LIKE, PATINDEX, CHARINDEX, or even CLR functions to solve relatively common problems. In 2025, Read More

Introduction It is clear that AI is here to stay, and Microsoft knows it. That is why the 2025 version of SQL Server comes with a new feature for the AI era: the use of vectors for search. By this point in 2026, terms like Read More

Evolution of JSON support in SQL Server Since SQL Server 2016, Microsoft introduced support for JSON data, allowing developers to store and query semi-structured information within relational databases. However, until now, working with large volumes of JSON data could be complex and costly in terms Read More

Welcome to a new article on the Aleson ITC blog. In today’s post, we’ll talk about CES (Change Event Streaming) for SQL Server 2025. We’ll explain what it is, how it works, what it’s used for, and the different scenarios where this feature can be Read More

With the arrival of SQL Server 2025, Microsoft has introduced ZSTD as a new backup compression algorithm. This addition aims to significantly optimize backup operations, improving both execution speed and efficiency in the use of system resources. The introduction of ZSTD in SQL Server 2025 Read More

SQL Server 2025 introduces a long‑awaited improvement in concurrency management with Optimized Locking. This feature, previously available in Azure SQL Database, now arrives in SQL Server 2025, promising more efficient transaction handling without the need to modify existing code. What is Optimized Locking? Optimized Locking Read More

Since SQL Server 2025 was released last November, we took some time before starting this series, but it was about time. This version is packed with new features that deserve a proper review before putting them into production. In this first post, we’ll provide an Read More