Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is a top performance database server, competing head to head with products from Oracle and Sybase. Like all these products it works by receiving a database query via the network (or Internet), performing it locally at very high speed, and then sending the resulting data back to the client PC. This allows much higher database functionality on a limited bandwidth network, and makes complex applications that use enormous amounts of data possible, even over the Internet.

Some of the benefits of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 include:

• Highly reliable
• Wide functionality
• Scalability, allowing it to process very large amounts of data
• Sophisticated security
• Good administration tools
• Competitive licence pricing
• Good integration with other Microsoft products
• Good web and XML support