Get ready for a full-day, hands-on tour of the most important new features in SQL Server 2025 and Azure SQL Database—tailored specifically for developers. Lenni will pull no punches as he delivers a fast-paced, demo-heavy workshop designed to get you up to speed on powerful capabilities across T-SQL, AI, security, and modern app development.

We’ll start with how the T-SQL language itself is evolving, including fuzzy string matching, regular expressions, and a native JSON data type with JSON indexing. You’ll also learn how to expose your data instantly via REST or GraphQL using Data API Builder, and how vector search with built-in AI integration enables powerful Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) experiences right inside the database.

We’ll explore the brand-new Change Event Streaming feature, which brings real-time, event-driven architecture to your database by streaming table changes directly to Azure Event Hubs.

On the security side, you’ll see how ledger tables provide tamper-evidence using blockchain, along with row-level security, and Always Encrypted with secure enclaves for rich queries over protected data. We’ll wrap up by revisiting PolyBase—still one of the most powerful tools for querying external sources like Azure Blob Storage, MongoDB, and Oracle—all from within T-SQL. It’s everything you need to modernize your data-driven development in one packed day.

You will learn:

• Leverage T-SQL enhancements—including fuzzy matching, regular expressions, and the native JSON data type with indexing—to build cleaner, more powerful queries.
• Build modern, event-driven and AI-powered applications using Change Event Streaming, vector search with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), and REST/GraphQL endpoints with Data API Builder.
• Strengthen your skills with advanced security features like ledger tables and secure enclaves, and integration with external data via PolyBase.