CRM can mean many things to many people and for those that put their workforce out in the field this latest release of Microsoft's SQL server could mean a large reduction in the time and effort needed to put a CRM app into the field.

Microsoft SQL Server: SQL Server Compact 3.5 is designed to be crammed onto just about any of the Microsoft desktop environments, but it's the mobile platforms that make this worth reading further. With support for Windows Mobile 5/6 and the CE variants Microsoft has radically reduced the effort required to link, update and synchronize a mobile platform with the home office SQL server. So while it's a wild guess, I just have to imagine that the folks at UPS/FedEx/etc have got to be taking notice.

With Visual Studio.NET as Microsoft's tookkit of choice, SQL Compact edition can be scaled to fit various needs while giving a reasonable number of secure communications methods. Did I also mention that Microsoft isn't charging for this? Download it for free of their website.

In a multiple-server environment, to exchange data between SQL Server Compact Edition and SQL Server, you have to install replication components on the computer that is running IIS. The following table lists how to install the replication components on two different versions of SQL Server.
borrowed from: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/compact/sysreqs.mspx

Now while this is really targeted at SQL Server on the backend, I'm not sure this can't be leveraged for other platforms. I found some information on Microsoft's site that seems to indicate that this isn't quite as tightly linked as I first thought. The stuff I found on MSDN at first glance don't look MS-SQL specific, so it sounds like something to try when I get back from vacation. Can it be used with MySQL or others, maybe...I'll have to get back to you folks on that.

Posted by Brian Chee on December 16, 2007 05:42 PM