PerformancePoint is considered Microsoft's primary business intelligence software product, but the company's BI strategy goes much deeper than that. In the coming months, it'll be working to develop more technologies and products that heavily rely on SQL Server, with particular focus on the next release of the database.

At its second annual BI conference, starting this week in Seattle, Microsoft will for the first time publicly talk about its next major SQL Server upgrade. Code-named Kilimanjaro, the upgrade is scheduled for delivery in 2010, Microsoft executives said in an interview last week.

Kilimanjaro will provide the foundation for Microsoft's first data warehouse appliance, code-named Madison, and a BI tool called Gemini that's being designed to bring a broader range of employees into the BI fold.

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