Microsoft will use its Mobile DevCon later this month to talk up its next release of its SQL Server CE platform, version 3.0, code-named "Laguna."

Like Yukon — the next version of the full-fledged SQL Server release — Laguna is unlikely to debut before mid-2005. Microsoft officials acknowledged earlier this week that Yukon won't ship by the end of 2004, as they had hoped, and will now be out in the first half of 2005.

Read More on the Yukon and Whidbey Delay Here

Sources say that Microsoft hopes to deliver a first beta of Laguna in conjunction with "Yukon" SQL Server Beta 2, which is expected by mid-2004. The Redmond software maker plans to release Laguna to manufacturing right alongside Yukon.

Microsoft released the current version of its mobile database platform, SQL Server CE 2.0 (which it also calls
SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition), in 2002. The platform is aimed at developers who want to write mobile applications that will run on smaller form-factor devices, like Smartphones and PocketPCs.

Learn More About the SQL Server CE Platform on Microsoft's
Site

Laguna is expected to run on PocketPC 2002, 2003 and Phone Edition platforms. It will be optimized for the Windows CE .Net "Macallan" release (the successor to CE 4.2). Macallan is slated to be released to manufacturing this summer and to be available from Microsoft embedded partners in the early fall of 2004.

As far as features and positioning for Laguna, sources say Microsoft will bill it as its most significant feature release to date. Microsoft will emphasize Laguna's tight integration with Yukon, the "Whidbey" release of Visual Studio and the updated .Net Compact Framework that is part of Whidbey, according to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans.

The Laguna release will include new functionality, such as multi-user support, improved stability and ACID transaction support, as well, sources said. (ACID represents the properties of Atomicity; Consistency; Isolation and Durability. ACID transactions allow programmers to rely on a transaction-processing monitor.)

Microsoft officials were not available by press time for comment on Laguna. But a spokeswoman confirmed that Microsoft plans to show off the SQL Server CE 3.0 platform at the Mobile DevCon.

Laguna isn't the only new Microsoft product that will debut at the Mobile DevCon. Microsoft also is expected to take the wraps off the MapPoint Location Server, its presence server, at the conference which kicks off on March 23.

Read More About the MapPoint Location Server Here

(This is an edited version of an article that ran in the March 4, 2004, issue of the Microsoft Watch newsletter.)