Courtesy: Arrow Electronics
The new SQL Server IoT 2025 is now available! If you build devices, appliances, or embedded systems that ship with a database inside, SQL Server IoT 2025 is worth a serious look. It brings the SQL Server 2025 engine into long-life, fixed-function products. You get the full engine, the same AI features, the same JSON and vector capabilities, and the same security improvements. The only difference is that it is packaged and licensed for OEM and embedded scenarios.
In my experience supporting embedded customers, the pattern is consistent. More data at the edge, tight security requirements, long product lifecycles, and pressure to support AI without adding cloud dependencies. SQL Server IoT 2025 helps you handle those problems without changing how you design your systems. You can use the same T-SQL, drivers, tools, containers, and development workflow.
AI where your device runs
The biggest change in SQL Server IoT 2025 is the built-in AI stack. The database now supports a native vector type, semantic search, hybrid search, and local or remote model execution. You can generate embeddings inside the engine, and you can run AI agents through a secure REST endpoint that SQL Server manages.
Nothing in this requires a cloud connection unless you choose to use one. You can keep models local by using Ollama or ONNX Runtime. You can also call cloud models through Azure OpenAI or OpenAI.
For embedded systems, this means you can build features that previously required a cloud round-trip. Examples include local anomaly detection, troubleshooting assistance, natural language search of manuals or logs, and smarter automation. If you already store your device data in SQL Server, the new vector features let you use that data immediately.
Security that matches modern requirements
The platform is secure out of the box. SQL Server IoT 2025 carries forward the security updates from SQL Server 2025. That includes TLS 1.3, TDS 8.0, PBKDF hashing, managed identities, and stricter defaults. This helps you ship hardware that is ready for audit and compliance checks. For teams in healthcare, manufacturing, or other controlled industries, this reduces significant design risk.
Performance improvements that help small systems
Most devices in the field run on constrained compute, so predictable behaviour underload becomes more important than raw horsepower. SQL Server IoT 2025 benefits from improvements like optimised locking, Lock After Qualification, tempdb governance, faster failover, and reduced contention during heavy workloads.
Your device can run more predictable workloads with fewer stalls. It starts faster, handles concurrency better, and gives you cleaner behaviour when something in the system misbehaves.
Better ways to move data out of the device
You also get Change Event Streaming, which pushes changes directly to Azure Event Hubs. The engine streams committed transactions without extra system tables. This helps when your design needs low-latency reporting or coordination with services outside the device.
If you use Microsoft Fabric, SQL Server IoT 2025 supports database mirroring directly into OneLake. That gives you a simple path to analytics or long-term storage without writing ETL code.
Developer workflow stays simple
Stability in the toolchain is just as important as stability in the engine. SQL Server IoT 2025 uses the same drivers, SSMS, VS Code extension, containers, and deployment workflow. You also get the new JSON type, JSON indexing, RegEx functions, Base64 utilities, and improved T-SQL functions that SQL Server 2025 introduces.
When an upgrade is worth it
If you are trying to decide whether this upgrade is worth it, these are the points that usually guide the decision:
- If your device is running SQL Server 2014 or 2016, you are past or near the end of mainstream support, and the extended support runway is shrinking fast. SQL Server IoT 2025 offers a long-life option with a modern engine, stronger security, and a cleaner feature set for long-term maintenance. You also get improvements like accelerated recovery, better indexing behaviour, and up-to-date drivers.
- If your product roadmap includes AI features or if customers are asking for analytics without sending data off the device, SQL Server IoT 2025 gives you a built-in way to handle that.
- If your company is standardising on Fabric or Azure Arc, IoT 2025 fits neatly into that architecture.
If your design team is trying to reduce custom code around queues, logs, or sync processes, IoT 2025 reduces that work.
