Microsoft’s SQL Server 2016 has finally hit general availability, and Redmond chiefs are launching the software alongside a special offer aimed at wooing customers away from leading database giant Oracle.

Oracle users are being offered the chance to migrate their databases to SQL Server 2016 for free until the end of this month. The offer ensures that customers will receive all the necessary licenses, free of charge, together with a subscription for Microsoft’s Software Assurance maintenance program.

SQL Server 2016’s June 1 release date was first announced last month, when Microsoft also confirmed most of the new features users could expect. Among the main enhancements are updateable, in-memory column stores and advanced analytics capabilities. The updates mean that applications can now easily deploy machine learning models and sophisticated analytics within the database, with a performance boost of up to 100 times what it would be if the same models were deployed outside the database, Microsoft said.

Security has also been given a boost thanks to the new Always Encrypted feature that works to protect both in-memory and at rest data. Stretch Database helps to reduce storage costs by keeping data used for querying in the Azure cloud, while a new polybase tool allows queries to be run on external data held in Azure blob storage or Hadoop. Other new features include “significantly faster” geospatial query support, JSON support, a Query Store to ensure performance consistency, and a new feature called Temporal Tables that allows users to travel “back in time” and examine historical data.

The new features in SQL Server 2016 are designed to meet enterprises’ unquenchable thirst for faster data analysis, explained Bruce Reading, CEO of VoltDB, to SiliconANGLE. He said enterprises are becoming “obsessed” with the speed of data analysis, because it allows them to make split second decisions and act upon them before opportunities are lost.

“With the general availability of SQL Server 2016, Microsoft is offering its answer to the enterprise’s need for speed by incorporating an enhanced in-memory OLTP option designed to harness the power of real-time streaming data,” Reading said. “While Microsoft’s embrace of in-memory technology is yet another proof point behind the fast data movement, the one-size-fits-all mantra doesn’t apply to the enterprise, where data comes in many forms, sizes and speeds.”

Many of the new features in SQL Server have been available on Microsoft Azure for some time, and have been tested on 1.7 million Azure SQL DB databases so far. SQL Server comes in four flavors, namely – Enterprise, Standard, Developer and Express (the last two are free).

Microsoft didn’t make any mention of SQL Server on Linux in yesterday’s announcement, but has previously said it would release that version in the middle of next year.

Support for SQL Server 2005 ended last April.

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