Microsoft SQL Server Notification Services is a platform for developing and deploying
applications that generate and send notifications to subscribers. The notifications
generated are personalized, timely messages that can be sent to a wide range of
devices, and that reflect the preferences of the subscriber.
Subscribers create subscriptions to notification applications. A subscription is
an expressed interest in a specific type of event. For example, subscriptions might
express the following preferences: "Notify me when my stock price reaches $70.00,"
or "Notify me when the strategy document my team is writing is updated."
A notification can be generated and sent to the subscriber as soon as a triggering
event occurs. A notification can also be generated and sent on a predetermined schedule
specified by the subscriber.
Notifications can be sent to a wide range of devices. For example, a notification
can be sent to a subscriber's cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA),
Microsoft Windows Messenger, or e-mail account. Because these devices often accompany
the subscriber, notifications are ideal for sending important information.
Notification applications are valuable for many reasons, including the following:
- Notification applications enable you to send critical information to customers,
partners, and employees. The notifications can contain links to a Web site to retrieve
more information or to acknowledge receipt of the information. - Notification applications enhance and strengthen your relationships with customers
by providing more customized and timely services to them. - Notification applications help increase your revenue by making it easier for customers
to initiate business transactions with you. - Notification applications help make your employees more productive by providing
them with the information they need, whenever and wherever they need it. - Notification applications allow you to communicate with mobile subscribers over
a wide variety of devices.
With Notification Services you can build and deploy applications quickly, and scale
the applications to support millions of subscribers if desired. Notification Services
consists of:
- A simple yet powerful Notification Services programming framework that enables you
to quickly create and deploy notification applications. You can develop applications
using XML or Notification Services Management Objects (NMO). - A reliable, high-performance, scalable engine that runs notification applications.
The Notification Services engine is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework and SQL
Server 2005.
