Oracle today announced the general availability of its Database 11g on the Microsoft Windows platform.

The database giant said that the offering is optimised for Windows and services with platform-specific features including database backup and recovery using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service as well as enhancements in Active Directory and Kerberos integration.

New features in the 11g release include enhanced integration with Windows. As a Premier partner in the Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) programme, Oracle offers integration between Oracle Database and Microsoft Visual Studio.

In addition the new Oracle client result cache can "significantly improve" performance of repetitive queries, according to Oracle. The firm further claimed that its SecureFiles technology provides improved performance for storage and retrieval of unstructured data such as documents, XML, images, and video.

Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition and Standard Edition One are generally available today on the Microsoft Windows platform. A free evaluation version of Oracle Database 11g for 32-bit Windows is available for download on the Oracle Technology Network.