The 1K Challenge Project

The 1K Challenge was a Microsoft project to upgrade 1,000 real customer databases before shipping SQL Server 7.0. Customers (under nondisclosure) sent Microsoft their SQL Server 6.0 and SQL Server 6.5 production databases to be upgraded to SQL Server 7.0.

More than 92 percent of all customer databases converted during the 1K Challenge project were 100 percent successful. These databases were received from 27 countries and varying in complexity and size ranging from 25 MB to 200 GB. Because these databases represent a random sampling of databases from Microsoft’s worldwide customer base, these numbers should accurately predict the customer’s upgrade experience. An additional 6.4 percent of the converted databases required only minor changes to migrate to SQL Server 7.0. Based on these results, the majority of customers can upgrade their databases successfully on their first attempt.