<s>
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
Notification	I-Application
Services	I-Application
is	O
a	O
platform	O
developed	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
for	O
the	O
development	O
and	O
deployment	O
of	O
notification	B-General_Concept
applications	I-General_Concept
based	O
on	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
technology	I-Application
and	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
.NET	I-Application
Framework	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
offers	O
a	O
scalable	O
server	O
engine	O
on	O
which	O
to	O
run	O
notification	B-General_Concept
applications	I-General_Concept
,	O
with	O
multi-server	O
capability-providing	O
flexibility	O
and	O
scalability	O
for	O
deploying	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
was	O
designed	O
to	O
ease	O
the	O
pain	O
of	O
developing	O
and	O
deploying	O
notification	B-General_Concept
applications	I-General_Concept
that	O
generate	O
personalized	O
,	O
timely	O
information	O
to	O
subscribers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
design	O
,	O
code	O
and	O
test	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
components	O
that	O
make	O
up	O
a	O
robust	O
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
Application-such	O
as	O
notification	O
scheduling	O
,	O
failure	O
detection	O
,	O
retry	O
logic	O
,	O
time	O
zone	O
management	O
,	O
notification	O
grouping	O
,	O
and	O
queue	O
management	O
,	O
adding	O
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
to	O
software	O
applications	O
can	O
be	O
a	O
daunting	O
task	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Over	O
the	O
years	O
the	O
term	O
Notification	B-General_Concept
applications	I-General_Concept
has	O
been	O
superseded	O
with	O
the	O
term	O
Complex	B-Operating_System
Event	I-Operating_System
Processing	I-Operating_System
(	O
CEP	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
Notification	I-Application
Services	I-Application
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
many	O
components	O
that	O
comprised	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
first	O
released	O
in	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
2000	O
Service	O
Pack	O
2	O
(	O
2003	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
discontinued	O
and	O
removed	O
from	O
SQL	O
Server	O
2008	O
,	O
although	O
SQL	O
Server	O
2005	O
SP3	O
allows	O
for	O
the	O
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
components	O
to	O
be	O
run	O
against	O
the	O
SQL	O
Server	O
2008	O
Database	O
Engine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
programming	O
framework	O
based	O
on	O
Transact-SQL	B-Language
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
provides	O
a	O
declarative	O
programming	O
model	O
,	O
and	O
lends	O
itself	O
to	O
quick	O
prototyping	O
and	O
deployment	O
of	O
robust	O
notification	B-General_Concept
applications	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
API	B-Application
for	O
creating	O
subscription	O
management	O
applications	O
is	O
provided	O
,	O
plus	O
standard	O
components	O
for	O
collecting	O
event	O
data	O
from	O
files	O
and	O
SQL	O
Server	O
databases	O
,	O
for	O
formatting	O
notifications	O
using	O
XSLT	B-Application
,	O
and	O
for	O
sending	O
notifications	O
via	O
Simple	B-Protocol
Mail	I-Protocol
Transfer	I-Protocol
Protocol	I-Protocol
(	O
SMTP	B-Protocol
)	O
or	O
by	O
writing	O
notifications	O
to	O
a	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
standard	O
components	O
do	O
not	O
meet	O
the	O
needs	O
of	O
an	O
application	O
,	O
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
is	O
extendable	O
by	O
building	O
custom	O
components	O
using	O
the	O
.NET	B-Application
family	O
of	O
programming	O
languages	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Visual	I-Application
C#	I-Application
.NET	I-Application
and	O
Microsoft	B-Language
Visual	I-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finally	O
,	O
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
can	O
communicate	O
with	O
a	O
wide	O
variety	O
of	O
Microsoft	O
,	O
third-party	O
,	O
and	O
custom-built	O
event	O
providers	O
and	O
delivery	O
protocols	O
,	O
enabling	O
Notification	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
to	O
communicate	O
with	O
existing	O
systems	O
in	O
heterogeneous	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
