November 09, 2010 - At SQL PASS conference Microsoft announced new details about next version of PowerPivot.

Next version of PowerPivot will support:

• KPIs
• Perspectives
• Multiple relationships
• Hierarchies
• Parent-child hierarchies
• Many-to-many relationships
• New DAX function RANK
• Distinct count will be standard PowerPivot aggregation type
• Drillthrough
• Rich data types: BLOBs, images
• Partitioning
• Paging
• Role-based security model using Active Directory
• Row and column level security to secure data at the deepest level
• Possibility to create BISM = BI Semantic model
• In the next release you will be able to import PowerPivot workbook into BIDS 2010 environment and convert your PowerPivot workbook to enteririse level application by creating BI semantic model

•  PowerPivot will be able to load data from Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW)
• You will be able to build Enterprise Applications with PowerPivot using BIDS environment that will support security, partition management and other Enterprise level requirements
• Next release of SQL Server will support columnar indexes. They are build on same technology as PowerPivot. These type of indexes will significantly increse relational query performanc.
• Microsoft first time announced project "Crescent" - a new Web-based data visualization and reporting tool that extends PowerPivot.

Note: Some of the features listed above will work just with PowerPivot in BISM mode.

Additional information about project Crescent also can be found in following interview with Amir Netz:

Or if you have trouble seeing this interview here, use following youtube link...

Additional resources

• November 9th keynote recording can be watched here (you will need to register for event). If you are interested just in what was said about BI, you should fast forward to 1:22:05 time spot and listen keynote to the end.
• Nov 9, 2010 Microsoft Press release - Microsoft Introduces New Offerings for Business Intelligence and Mission-Critical Workloads
• Download Microsoft SQL Server code named Denali CTP 1 here. Note that there is no SQL Server Code-Named “Denali” version of PowerPivot for Excel in this CTP release. Please use the SQL Server 2008 R2 version of PowerPivot for Excel to publish a PowerPivot workbook to a SQL Server Code-Named “Denali” PowerPivot server.
• Great explanation about project "Crescent" by Teo Lachev.
• A Glimplse at Project Crescent - SQL Server Team
• New PowerPivot/SSAS and Microsoft BI Strategy review by Chris Webb.