One of the most touted new features of SQL Server 7.0 is its ability to do true row-level locking. By locking only the data that is being processed, instead of an entire page containing numerous rows, SQL Server 7.0 drastically reduces blocking problems. (Blocking occurs when one user or application needs a lock on an object, but another user or application already has an incompatible lock on the object.) However, row-level locking alone can't solve all blocking problems. You still need to add appropriate indexes to your tables.