Master Data Services (MDS), part of SQL Server 2012, is Microsoft's answer to the Master Data Management challenge. Master Data Management (MDM) is a set of tools and processes that aim to deliver a single clean and consistent view of each master data entity (product, customer, employee, financial accounts, etc.) that exists within the organization.
Master Data Services (MDS) was first released in SQL Server 2008 R2 and was the result of the integration of the acquired technology of Stratature into SQL Server.