Salesforce DB connectivity

Question

Hi ,
      Do you know about salesforce.com ? Cloud platform to develop web applications,,We can dperform maximum of things that are being done in ASP applications in Salesforce too, without using any software from online itself.. If any one know about these please reply.

          I need to know.. is there a way to connect SQL Server in the Remote system using its IpAddress and DB credentials... without using the Webservices... I can do that by calling webservice and using that service as interface.. but i need to perform that without using webservice by passing credentials.
        
          I can able to do that in normal Windows/Web application.. but in salesforce ??
 Can any one help me ?