adding links to releases

README.md

@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@ This GitHub repository contains code samples that demonstrate how to use Microso
 
 Note that certain features like In-Memory OLTP are edition specific for SQL Server and would be possible to implement if the edition which supports that feature is being used to run the sample. 
 
+## Releases in this repository
+
+Releases allow you to conveniently download sample databases or applications without the need to build them from source code. This SQL Server samples repository has the following notable releases:
+
+  - [Wide World Importers sample database v1.0](https://github.com/Microsoft/sql-server-samples/releases/tag/wide-world-importers-v1.0) is the main sample for SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database. It contains both an OLTP and an OLAP database.
+  - [In-Memory OLTP Performance Demo v1.0](https://github.com/Microsoft/sql-server-samples/releases/tag/in-memory-oltp-demo-v1.0) illustrates the performance benefits of the In-Memory OLTP technology built into SQL Server and Azure SQL Database.
+  - [IoT Smart Grid sample v1.0](https://github.com/Microsoft/sql-server-samples/releases/tag/iot-smart-grid-v1.0) illustrates how SQL Server can be leveraged to ingest data from IoT devices and sensors, and how you can run analytics on that data.
+
 ## Working in GitHub
 To work in GitHub, go to https://github.com/microsoft/sql-server-samples and fork the repository. Work in your own fork and when you are ready to submit to make a change or publish your sample for the first time, submit a pull request into the master branch of sql-server-samples. One of the approvers will review your request and accept or reject the pull request.