A type of replication in SQL Server in which Publishers and Subscribers can work autonomously and later reconnect, synchronize, and merge data changes to achieve convergence among all nodes in the topology. Merge replication is typically used in server-to-client environments.
Merge replication starts with a snapshot of the publication database objects and data. Subsequent data changes and schema modifications made at the Publisher and Subscribers are tracked with triggers. The Subscriber synchronizes with the Publisher when connected to the network and exchanges all rows that have changed between the Publisher and Subscriber since the last time synchronization occurred.
More information: Merge Replication.
