The CLR implementation found in the assembly Microsoft.MasterDataServices.DataQuality, can be used in SQL and it is about 300 times faster..
Yep. And if you have DQS setup it's already available for you.
"I cant stress enough the importance of switching from a sequential files mindset to set-based thinking. After you make the switch, you can spend your time tuning and optimizing your queries instead of maintaining lengthy, poor-performing code."