Microsoft has announced a major update to its Fabric platform, unveiling tools that unify transactional and analytical databases, enhance real-time data insights, and deepen AI integration. The changes, aimed at simplifying enterprise workflows, showcase Microsoft’s commitment to building a unified ecosystem for data and artificial intelligence (AI).
Microsoft Fabric, released in 2023. is an integrated, cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform designed to simplify and unify data and analytics workflows for organizations. It brings together a variety of Microsoft tools and services into a single environment, enabling end-to-end data management, processing, and analysis.
A New Class of Databases for Modern Workflows
Microsoft’s new Fabric Databases address a long-standing challenge in enterprise computing: combining transactional operations, like processing customer orders, with analytical tasks that generate insights. Using the SQL Server engine, the new service replicates operational data into OneLake — Microsoft’s multi-cloud data repository — allowing for near-instant access by analytics engines.
One key feature is its use of vector search, which enables the identification of patterns in unstructured data like images or text. Another feature, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), integrates real-time data retrieval into AI workflows, improving how applications handle dynamic queries.
Developers can use Microsoft´s Copilot AI assistant to convert natural language queries into SQL commands and refine code with real-time suggestions. Support for additional databases like Azure Cosmos DB and PostgreSQL is planned, signaling Microsoft’s intent to broaden Fabric’s compatibility.
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Real-Time Intelligence for Immediate Action
The Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Intelligence feature, now generally available, lets organizations process and act on high-volume streaming data as it arrives, via Real-Time Hub, enhanced Eventstream, Eventhouse, Real-Time Dashboards, and Activator. By dynamically transforming incoming information and enabling automated responses, Real-Time Intelligence has already proven its value in industries like motorsport.
Simplifying Governance with OneLake Catalog
OneLake, Fabric’s core multi-cloud data lake, is now equipped with a catalog designed for exploring and managing datasets. The catalog’s Explore tab helps users locate trusted information, while the Govern tab enforces compliance and provides detailed data quality reports.
Microsoft has also introduced open mirroring, a feature allowing external applications to write directly into mirrored databases without creating duplicate datasets. This flexibility accommodates diverse workflows, especially for organizations working in hybrid cloud environments.
Additionally, Fabric supports the Iceberg and Delta table formats, both widely used in data storage. This ensures compatibility with platforms like Snowflake, which has also adopted Iceberg for its infrastructure.
AI Features Expand Across the Ecosystem
Fabric’s AI capabilities continue to grow, with conversational tools enabling users to query data using natural language and receive context-aware answers. These tools integrate with the new Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, supporting advanced application development.
Copilot’s reach has expanded as well, now assisting in the creation of data pipelines by automating repetitive tasks and suggesting optimizations for users unfamiliar with complex workflows.
Sustainability and Spatial Insights
Microsoft is also introducing features aimed at tracking environmental and sustainability goals through its ESG data tools. These features consolidate climate-related information, enabling businesses to monitor decarbonization efforts and make informed decisions.
A new partnership with Esri ArcGIS provides advanced spatial analytics for industries requiring geospatial data, like urban planning and logistics. This integration broadens Fabric’s applications beyond traditional data processing.
Platform-Wide Enhancements
Platform-wide enhancements
- The preview of workspace monitoring, which provides detailed diagnostic logs for workspaces to troubleshoot performance issues, capacity performance, and data downtime.
- The general availability of the Workload Development Kit, created to help software developers design, build, and interoperate applications within Fabric. We’re excited to see many of our industry-leading partners announce preview of their workload hub offerings, including Quantexa, SAS, Teradata, Osmos, Esri, and Profisee.
- The preview of further integration with Microsoft Purview including extending Protection policies to enforce access permissions to more sources and using Data Loss Prevention policies to restrict access to semantic models with sensitive data.
- The general availability of external data sharing allows you to directly share OneLake tables and folders with other Fabric tenants in an easy, quick, and secure manner.
- Fabric is FedRAMP High certified for the Azure Commercial cloud, the highest level of compliance and security standards required by the federal government for cloud service providers. Now government agencies can run Fabric on the Azure Commercial cloud while maintaining strict compliance.
Fabric also introduces surge protection to its billing model, allowing organizations to allocate AI workloads like Copilot to specific resources. This ensures that critical tasks aren’t disrupted by unexpected surges in background activity.
Last Updated on December 2, 2024 6:54 pm CET
