Ignite 2024: Microsoft identifies new frontiers for Fabric

Ignite 2024 starts today, and with it Microsoft seized the opportunity to promote Microsoft Fabric updates. Microsoft premiered Fabric Databases, introduced new billing controls, and highlighted that over 16,000 customers now use the platform.

Microsoft CVP Aaron Ulag reminded customers about the launch of Fabric a year ago as an end-to-end SaaS platform with pre-integrated and optimized environments for data teams to speed up their analytical work. 

“With Fabric, we focused on simplicity, openness, and autonomy. All Fabric workloads work together seamlessly out of-the-box without the myriad of infrastructure and configuration settings you typically find in data platforms, so you  can focus on getting results. You can ingest structured and unstructured data in any format into OneLake’s open Delta Parquet format and even access third-party tools from industry leading software companies built directly into Fabric. Advanced security, governance, and CI/CD capabilities are woven into the platform with personalized experiences for admins and users alike,” he wrote. 

Fabric is optimized for Copilot and other AI systems, offering 52 percent faster data analysis than similar tools. 

The rise of Fabric Database

Microsoft announced the preview of Fabric Databases, as a new grouping of transactional databases. The new offering is intended to marry transactional and analytical database capabilities to create a more unified platform, with built-in RAG support, vector search, and AI integration. In fact, developers can even use Copilot in Fabric to translate natural language queries into SQL and achieve inline code completion. 

For now, Fabric Databases only encompasses SQL database. Going forward, however, Database for PostgreSQL and Cosmos DB are both on the roadmap.