Arun Ulagaratchagan introduces Microsoft’s unified, AI-powered data estate: SQL Server 2025, Azure DocumentDB, Azure HorizonDB, and Fabric Databases. This comprehensive update enables developers to build, secure, and modernize data-driven applications at scale using Microsoft Fabric.

Microsoft Databases and Microsoft Fabric: Your Unified and AI-Powered Data Estate

Author: Arun Ulagaratchagan

Microsoft is ushering in a new era for data platforms with the unveiling of SQL Server 2025, Azure DocumentDB, Azure HorizonDB, and Fabric Databases. These technologies are now unified under Microsoft Fabric, offering a single, secure, AI-focused foundation for modern data estates.

Highlights

  • SQL Server 2025 GA: Next-generation, developer-friendly SQL with integrated AI model management in T-SQL, smarter search, semantic intelligence, and robust Entra ID-based security. Mirroring with Fabric’s OneLake provides instant access to analytics and AI.
  • Azure DocumentDB: Fully managed, MongoDB-compatible, open source NoSQL with multi-cloud and hybrid support. Features include vector and hybrid search, expanded full-text search, native AI-readiness, integrated security, and seamless autoscaling.
  • Azure HorizonDB: Enterprise PostgreSQL as a managed service—massive scaling, integrated AI and vector search, built upon Microsoft’s open source leadership. Direct integrations with GitHub Copilot, Visual Studio Code, Fabric, and Microsoft Foundry.
  • Fabric Databases GA: Provision operational, transactional, and analytical databases (SQL & Cosmos DB) within Fabric. Unified platform streamlines deployment, billing, and enterprise-grade security—enabling rapid, scalable application development.

Microsoft Fabric: Central Hub for Data and AI

Microsoft Fabric consolidates and manages all core database services. With new mirroring features for Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, and SQL Server (2016–2025), data silos are eliminated and ETL pipelines are replaced by real-time access to analytics and AI workloads in OneLake.

Key Fabric Innovations

  • OneLake: Unified lake for all data—across multi-cloud, on-premises, and productivity sources like SharePoint and OneDrive—enabling shortcuts, mirroring, and seamless interoperability.
  • Fabric IQ: New semantic modeling workload that maps real-world entities, relationships, time-series, and geospatial data into a unified structure ideal for AI and analytics. Powered by technology from Power BI, it enables creation of operations agents for automated, real-time actions.
  • Expanded Interoperability: Deep integrations with SAP, Salesforce, Azure Databricks, and Snowflake for zero-copy, bidirectional sharing and unified analytics.
  • dbt Labs Partnership: Native support for dbt jobs and workflows in Fabric workspace for advanced transformation and orchestration.

AI and Agentic Capabilities

  • Copilot in Power BI: Ask natural language questions, find relevant reports, and use data agents—across desktop and mobile.
  • Fabric and Operations Agents: Host, orchestrate, and extend intelligent agents and MCP servers. Integrate with Microsoft Foundry, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Search.

Security and Compliance

  • Highest industry standards for availability, credential management (Entra ID, Arc), customer-managed encryption keys, and seamless cloud authentication are native throughout the platform.

Developer Experience

Developers can:

  • Build, deploy, and manage transactional and analytics workloads across cloud, hybrid, and edge.
  • Leverage integrated AI (model management, vector search, semantic structures) directly in the database or via Fabric IQ.
  • Use tools like Visual Studio Code, GitHub Copilot, and dbt directly with the new databases and services.

Real-World Use & Adoption

  • Over 28,000 enterprise customers rely on Fabric.
  • Fabric and SQL communities unite through FabCon and SQLCon for knowledge sharing.
  • Further learning available via Microsoft Ignite sessions and documentation.

Key Resources

This comprehensive set of new releases and integrations positions Microsoft Fabric as the most unified, AI-centered platform for modern data estates, offering developers and data teams unmatched scalability, interoperability, and intelligence.

This post appeared first on “The Azure Blog”. Read the entire article here