Why Microsoft is unifying data and AI within Fabric

Microsoft says that the future of AI-based applications lies in unifying data and intelligence, and that new updates to its data and analytics platform, Fabric, are a step in that direction. Announced at the company’s ongoing Build conference, the updates include the addition of Cosmos DB to Fabric, a new digital twin builder capability in Real-Time Intelligence workloads, and a Copilot experience in Power BI.

Analysts see these updates as a transition of Fabric tying into Microsoft’s vision of the future.

“With the addition of operational databases like Cosmos DB and SQL Server, real-time agents, and semantic governance, Fabric is no longer just a data platform, it is a decision infrastructure layer for any enterprise,” said Michael Ni, principal analyst at Constellation Research.

A decision infrastructure layer, which consists of data, technology, and processes, typically helps enterprises make decisions faster with the help of advanced analytics. In the case of Fabric, this layer will also aid the development of more accurate agentic applications, Ni added.

Microsoft released Fabric in May 2023 with the aim of helping enterprises reduce IT integration overhead, complexity, and costs by combining enterprise data workloads.

Addition of Cosmos DB to help build more accurate agentic apps

The addition of databases to Fabric, which began six months ago with SQL Server being integrated into the analytics platform, was aimed at streamlining agentic application development, Arun Ulag, corporate vice president of Azure Data, told InfoWorld.

Ulag expects that the addition of Cosmos DB to Fabric will further aid agentic application development, because it will allow enterprises to create a more foundational data layer for agents by allowing semi-structured data to be brought into Fabric and processed along with structured data.

“In the age of agentic AI, scattered data is a roadblock for enterprises and with the addition of databases, Fabric is being positioned as the essential, intelligent foundation needed to power AI-based agents that deliver real-time, actionable insights,” Ni explained.

Cosmos DB capabilities in Fabric are currently in preview, and Microsoft hasn’t provided any timeline for general availability. However, Ulag noted that Cosmos DB will still be available as a standalone database offering from Microsoft.

Digital twin builder to support enterprise automation use cases

Another tenet of Microsoft’s data and intelligence unification strategy is the addition of a digital twin builder inside Fabric’s Real-Time Intelligence, a workload that is aimed at analyzing streaming and log data.

The digital twin building, which is accessed through a low-code interface in Real-Time Intelligence, will enable enterprises to create virtual replicas of physical assets like machinery and logical entities like customers, in order to help automate entire processes, said Ulag. He said that process automation can be achieved via Fabric as enterprises will be able to link telemetry, real-time data, real-time data analysis, and workflows into an AI-driven application.

Constellation Research’s Ni agrees with Ulag’s vision and said that unlike digital twins, which are simply digital models of physical assets, Fabric’s digital twin builder acts as the foundation layer of data intelligence.

“Due to Fabric’s unified operations, developers can turn sensor data, business rules, and historical context into a graph that can be used to streamline ML feature engineering,” Ni said. Ni noted that enterprises can use Fabric to create decision models for entire processes that can be used by agents for automation and be updated in real-time.The digital twin builder capability is currently in preview.

As part of updates to Fabric, Microsoft has added a new Copilot experience in Power BI to boost automation. Copilot was added to Power BI last year an effort to help enterprises further automate processes by allowing developers to embed analytics directly into workflows.

Other updates to Fabric include new OneLake features that ease file storage and conversion.