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SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric in Preview for Faster AI Apps

Microsoft's early embrace of advanced AI in its dev tooling continues apace with the new public preview of SQL database in Microsoft Fabric, the company's analytics/data platform.

Fabric is a comprehensive end-to-end platform that integrates data movement, processing, ingestion, transformation, real-time event routing, and reporting into a unified solution for enterprises.

Microsoft Fabric
[Click on image for larger view.] Microsoft Fabric (source: Microsoft).

It helps developers access a suite of services including data engineering, data factory, data science, real-time analytics, data warehouse, and databases.

For the latter, Microsoft during its Ignite 2024 event today announced the preview of SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric, which is designed to provide a high-performance, scalable, and secure database service for AI applications, effectively acting as a data layer in the multi-stack offering.

SQL Database in Fabric
[Click on image for larger view.] SQL Database in Fabric (source: Microsoft).

"With operational databases coming to Fabric, Fabric is evolving from an analytics platform to a data platform and the data layer of the AI and Copilot stack," Microsoft said. "SQL database in Fabric is adopting the principles that have made Fabric an extremely fast-growing service for enterprises and small businesses alike. With this unified and integrated platform, you can build AI apps faster and with less overhead. In fact, we surveyed over two hundred cloud professionals, asking them to perform common tasks associated with AI application development. They were able to complete tasks up to 71% faster, up to 63% more effectively, and with up to 83% more confidence with SQL database in Fabric."

SQL database in Fabric is optimized for AI by offering native vector and RAG support, API integration with various AI models, compatibility with Azure AI services and popular frameworks like LangChain, and seamless integration with Fabric's data science and analytics tools, enabling faster and easier development of AI applications while maintaining data security.

New users can get started with the new tech in a free trial, while existing users can contact their admin to enable SQL database in Fabric.

More information is provided in Microsoft's guidance titled "SQL database in Microsoft Fabric (Preview)."

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.

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