Using Data and AI to transform your Business with Microsoft Fabric

How OneLake and the Unified Analytics Platform can Modernize your Data Estate 

Accessing data for analytics and AI initiatives can be challenging when it is dispersed across various clouds, databases, and formats. Microsoft Fabric offers the ultimate solution. At the core of Fabric is a multi-cloud data lake, OneLake, which serves as a centralized hub for discovering and accessing data across your entire data estate, regardless of its source location. On top of OneLake, Microsoft created a seamlessly integrated and optimized SaaS environment that offers a robust suite of data analytics and AI capabilities. It encompasses comprehensive functionalities for data integration, engineering, science, warehousing, real-time intelligence, visualization, and overall data management.  

Choosing Microsoft Fabric as your organization’s unified data platform will undoubtedly create a competitive advantage because it addresses the perpetual data problem of access barriers. Organizations that centralize their data estate to increase accessibility will have the capability to keep up with the demanding speed of business as the technology landscape continues to modernize. As customers of Fabric ourselves, we at Interloop have identified four key features that make Fabric the optimal choice for data unification. 

Support of Open Formats like Delta Parquet and Iceberg 

• Interoperability: By supporting open formats, Microsoft Fabric ensures compatibility with a wide range of data sources and tools, making it easier for organizations to integrate their existing data infrastructure 

• Flexibility: Open formats like Delta Parquet and Iceberg allow users to choose the best storage and processing solutions for their needs, enhancing flexibility and reducing vendor lock-in 
  

Advanced Features: These formats support advanced features like ACID transactions and time travel, which are crucial for maintaining data integrity and enabling complex analytics.

Shortcuts 

• Centralized Data Access: Shortcuts in OneLake allow users to create a single virtual data lake that unifies data across different domains, clouds, and accounts. This simplifies data access and management. 

• Reduced Latency: By eliminating the need for edge copies of data, shortcuts reduce process latency and improve performance 

• Ease of Use: Shortcuts behave like symbolic links, making it easy to manage and access data without affecting the original source.

  
  

Mirroring 

• Real-Time Replication: Mirroring enables near real-time replication of data from various systems into OneLake, ensuring that the most up-to-date data is available for analysis 

• Simplified ETL: It reduces the complexity of ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, allowing users to integrate data seamlessly into Fabric 

• Enhanced Collaboration: Mirroring breaks down data silos, facilitating better collaboration and faster decision-making across teams 

Data Factory Connectors 

• Wide Range of Connectivity: Data Factory offers a rich set of connectors that support various data stores, including cloud, on-premises, and online sources. This ensures that users can connect to and transform data from virtually any source. 

• Scalability: The connectors support high-scale data movement and transformation, making it suitable for enterprise-grade data integration scenarios 

• Ease of Integration: With over 145 different connectors, Data Factory simplifies the process of integrating diverse data sources into Fabric 

Microsoft Fabric's comprehensive suite of features, including support for open formats, shortcuts, mirroring, and Data Factory connectors, makes it an unparalleled choice for modernizing your data estate. By centralizing and unifying your data, you can unlock new levels of efficiency, collaboration, and innovation. Depending on the data and AI needs of your organization, you'll likely use these techniques to different extents. Ultimately, whichever method is used to connect data, Microsoft makes it available with minimal latency.  

Does your organization need help modernizing their data estate? Learn how Interloop can help you achieve more with Microsoft Fabric. No matter where you are on your Microsoft Fabric journey - our experts can help guide you. Get started today! 

To stay up to date on all the new features coming to Fabric, read Microsoft’s blog here.