What is Microsoft Fabric?
Microsoft Fabric is a unified analytics platform that brings Data Factory, Data Engineering, Data Warehouse, Data Science, Real-Time Intelligence, Databases and Power BI together in a single software-as-a-service product. All workloads operate on OneLake, a centralized logical data lake built on Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2.
Unlike separately operated Azure services, Fabric delivers an integrated experience with shared compute capacity, a unified security and governance model, and zero-copy data sharing across workloads. You do not need to manage resource groups, regions or RBAC constructs manually.
Core Features
- OneLake as a single data lake for all workloads, with Shortcuts for zero-copy access to Azure Data Lake Storage, Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage
- Data Warehouse with a T-SQL engine, independent scaling of compute and storage, and native Delta Lake format
- Data Engineering with Apache Spark, notebooks and pipelines, orchestrated through Data Factory with more than 200 connectors
- Real-Time Intelligence including the Real-Time hub and KQL databases for streaming data from IoT, logs and change data capture
- Databases with SQL database in Fabric and Mirroring, which continuously replicates data from Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Databricks and Snowflake into OneLake
- Copilot and data agents directly on your data, plus governance through the OneLake Catalog with Microsoft Purview built in
- Fabric IQ (generally available since Microsoft Build 2026) as a semantic and operational context layer over OneLake data, ontologies, and real-time signals for AI agents
Typical Use Cases
Enterprise data platform: Organizations consolidate their analytics landscape onto one platform instead of running separate data warehouses, lakes and BI tools.
Self-service analytics: Business analysts build reports directly on the lakehouse without copying data between systems.
Real-time dashboards: Streaming data from IoT or transactional systems is processed and visualized in real time.
AI-assisted data analysis: Data agents and Copilot answer business questions directly against governed data in OneLake, integrated into Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Benefits
- One SaaS platform instead of many separate tools, with no infrastructure management
- No data silos thanks to a unified OneLake and zero-copy Shortcuts
- Flexible scaling through Capacity Units, either pay-as-you-go or reserved capacity
- Consistent governance and compliance via OneLake Catalog and Microsoft Purview
- Seamless integration with Microsoft 365, Power Platform and Microsoft Foundry
Integration with innFactory
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, innFactory supports you in building and operating analytics platforms with Microsoft Fabric. We help with architecture, migration from Synapse or Power BI, capacity planning, governance and best practices.
Contact us for a non-binding consultation on Microsoft Fabric.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Fabric differ from Azure Synapse?
Fabric is the evolution of Synapse and additionally integrates Power BI, Data Factory, Real-Time Intelligence and Databases into one SaaS platform. Synapse workloads can be migrated to Fabric.
How does billing work?
Fabric bills via Capacity Units in F-SKUs (e.g. F2 to F128) that are shared across all workloads. You choose between pay-as-you-go with pausable capacity and reserved capacity at a discount. OneLake storage is billed separately on a consumption basis.
Can I keep using my existing Power BI reports?
Yes, Power BI is fully integrated into Fabric and existing workspaces can become Fabric workspaces. From F64 upward, report consumers no longer need a Power BI Pro license.
What Copilot and AI capabilities does Fabric offer?
Copilot is embedded across all workloads and, since 2025, available on all paid SKUs rather than only F64 and above. Data agents (formerly AI Skills) answer questions directly against OneLake data while respecting roles and permissions, and are accessible via MCP server and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Can Fabric be operated in a GDPR-compliant way?
Yes. Fabric is available in European Azure regions and supports the EU Data Boundary completed in February 2025. Governance runs through the OneLake Catalog with Microsoft Purview built in.
Is Fabric suitable for small teams?
Yes. A free trial capacity and small F-SKUs starting at F2 enable a low-cost entry that grows with your needs.
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of Azure (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by Azure.
