Las Vegas was buzzing this year as over 6,500 attendees gathered for the Microsoft Fabric Conference—one of Microsoft’s largest investments in their annual conference circuit, second only to Ignite. With more than 200 sessions, 21 hands-on workshops, and 13 dedicated tracks, the event brought together data professionals, engineers, and AI innovators to explore how Microsoft Fabric is reshaping the future of data, analytics, and AI.
Several members of our NRI team were on the ground, engaging in sessions, demos, and conversations from our booth in the Partner Expo Center. As one of just 150 featured Fabric partners worldwide, our presence underscored the critical role we play in Microsoft’s ecosystem—and the value we bring to clients looking to take advantage of what Fabric has to offer.
What We Learned: Top Highlights from the Event
1. Unified Security with OneLake
A major keynote announcement was the introduction of unified security policies in OneLake. This enhancement allows users to define access permissions once, and Fabric enforces them consistently across all engines. It’s a big step forward in simplifying governance and enforcing compliance at scale.
2. Fabric + Azure AI = Next-Level Insights
We were particularly excited about the integration of Fabric data agents with Azure AI Foundry. This enables customized, conversational AI agents—built in Fabric—to work seamlessly with Azure AI’s powerful ecosystem. The combination accelerates intelligent app development with greater ease and flexibility.
3. Fabric Copilot Expands AI Access
Copilot is now embedded deeper into Fabric, enabling users at all levels—from analysts to data scientists—to generate insights, write code, and build workflows using natural language. This democratization of AI tools supports everything from anomaly detection to customer churn prediction to real-time site traffic forecasting.
4. Migration Made Simple
Microsoft confirmed that Azure Synapse Analytics customers can now migrate to Fabric. Combined with new CLI, CI/CD capabilities, User Data Functions, Terraform support, and enhanced tagging, the platform is becoming more developer- and enterprise-friendly.
5. Real-Time and Scalable Data Engineering
Improvements in real-time intelligence—like GA support for Azure & Fabric events and stream connectors—alongside new orchestration capabilities (e.g., Apache Airflow jobs and incremental refresh in Dataflow Gen2) are helping organizations modernize their data operations with greater speed and control.
6. Fabric for Supply Chain, AI, and Smart Applications
Real-world case studies made the potential of Fabric tangible. EY shared how they’re transforming supply chain and operations platforms using Fabric’s real-time visibility, AI-enhanced insights, and seamless data integration. Other sessions explored how to build smart apps with Azure AI and Fabric SQL DB—illustrating powerful use cases in retail and manufacturing.
7. Securing Your Data with Fabric
Security was front and center in sessions like Securing Your Data with OneLake, where Microsoft broke down the different security postures (Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced), along with governance best practices and mirrored data protection. Fabric’s unified catalog and DLP prevention tools offer next-gen safeguards across your data estate.
8. AI + RAG = Smarter Architectures
Sessions on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) using Fabric and Azure AI were standout. Experts demonstrated how enterprise-grade RAG solutions—built with vector search and embedded AI—are making intelligent data retrieval faster and more contextual than ever before.
Why It All Matters
This year’s Fabric Conference wasn’t just a product showcase—it was a strategic signal. Microsoft is clearly betting big on Fabric as the foundation of its modern data platform, investing in AI-powered features and integrations that make it a true end-to-end solution.
At NRI, we believe Microsoft’s strength lies in being both Best of Platform and Best of Breed, and Fabric exemplifies that dual advantage. It seamlessly connects with tools like Power BI, Azure Synapse, and Copilot, creating a rich, integrated experience that accelerates time to value for businesses.
A Word on Adoption
There’s an undeniable urgency to modernize. Many of the tools and strategies discussed at the conference are only 5–15 years old—but if you’re standing still, your competitors are already moving ahead with today’s mainstream innovations.
That’s why we’re encouraging our clients to take advantage of our Fabric Adoption in a Day (FAIAD) session. With nearly 900 sessions delivered worldwide last year by Microsoft partners, it’s a proven way to quickly assess your data landscape, envision what’s possible, and plan your next steps with confidence.
Let’s Talk Fabric
As one of Microsoft’s featured Fabric partners, NRI is uniquely positioned to help your organization unlock the full power of Fabric—across data, AI, and cloud-native innovation. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to scale, we’re here to guide your journey.
Interested in learning more? Let’s talk about what Fabric can do for your organization.
