SQL Server and Cosmos DB added to data lake platform as lure for building AI features into transactional systems

Microsoft is throwing more transactional database systems into its Fabric analytics and data lake environment in expectation the proximity will help users that are adding AI to their systems.

During its Build conference this week, the Redmond software and cloud biz said it was adding transactional document database Cosmos DB and its relational workhorse SQL Server to Fabric, the analytics and data lake platform first announced in June 2023.

Adding Cosmos DB's global secondary index to Fabric, for example, would remove the need to scan all the operational data in an Azure Cosmos DB database, Microsoft said. This is intended to enable faster queries and minimize latency while also helping to make sure that queries do not negatively impact transactional performance, the vendor argued.

Arun Ulag, corporate vice president for Azure data, told The Register the idea is to let customers bring AI and analytics workloads closer to their ...