Integrating Microsoft Fabric with Azure Synapse Analytics: New Features and Benefits

Copilot in Microsoft Fabric Notebooks

Introduction

In today’s data-driven economy, businesses must make faster, smarter decisions powered by insights derived from massive volumes of information. Yet for many organizations, data remains fragmented—stored across data lakes, warehouses, and analytics platforms that don’t always speak the same language.

To address this, Microsoft has introduced a powerful integration between Microsoft Fabric, its unified data platform, and Azure Synapse Analytics, its enterprise-grade analytics service. Together, these platforms promise to simplify data management, strengthen governance, and deliver real-time insights at scale.

But integration isn’t just a buzzword. It’s important to understand what’s already possible today, what’s evolving, and how enterprises can benefit immediately.

    What is Microsoft Fabric?

    Microsoft Fabric is Microsoft’s next-generation, end-to-end data platform. Delivered as a SaaS offering, Fabric consolidates capabilities from Power BI, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse, and other services into a single, unified environment.

    Key elements include:

    • OneLake: A multi-cloud data lake that serves as the single storage layer for all workloads.
    • Lakehouse and Warehouse experiences: Enabling both structured and unstructured data management.
    • Copilot and AI integration: Allowing natural language queries and automated data exploration.
    • Deep integration with Microsoft 365: Connecting datasets directly into familiar tools like Excel and Teams.

    In short, Fabric eliminates silos by bringing together data engineering, data science, real-time analytics, and visualization in one seamless platform.

    What is Azure Synapse Analytics

    Azure Synapse Analytics is Microsoft’s well-established analytics service that combines data warehousing and big data processing. Synapse allows organizations to query structured and unstructured data using SQL, integrate with machine learning models, and build advanced pipelines for large-scale ETL/ELT.

    Its core strengths include:

    • Massively parallel processing (MPP) for fast, scalable queries.
    • Serverless and provisioned compute models for cost flexibility.
    • Integration with Power BI and Azure Machine Learning.
    • Enterprise-grade pipelines for ingesting and transforming data.

    Synapse remains a critical platform for enterprises with established workloads, but Microsoft’s roadmap increasingly positions Fabric as the future-facing evolution.

    Why Integration Matters

    Organizations have long struggled with:

    • Data duplication between warehouses and lakes, leading to inefficiency.
    • Inconsistent governance policies across multiple tools.
    • Complex architectures requiring high maintenance effort.
    • Escalating costs as data volumes expand.

    By connecting Microsoft Fabric and Azure Synapse Analytics, these issues are addressed head-on. The integration enables:

    • A single governed data lake (OneLake) that both platforms can use.
    • Consistent governance policies powered by Microsoft Purview.
    • Seamless analytics pipelines, reducing the need for data movement.
    • A gradual migration path for organizations invested in Synapse but ready to adopt Fabric.

    Current State of Integration

      Integration between Microsoft Fabric and Azure Synapse is not theoretical—it’s already available today in several practical forms. At the same time, Microsoft is actively developing new tools and features to make the transition smoother.

      OneLake and Synapse Connectivity

      OneLake, Fabric’s centralized data lake, is directly accessible from Azure Synapse Analytics. This includes:

      • Reading and writing OneLake data using Synapse Spark or SQL serverless pools.
      • Support for open formats (Delta Lake, Parquet) to ensure compatibility.
      • The ability to run real-time queries on streaming data ingested into OneLake.

      This reduces the need to copy or duplicate datasets across platforms, cutting costs and simplifying architecture.

      Fabric Connectors and Pipelines

      Fabric provides connectors for Azure Synapse through Dataflow Gen2 and Data Factory. These allow:

      • Synapse pipelines to move or transform data in Fabric Warehouses.
      • Fabric to directly consume Synapse datasets for further analytics or reporting.
      • Shared workflows across both environments, ensuring investments in Synapse are preserved.

      Migration Assistant for Synapse to Fabric

      To ease the transition, Microsoft has introduced a Migration Assistant that helps move workloads from Synapse Dedicated SQL Pools to Fabric Data Warehouses. The tool supports:

      • Schema and object migration.
      • Compatibility checks to identify gaps.
      • Workload adjustments for performance optimization in Fabric.

      This signals Microsoft’s intent to make Fabric the long-term evolution path, while providing enterprises with a safe and supported way forward.

      Benefits for Business

      The integration brings tangible advantages that go beyond technical improvements:

      1. Unified Data Governance

      With OneLake as the foundation, enterprises gain a single source of truth. Combined with Microsoft Purview, governance policies extend seamlessly across Fabric and Synapse, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.

      1. Scalability

      Fabric and Synapse together handle workloads from gigabytes to petabytes, scaling elastically as business needs grow. Organizations no longer need to over-provision resources, reducing operational overhead.

      1. Real-Time Analytics

      Streaming pipelines in Fabric feed data directly into OneLake, and Synapse can query that data instantly. This enables scenarios like fraud detection, demand forecasting, or IoT monitoring—all in near real time.

      1. AI-Powered Insights

      Fabric’s AI capabilities, including Copilot, democratize analytics by allowing business users to query Synapse datasets in natural language. Data scientists can also push machine learning models into analytics workflows, making predictive insights readily available.

      1. Cost Efficiency
      • Serverless-first architecture means compute is only charged when used.
      • Tiered storage in OneLake allows cost-effective management of hot, warm, and cold data.
      • Centralised billing and monitoring simplifies cost control across both platforms.
      1. Better Collaboration

      Because Fabric integrates tightly with Microsoft 365, technical and business teams alike can access and share governed datasets directly within Excel, Teams, or Power BI. This breaks down silos and accelerates decision-making.

      Conclusion

      The integration of Microsoft Fabric and Azure Synapse Analytics marks a pivotal shift in enterprise data strategy. By combining a unified storage layer (OneLake), enterprise-grade analytics (Synapse), and advanced governance (Purview), Microsoft delivers a platform that simplifies architecture, cuts costs, and accelerates insights.

      Importantly, integration is not just on the roadmap—it’s already here. Organizations can query OneLake from Synapse today, build shared pipelines, and even migrate workloads using the new Migration Assistant. At the same time, Microsoft is clear: Synapse remains supported, ensuring enterprises can adopt Fabric at their own pace.