Learn more about FabCon and SQLCon 2026
The excitement surrounding this event reflects the same momentum we’re seeing across our data portfolio. Just two and a half years after Microsoft Fabric reached general availability, it’s already serving more than 31,000 customers and remains the fastest-growing data platform in Microsoft’s history. Fortune 500 companies like The Coca-Cola Company are already using Fabric at scale across their organizations.

Microsoft Fabric is helping us evolve our data foundation into a more unified, AI-ready platform. Combined with Power BI and capabilities like Fabric IQ, it enables the enterprise to turn data into intelligence and act on it faster.

Shekhar Gowda, Vice President of Global Marketing Technologies at The Coca-Cola Company
Our databases are accelerating just as quickly, with SQL Server 2025 growing more than twice as fast as the previous version.

Today, we’re thrilled to share how we are bringing the power of databases and Fabric together to form a truly converged data platform—one that unifies transactional, operational, and analytical data under a single, consistent architecture. I’ll also highlight how we’ve enhanced Fabric to help you transform data into the semantic knowledge AI needs to understand your business, powered by Fabric IQ and Power BI’s industry-leading semantic model technology.

Introducing the Database Hub in Microsoft Fabric
Databases sit at the heart of the enterprise data estate—a system of record powering applications, transactions, and mission‑critical insights. Yet as organizations scale across cloud, on‑premises, and edge environments, database estates have become increasingly fragmented and isolated. As AI places even greater demands on data estates, unifying databases under a single access point and control plane has become essential.

To address this challenge, Fabric is expanding its role as the central access point for enterprise data with the Database Hub in Fabric, now available in early access. Database Hub in Fabric provides a unified database management experience that brings together databases across edge, cloud, and Fabric into a single, coherent view. Teams now have one place to explore, observe, govern, and optimize their entire database estate—including Azure SQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, SQL Server (enabled by Azure Arc), Azure Database for MySQL, and Fabric Databases—without changing how each service is deployed.

Built for scale, the Database Hub in Fabric introduces an agent‑assisted, human-in-the loop approach to database management. With built-in observability, delegated governance, and Microsoft Copilot-powered insights, teams can deploy intelligent agents to continuously reason over estate‑wide signals and surface what changed, explain why it matters, and guide teams toward what to do next. The result is a simpler, more confident way to manage databases at scale. Over time, this model enables database estates to become more proactive, resilient, and intelligent, laying the foundation for greater autonomy, while keeping humans firmly in control of goals, boundaries, and trust.

Learn more about Database Hub in Fabric and what’s new across Databases
Bringing databases together under a single management layer is a critical step as you prepare your estates for AI at scale. But it’s not the end of the journey. The challenge shifts from where data lives to how data is understood, connected, and activated across the enterprise.

Getting your data estate ready for AI with Fabric
As organizations move from traditional applications to AI‑powered, multi‑agent systems, the advantage is shifting away from the specific model you deploy. It now lies in the intelligence and context that allow agents to understand how your business is run, the state of your business, and your institutional knowledge to help take meaningful action.

This is the challenge Microsoft IQ is designed to address. Unlike point solutions on the market today, Microsoft IQ provides an intelligence layer that delivers shared, enterprise-grade business context to every agent. That context is built from three complementary sources: productivity signals from Work IQ, institutional knowledge from Foundry IQ, and live business data from Fabric IQ.

However, like the database layer, while the IQ context layer is a critical part of a successful, and healthy AI foundation, it is not the full story. Building a complete AI-ready data foundation requires investing in four core steps:

Unifying your data estate to eliminate silos and reduce architectural complexity.
Processing and harmonizing data so it becomes AI-ready, clean, connected, and structured for both operational and analytical use.
Curating semantic meaning to give agents contextual understanding, enabling them to interpret data the way your teams already do. This is where Microsoft IQ comes into play.
Empowering AI agents to act, applying that context to automate workflows, accelerate decisions, and transform operations end‑to‑end.
Unifying your data estate with Microsoft OneLake
Every AI initiative starts with the same fundamental challenge: understanding where your data lives and how to bring it together. Microsoft OneLake was built to solve that problem by unifying data across clouds, on-premises environments, and third-party platforms into a single logical data lake without unnecessary extracting, transforming, and loading (ETL), fragmentation, or duplicated copies.

Are my agents hunting for data?

Watch the podcast
Connecting to more sources than ever before
Today, we’re expanding Mirroring in Fabric to support even more systems our customers rely on. Mirroring for SharePoint lists and Dremio are now in preview with Azure Monitor coming soon, while mirroring for Oracle and SAP Datasphere are generally available—all of which are available as part of the core mirroring capabilities. We are also introducing extended capabilities in mirroring designed to help you operationalize mirrored sources at scale, including Change Data Feed (CDF) and the ability to create views on top of mirrored data, starting with Snowflake. Extended capabilities for mirroring will be offered as a paid option.

Shortcut transformations are also now generally available, allowing data to be shaped automatically as it connects to or moves within OneLake. You can convert formats such as Excel to Delta tables, now in preview, and apply AI-powered transformations.

Additionally, we are continuing to invest in open interoperability, ensuring OneLake works seamlessly with the platforms organizations already use. We are excited to announce the ability to natively read from OneLake through Azure Databricks Unity Catalog is now in public preview. We also recently announced the general availability of our interoperability with Snowflake.

I’m also excited to share that Auger, a rapidly growing supply chain platform designed to bring intelligence and automation to global operations, has built its platform on Fabric, with all data stored natively in OneLake. This architecture enables Auger customers to seamlessly access their operations data through OneLake shortcuts within their own Fabric environments and use the full power of the platform including Power BI, Fabric data agents, and more. Learn more in my blog, co-authored with Auger Chief Executive Officer Dave Clark.

Protect your data with OneLake security, now generally available
Security and governance remain foundational to OneLake. I’m thrilled to announce OneLake security will be generally available in the coming weeks, enabling data owners to define roles, enforce row- and column-level controls, and manage permissions through a single unified model that follows the data.

To learn more about these announcements, read the OneLake blog and the Fabric Data Factory blog.

Processing and harmonizing data with Fabric analytics
AI agents are only as reliable as the data you feed them. Before data can train or ground an agent, it must be integrated, cleaned, and structured, so the agent operates from consistent, trusted information. With industry-leading engines in Fabric like Spark, T-SQL, KQL, and Analysis Services, we can equip data teams to do exactly that.

Now, we are expanding these capabilities with the introduction of Runtime 2.0 in preview, purpose-built for large-scale data computation. It incorporates Apache Spark 4.x, Delta Lake 4.x, Scala 2.13, and Azure Linux Mariner 3.0 to power advanced enterprise workloads. Materialized lake views are also now generally available, simplifying medallion architecture implementation in Spark SQL and PySpark and enabling always up-to-date pipelines with no manual orchestration. In addition, a new agentic Copilot experience in notebooks delivers deeper context awareness, reasoning over your workspace, and generating code with greater speed and precision.

For real-time scenarios, we’re launching Microsoft Fabric Maps into general availability. Maps add geospatial context to your agents and operations by turning large volumes of location-based data into interactive, real-time visual insights.

For a comprehensive overview of these announcements and much more, read the Fabric Analytics announcement blog and the Fabric Real-Time Intelligence announcement blog.

Creating semantic meaning with Fabric IQ
Preparing raw data for AI is essential. The next step is transforming that data into meaningful, unified business context. That is where Fabric IQ comes in.

Fabric IQ unifies analytical data and operational data, including telemetry, time series, graph, and geospatial data, within a shared semantic framework of business entities, relationships, properties, rules, and actions. Instead of thinking in terms of tables and schemas, your teams and agents can operate on this framework, or ontology, aligned to how the business actually runs.

Fabric IQ ontologies will soon become accessible through an MCP server in preview, enabling agents to discover, understand, and act on this semantic layer. Ontologies can also serve as context sources for maps and soon in operations agents in Fabric, extending shared business context directly into operational decision-making and execution.

We are also excited to announce planning in Fabric IQ, a new enterprise planning capability that enables organizations to create plans, budgets, forecasts, and scenario models directly on top of Fabric’s semantic models. By complementing Fabric IQ’s ontologies with integrated planning, you get a complete, contextual view of your historical, real-time, and forward planning data. This allows users and agents to quickly answer what has happened, what is happening, and what should happen all from a single source. See this in action:

Finally, we recently announced a strategic partnership with NVIDIA to power the next generation of Physical AI by integrating Real-Time Intelligence and Fabric IQ with NVIDIA Omniverse libraries. The combined platform unifies real‑time operational data, business semantics, and physical simulation to enable organizations to optimize their physical operations in scenarios like intelligent digital twins, predictive maintenance, autonomous logistics, and energy optimization.

To learn more about all of our partner announcements, read the Fabric ISV announcement blog and the planning in Fabric IQ blog.

Enhancing the underlying Fabric IQ technology
Powering much of Fabric IQ’s rich experience is a combination of Power BI’s industry-leading, rich semantic model technology and graph in Fabric, our highly scalable graph database. Already delivering insights to more than 35 million active users, semantic models provide the ideal foundation for training agents through Fabric IQ. Now, with the general availability of Direct Lake on OneLake, your tables can be read directly from OneLake with native security enforcement, richer cross-item modeling, and import-class performance without data movement or refresh.

I’m also excited to share that graph in Fabric will be generally available in the coming weeks, enabling teams to visualize and query complex relationships across customers, partners, and supply chains.

To learn more, check out the Fabric IQ announcement blog and the Power BI announcement blog.

Empowering agents to act with Fabric data and operations agents
Frontier organizations are moving beyond general-purpose assistants and instead, adopting multi-agent systems composed of specialized agents. These agents are each grounded on specific data and reusable across different systems, allowing you to deliver more accurate, accelerated, and scalable outcomes.

To support your multi-agent systems, Fabric comes with built-in agent creation capabilities with Fabric data agents and operations agents. I’m excited to share that Fabric data agents are now generally available. Fabric data agents can be thought of as virtual analysts, aligned to specific domain data to support deeper analysis and deliver insights. Operations agents complement them by monitoring real-time data, detecting patterns, and taking proactive action.

Check out a quick demo of operations agents in Fabric:

These agents can be used across Fabric or as foundational knowledge sources in leading AI tools like Microsoft Foundry, Copilot Studio or even Microsoft 365 Copilot. To learn more about our AI announcements, check out the Fabric analytics blog covering data agents and the Fabric IQ blog covering operations agents.

Building mission-critical applications with developer experiences in Fabric
Developers building the next generation of AI applications need a comprehensive, cost-effective data platform that’s already integrated with your existing tools and workflows. Today, we are expanding Fabric’s developer tooling to meet that demand.

First, Fabric Model Context Protocol (MCP) is advancing with two major milestones. Fabric local MCP is now generally available, providing an open-source local server that connects AI coding assistants such as GitHub Copilot directly to Fabric. Alongside this, we’re introducing the public preview of Fabric remote MCP, a secure, cloud‑hosted execution engine that enables AI agents and automation tools to perform authenticated actions in Fabric.

We’re also enhancing our Git integration with selective branching, allowing developers to branch out for a specific feature and pull only the items they need. You also get improved change comparisons to more easily review recent updates, and new folder relationships which show how feature workspaces connect to source workspaces.

We’re also launching two open-source projects to help teams move faster with Fabric: Agent Skills for Fabric and Fabric Jumpstart. Agent Skills for Fabric is an open-source set of purpose-built plugins that let you use natural language in the GitHub Copilot terminal to harness the full power of Microsoft Fabric. Additionally, Fabric Jumpstart is designed to help you get off the ground with detailed guidance, reference architectures, and single‑click deployments for sample datasets, notebooks, pipelines, and reports.

Finally, we are announcing that the Fabric Extensibility Toolkit (FET), an evolution of the Workload Development Kit (WDK), is now generally available. Along with this release, we are enabling support for full CI/CD, variable library, and a new management experience in the Admin portal.

Read the Fabric Platform announcement blog
Migrating your existing Azure service to Fabric
As Fabric continues to grow in functionality, we are also simplifying the migration from other Azure services. In addition to our existing Synapse tooling, we are bringing new migration assistants for Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Azure SQL in public preview.

The new Fabric migration assistant for Azure Data Factory and Synapse Analytics helps move your existing pipelines and artifacts like Spark pools and notebooks into Fabric with minimal disruption. It’s designed to support incremental modernization, allowing teams to evaluate, convert, and optimize pipelines as they transition to Fabric. The migration assistant for SQL databases helps move SQL Server into Fabric by importing schemas through DACPACs, identifying and resolving compatibility issues with AI assistance, and guiding teams through assessment and data copy workflows for a smoother cutover.

See more Fabric innovation
Explore the AI shift with The Shift podcast
In addition to the announcements above, we are also rolling out a broad set of Fabric innovations across the platform. For a deeper look at the updates and what’s new this month, visit the Fabric March 2026 Feature summary blog, the Power BI March 2026 feature summary blog, and the latest posts on the Fabric Updates channel.

Explore additional resources for Microsoft Fabric
Sign up for the Fabric free trial. View the updated Fabric Roadmap. Try the Microsoft Fabric SKU Estimator.
Visit the Fabric website. Join the Fabric community. Read other in-depth, technical blogs on the Microsoft Fabric Updates Blog.
Read additional blogs by industry-leading partners
Sonata Software: Building an AI-ready data platform with data agents, ontology, and governance in Microsoft Fabric
Quadrant Technologies LLC: Real-Time Operational Intelligence in Microsoft Fabric: Deep Dive into RTI Capabilities, Anomaly Detection and Activator Alerting
Inspark: Why switch from Azure Synapse to Microsoft Fabric?
Esri: Unlock the power of location intelligence with ArcGIS for Microsoft Fabric
Dream IT Consulting Services: 8 Real-World Use Cases of Data Agents in Microsoft Fabric
UB Technology Innovations Inc.: From Data Platform to Decision Platform: How Microsoft Fabric and Copilot are Redefining Enterprise Analytics
Simpson Associates: Fabric Data Warehouse: Bringing Structure to Modern Data Strategies
Synapx Ltd.: Migrating Power BI to Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse with Medallion Architecture: A Strategic Imperative for Modern Construction Enterprises
Cloud Services: Real-Time Intelligence in Action: How Microsoft Fabric Helped Delfi Transform Its Newsroom
Cloud Services: Microsoft Fabric Data Agents: A New Reality
iLink Digital: Detect to Act in Seconds: How Real-Time Intelligence Is Rewriting the Rules of Emissions Management
Valorem Reply: How Nonprofits Are Rethinking Data with Microsoft Fabric

The post FabCon and SQLCon 2026: Unifying databases and Fabric on a single data platform appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

This year is especially meaningful, as it marks the return of a Microsoft‑led SQL community event, while also showcasing how SQL continues to evolve as a critical part of Fabric. It is not just about new technology, but about reconnecting with each other and building the future of SQL together.

It’s inspiring to see the Microsoft SQL community continue to grow and engage, with user groups worldwide keeping conversations active across the SQL portfolio and a lot of customers using Microsoft SQL to innovate every day. With a comprehensive portfolio built on strategic common foundations and available across edge, PaaS, and SaaS, Microsoft databases form a unified platform for modern enterprise needs, whether you are migrating and modernizing, building cloud-native AI applications, or unifying your data.

Migrate and modernize with Azure SQL

Many of our customers are not modernizing in one big leap. You are evolving from SQL Server to hybrid and then to cloud services, and you want that journey to feel familiar, predictable, and low risk. That is exactly what Azure SQL is designed to deliver. Built on a consistent Microsoft SQL foundation from on premises to the cloud, Azure SQL brings AI capabilities directly into your database experience, along with enterprise‑grade security, high availability, and the flexibility to scale as your needs grow. Azure SQL is fully SQL compatible, delivers strong performance and low latency, and supports hybrid scenarios through Azure Arc.

AI agents are becoming an important accelerator for database migration and modernization at Microsoft, helping our customers reduce manual effort and move faster with more guided experiences across the journey. The general availability of GitHub Copilot in SSMS 22 is a great example of that investment in action: you can use the same GitHub Copilot experience you already use in Visual Studio and VS Code, now inside SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), with chat and code assistance that helps you write, edit, and refactor T‑SQL more quickly and confidently. Whether you are a developer or database administrator (DBA), new to SQL or highly experienced, GitHub Copilot can support common workflows like improving queries and assisting with troubleshooting and administration tasks right where you work, and we are continuing to expand what it can do.

Today we are announcing savings plan for databases, a flexible, spend-based pricing option that helps you save up to 35%¹ vs. pay-as-you-go prices on a one-year commitment. Savings plan for databases is designed for modern, evolving database environments: Customers commit to a fixed hourly spend for one year and receive lower prices across eligible Azure database services. Savings are automatically applied to the highest-value usage each hour, helping reduce costs while supporting migration, modernization, and architectural change.

Build cloud-native AI apps at scale

Once you move to the cloud, the questions shift. How do you build faster, scale smarter, and unlock more value from your data without re‑architecting everything you have already built? That is where Azure SQL Database Hyperscale comes in.

With Azure SQL Database Hyperscale, customers gain better price-performance, elastic scale and resilience for any workload, without the cost or disruption of rewriting T‑SQL or reworking operational models. Its unique architecture, built on shared storage and multiple replicas, allows you to scale reads independently from writes. With built‑in HTAP isolation, applications can handle massive transactional and analytical workloads without complex redesign. New capabilities now in public preview extend that foundation even further, including the SQL MCP Server for securely connecting SQL data to AI agents and Copilots, as well as larger 160 and 192 vCore options for high‑throughput workloads.

We’re delivering faster, more capable vector indexes to power AI applications. Recent enhancements improve vector search performance and efficiency with no code changes required. With full insert, update, and delete support, vector indexes stay current in real time, enabling dynamic applications. Features like quantization, iterative filtering, and tighter query optimizer integration provide faster, more predictable results, helping teams build responsive AI experiences directly on their SQL data.

Temenos built its next‑generation banking platform, Temenos Core, on Azure using Azure SQL Database Hyperscale to achieve global scale, high availability, and resilient performance. The platform processes billions of transactions daily and more than 17,500 transactions per second at peak. By building on Hyperscale, Temenos reduced onboarding time, accelerated innovation, and shifted banks from worrying about downtime to competing on availability and digital innovation.

Unify your data estate with SQL database in Fabric

We continue to raise the bar on enterprise readiness for SQL database in Fabric by bringing enterprise-grade security and compliance capabilities directly into the platform. Today at SQLCon, we announced the general availability of features including SQL Auditing, Customer‑Managed Keys, and Dynamic Data Masking, and the preview of workspace‑level Private Link. We brought these enhancements to help customers meet strict governance and regulatory requirements without adding operational complexity. The result is confidence that your SQL workloads in Fabric are secure, compliant, and ready for production.

SQL database in Fabric is becoming even more powerful for AI‑driven applications. The same vector indexing enhancements available in Azure SQL Database Hyperscale are now built into SQL database in Fabric as well. Because both are powered by the same Microsoft SQL engine, customers benefit from consistent performance, capabilities, and innovation across the SQL portfolio—making it easier to build intelligent applications wherever their data lives.

Finally, moving to SQL database in Fabric is simpler than ever. The Migration Assistant now supports SQL database in Fabric as a target destination. It provides a Copilot-assisted experience that helps SQL developers assess readiness, migrate schema, identify compatibility issues, and copy data with less manual effort. By preserving familiar SQL skills and workflows, customers can modernize at their own pace while accelerating time to value on Fabric’s unified analytics and AI platform.

There is one more Fabric innovation that matters deeply for how we deliver Microsoft databases as a unified platform. As applications grow more sophisticated, most organizations now rely on a mix of SQL and NoSQL databases across cloud, on‑premises, and edge environments. Provisioning, monitoring, and maintaining health across a growing database fleet often requires multiple tools and portals, making it harder to see what’s happening and manage at scale.

To address this, we are introducing the Database Hub in Microsoft Fabric, now available in early access. The Database Hub provides a unified database management experience that brings together databases across edge, cloud, and Fabric into one coherent view. From a single place, database teams can explore, observe, govern, and optimize their entire estate, including Azure SQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc, and Azure Database for MySQL without changing how each service is deployed or operated.

Built for scale, the Database Hub introduces an agent-assisted, human-in-the-loop approach to database management. Intelligent agents continuously reason over estate-wide signals to surface what changed, explain why it matters, and guide teams toward what to do next, while built-in observability, delegated governance, and Copilot-powered insights help teams move from insight to action with greater confidence. With the Database Hub, teams spend less time navigating tools and more time enabling what comes next: unlocking deeper integration across applications, analytics, and AI from a single control plane for the Microsoft databases portfolio.

Database Hub is available today in early access. Sign up today and see how the Database Hub can bring clarity and control to your database estate.

Moving forward with the SQL community

SQLCon is about bringing the SQL community together. It is about rebuilding connections and shared learning. It also reflects our long-term commitment to SQL. With a comprehensive portfolio built on strategic common foundations and available across edge, PaaS, and SaaS, Microsoft databases provide a unified platform for modern enterprise needs, whether you are migrating and modernizing, building cloud-native AI applications, or unifying your data. We are investing in SQL for the future, alongside the community that continues to shape it.

Finally, SQLCon is coming to Europe! Join the global data and SQL community from 28 Sep – 01st October, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain for hands-on learning, expert insights, and real-world stories. Register to be a part of it. I can’t wait to see you there.

Additional SQL resources

• Microsoft Azure Summit: Migrate and Modernize with Agentic AI
• What is new about SQL database in Fabric
• Learn more about savings plan for databases

¹Customers may see savings estimated to be between 0% and 35%. The 35% savings estimate is based on one Azure SQL Database serverless running for 12 months at a pay-as-you-go rate vs. a reduced rate for a 1-year savings plan. Based on Azure pricing as of March 2026. Prices are subject to change. Actual savings may vary based on location, database service, and/or usage. 

The post Advancing agentic AI with Microsoft databases across a unified data estate appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Enhancing your SQL workflow

From a tooling perspective, we are investing heavily in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and the MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code. SSMS is where we primarily aim to serve data professionals like you including database administrators, data analysts, database developers, data scientists, and data engineers, and we have been doing so for two decades now. The MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code is where we primarily aim to serve application developers. Additionally, from a web interface perspective, we are investing in the Microsoft Azure portal and Microsoft Fabric web experiences to support Azure and Fabric cross-functional roles and tasks to be done.

In the past year, we’ve modernized SSMS—now based on the latest release of Visual Studio—and brought in numerous customer requests including dark mode, Arm64 support, Fabric support, GitHub Copilot, and more. We also brought rich, AI-assisted experiences to Visual Studio Code with GitHub Copilot Ask and Agent mode support, in addition to many new and improved capabilities in areas around designing schemas and tables, provisioning and getting connected (including Fabric and local containers), query results, and more. In the web, we launched a unified Azure SQL experience in the Azure portal, and shipped SQL database in Fabric, now generally available.

Building the future of SQL development

In addition to delivering quality releases and consistent functionality across these tools and experiences that enable you to efficiently manage and develop with Microsoft SQL Server, we are aiming higher for the future. Our vision is to equip every database with source control and CI/CD integration, streamline trusted and reliable deployments, provide consistent and tailored Copilot experiences, and deliver modern drivers, SDKs, and CLIs as well as a robust data API and MCP Server. We’re also investing in rich experiences that help developers take full advantage of AI capabilities in the SQL engine, making it easier to build and optimize AI-ready applications.

Delivering on that vision requires focus and critical prioritization, a responsibility that we’re taking with deep consideration and increased transparency to you. Full roadmap details across our tools and experiences can be found at the end of this article. If you were using Azure Data Studio or SDK-style SQL projects in Visual Studio 2022 and are impacted by the retirement of these tools, you can still use the original SQL projects in Visual Studio 2026 so that your established solutions can upgrade to the latest Visual Studio version without compatibility conflicts. SDK-style (Microsoft.Build.Sql) projects are generally available in Visual Studio Code with the SQL Database Projects extension and are directly integrated with SQL database in Fabric source control. In the first half of 2026 SDK-style SQL projects will be added to SQL Server Management Studio, empowering more database professionals with foundational tools for database DevOps.

See what’s next and join the conversation

We know that you will have feedback for us, now and as we go forward, and we want to thank you in advance for that, as it is critical that we understand what you need from your SQL tooling. This benefits you, us, and the entire community.

• SQL Server Management Studio roadmap
• SQL Server Management Studio feedback site
• MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code roadmap
• MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code feedback
• SQL projects and DacFx feedback
• Microsoft SQL feedback site
• SQL database in Fabric roadmap
• SQL database in Fabric Ideas site

The post How the Microsoft SQL team is investing in SQL tools and experiences appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

One consistent SQL is a promise of a unified experience that spans edge, cloud, and software as a service (SaaS), empowering developers to create intelligent applications with ease, while enabling data professionals to modernize on their terms. Write once, deploy anywhere because customers run diverse SQL estates, and we meet them wherever they are. Whether you’re running workloads with SQL Server, modernizing in Azure SQL, or activating real-time analytics in Microsoft Fabric, one consistent SQL unifies your data estate, bringing platform consistency, performance at scale, advanced security, and AI-ready tools together in one seamless experience and creates one home for your SQL workloads in the era of AI.

With a consistent platform, optimized performance, and multi-layered security, workloads scale dynamically while staying secure and highly available. And building intelligent, scalable applications is faster than ever with developer-first tools combined with AI capabilities. This is enterprise-grade performance for the era of AI, with one consistent SQL powering innovation across hybrid, multi-cloud, and AI-powered environments, all anchored by a unified data estate.

Delivering a consistent SQL platform across cloud and on-premises

From edge to cloud, one consistent SQL is Microsoft’s commitment to deliver a consistent experience—powering mission-critical workloads, next-generation apps, and data-driven intelligence. It provides unified management across infrastructure, platform, and software services for consistent operations in hybrid scenarios. Developers can use familiar SQL skills and tools to build and manage applications across environments, while sovereign cloud support addresses data residency and compliance requirements for regulated industries.

And now, the centerpiece of this vision takes the stage: SQL Server 2025 is now generally available. Built on SQL Server’s foundation of security, performance, and availability, this release introduces built-in AI capabilities and developer-focused enhancements. These features enable organizations to use existing data to support AI initiatives securely and at scale, all within SQL Server using the T SQL language.

Achieving optimized SQL performance and advanced security

In a world where trust is non-negotiable, organizations expect the same performance, availability, and security standards everywhere in their data lives. They adapt to the demands of your workload without compromise—delivering resilience and speed while keeping data secure and operations steady. These expectations are heightened for mission-critical workloads, where uptime and reliability directly impact return on investment. Businesses need a platform that not only meets these requirements but also evolves to handle growing complexity without adding operational burden.

The next generation of Azure SQL Managed Instance is now generally available to help organizations modernize with improved performance and simplified migration. The release offers expanded storage and database capacity, flexible compute and memory options, and features designed to support diverse workload requirements. These enhancements provide a foundation for scaling applications and managing data securely while maintaining compatibility with existing SQL investments. Customers are already benefiting from Azure SQL Managed Instance. Hexure, a life insurance software company, slashed processing time by 97.2%.

The path to Azure SQL Managed Instance also got easier. SQL Server migration in Azure Arc is now generally available. Copilot-assisted migration streamlines the entire process with real-time replication, confident cutover, and trusted failover—reducing months of work to days and lowering total cost of ownership.

Knowing that we have a reliable and highly secure database platform positions us to think about how we can use AI in ways that will benefit our customers and their customers most. With Azure SQL Managed Instance in place, we’re very well equipped to continue in our role as a leader in insurance tech

—Warren Perlman, CTO, Hexure

Empowering developers with AI-ready SQL tools at scale

One consistent SQL means you can use your existing skills and familiar development tools together with AI-powered capabilities to simplify application creation. As organizations look to integrate generative AI into business processes, complexity and time to value remain major challenges. Analysts predict that most AI applications will be built on existing data platforms—reducing development effort and accelerating delivery. Customers want integration, not disruption, and they expect AI assistance embedded in the tools they already use.

This vision is supported by features that combine intelligence with security. GitHub Copilot integration enables developers to work with AI assistance directly in environments like Visual Studio Code and SQL Server Management Studio 22. Native support for retrieval of augmented generation scenarios includes vector search and semantic indexing within SQL Server and Azure SQL, while secure enclaves and Always Encrypted protect sensitive data during processing. Connections to Azure AI services and governance tools streamline data preparation and compliance, while elastic infrastructure supports training, inference, and deployment at scale. 

Creating a unified data estate for analytics and AI

Microsoft Fabric connects operations, analytics, and governance in one unified experience, unlocking the full potential of SQL data. As organizations prepare for real-time AI applications, the ability to bridge transactional and analytical workloads becomes essential. Analysts describe this capability as “translytical,” a foundation for responsive applications that combine speed with depth. A future-ready data strategy must integrate operational data with analytical insight, and Fabric delivers that integration without adding complexity.aka

Today at Microsoft Ignite 2025, we announced two key advancements: the general availability of Fabric databases and database Mirroring in Fabric. Fabric databases unify operational and analytical data within Fabric, backed by OneLake, the open data foundation for analytics and AI. SQL database in Fabric supports transactional processing, real-time analytics with zero Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL), and AI workloads side-by-side. In addition, database Mirroring enables replication of SQL Server and Azure SQL into Fabric for analytics and AI scenarios without migration or refactoring. Early adopters such as AP Pension have consolidated decades of fragmented data using Mirroring for SQL Server in Fabric and SQL database in Fabric, creating a centralized architecture with automated delivery and strong governance. These capabilities position Fabric as a cornerstone for organizations seeking to modernize data strategies and prepare for AI-powered applications.

Eastman built a new agentic sales copilot app, enabling their sellers to instantly query unified customer data using natural language. By integrating SQL querying with Fabric’s analytics and vector capabilities, the copilot retrieves hyper-precise answers directly from the database.

When it comes to SQL in Fabric, a huge advantage is you have the robustness of SQL Server, but already in the context of Fabric. The fact that it already has so many security features and integrations with the rest of the Fabric platform is a huge advantage.

—Logan Finke, Principal AI Data Architect at Eastman

Innovate with one consistent SQL

One SQL is a promise of consistency, security, and flexibility from edge to cloud, helping you innovate without disruption. Build intelligent apps powered by agentic AI, unlock real-time insights, and meet compliance demands, all with the tools and skills you already trust. Make your legacy databases your launchpad to innovation.

One engine. One experience. One SQL.

Take the next step today

• Learn more about SQL Server 2025 and download now.
• Learn more about next-generation Azure SQL Managed Instance.
• Learn more about SQL database in Fabric and database Mirroring in Fabric.

The post One consistent SQL: The launchpad from legacy to innovation appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Continue reading to learn about how three organizations—Thomson Reuters, Hexure, and CallRevu—each jumpstarted their transformation with migration of their on-premises workloads to Microsoft Azure. As a result, organizations were able to improve operational efficiency and accelerate AI-powered innovation. Their stories reveal how fully managed platform-as-a-service solutions like Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance helps organizations move from legacy constraints to a scalable and secure AI-ready foundation ready to power future possibilities.

Modernization at scale: Thomson Reuters  

For Thomson Reuters, one of the world’s most trusted providers of tax and accounting solutions, modernization was less of an option and more of a necessity. Supporting over 7,000 firms and 70,000 users during the peak of tax season required an infrastructure that was both robust and scalable. The company previously hosted more than 18,000 databases and over 500 terabytes of data on third-party servers, an approach that came with high costs, operational complexity, and challenges scaling to meet seasonal demand.  

By migrating this massive estate into Azure SQL Managed Instance from another cloud hosting environment, Thomson Reuters achieved modernization at scale. With programs like Microsoft Azure Migrate to support every step of the migration journey, and automation tools like PowerShell and Azure Resource Manager templates, they were able to streamline deployments and maintain performance while minimizing disruptions. Azure’s fully managed platform allowed Thomson Reuters to streamline database administration and automated key tasks like backups and updates. As a result, their teams could focus on delivering value to customers rather than managing infrastructure. Azure Virtual Desktop together with Windows 11 facilitated access to tax preparation applications, reducing complexity and costs.  

The benefits were immediate and significant. Thomson Reuters gained: 

• Consistent performance during seasonal peaks.
• Improved resiliency.
• Reduced support overhead.
• Optimized costs across licensing and infrastructure.  

Thomson Reuters now has a foundation for continued growth and the flexibility to scale its services as demand requires.

Operational efficiency and performance: Hexure  

While Thomson Reuters’ story highlights scale, Hexure’s migration shows the operational efficiency gains that come from moving to a fully managed platform with Azure SQL Managed Instance and Microsoft Azure App Service. Hexure provides digital solutions for insurance and financial services companies—managing sensitive customer information across many databases and applications.  

The company faced challenges with aging infrastructure that slowed down critical processes and demanded heavy manual intervention. Provisioning new customer instances, managing backups, and handling failovers was time-intensive. Processing delays made it harder to serve clients with the speed and reliability customers expect.  

Migrating to Azure SQL Managed Instance changed that equation. Hexure cut processing times by up to 97%, transforming overnight batch jobs into near-instant operations. Migration times were reduced by more than 80% thanks to built-in compatibility and automation. With Microsoft Azure Key Vault, Hexure could better manage cybersecurity and protection of their data. Features like point-in-time restore, automated backups, and geo-replication not only boosted resilience but also ensured compliance with industry regulations.  

Equally important, the move allowed Hexure to:  

• Onboard new customers in minutes versus hours.
• Deliver faster shipping cycles for features and platform improvements.
• Reduce management of infrastructure—including servers.

With migration, Hexure could now focus on innovation and customer service. For an industry where trust and responsiveness are critical, this operational leap forward directly translates into stronger client relationships.

Innovation with AI and insights: CallRevu  

CallRevu’s story illustrates the next frontier: innovation. CallRevu helps automotive dealerships improve lead conversion, follow-up, and customer experience by analyzing phone calls across more than 5,000 locations. Handling this volume of conversational data requires not only advanced analytics, but scalable platform. 

With a fully managed solution built on Azure SQL Managed Instance, Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service together with Microsoft Azure AI services, CallRevu created a platform that goes beyond storing and managing data. It ensures reliable, scalable performance for call data and transcriptions, while services like Microsoft Azure OpenAI for real-time summaries and insights. This integration allows CallRevu to surface actionable insights in real time—helping dealerships connect marketing to results, improve agent performance, and ultimately drive more sales. 

The company also benefits from the operational simplicity that Azure SQL Managed Instance delivers. By migrating from their on-premises SQL Server environment, they were able to benefit from automated backups, scaling, and monitoring to reduce administrative overhead, while built-in security helps protect sensitive customer interactions. Data is mirrored in Microsoft Fabric allowing Power BI dashboards to generate real-time insights. With a strong and agile data foundation in place, CallRevu can focus on innovating faster—bringing AI-powered capabilities to an industry where customer engagement is a critical differentiator while also:  

• Increasing customer satisfaction by 10%.
• Saving USD500,000 annually in labor costs.
• Increasing lead conversion by 15%.

Take the next step in your transformation journey  

Modernization is not a one-time project—it’s a journey that is different for every organization. For some organizations, the first step is simply migrating off legacy servers. For others, it’s about rethinking how operations can run more efficiently. And for many, it’s about leveraging cloud and AI to create entirely new opportunities.  

The experiences of Thomson Reuters, Hexure, and CallRevu highlight how migration to a platform-as-a-service anchored on database solutions like Azure SQL Managed Instance supports every stage of that journey. By providing a managed, secure, and scalable cloud platform, backed by the tools and programs, organizations can migrate with confidence, operate more efficiently, and innovate faster.

Ready to get started? Here are some free tools you can start trying today: 

• Try Azure SQL Managed Instance free today. 
• Learn how Azure Migrate can help you get started.

Join Microsoft at PASS Data Community Summit 2025 to continue your learning journey and how Azure is making it easier than ever to start your transformation journey. Learn more on our sponsorship and presence.

The post Innovation spotlight: How 3 customers are driving change with migration to Azure SQL appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Adoption gains speed 

We’re seeing incredible momentum with SQL Server 2025 since its public preview debut at Microsoft Build. From lighting up community events like SQL Saturdays to being featured at SQLBits 2025 with CTP 2.1, the excitement is electric. SQL Server 2025 isn’t just keeping pace, it’s setting a new standard. Customers are adopting SQL Server 2025 twice as fast as SQL Server 2022 based on downloads of the public preview.

In the early adoption program, participants were asked to rank the SQL Server 2025 features they were most interested in testing. Built-in AI emerged as one of the top priorities, alongside performance and scalability enhancements. In addition, based on feedback from our preview customers, developer-friendly enhancements—especially the introduction of native JSON support—along with powerful T-SQL additions like regular expression support, have also been positively received—streamlining data processing and boosting developer efficiency. Enterprise customers like Entain, Mediterranean Shipping Company, Kramer & Crew, Schultz, and Bühler are already hands-on, exploring how SQL Server 2025 can power their next-gen applications. 

“As one of the largest SQL Server consulting firms in Brazil, we are excited about the AI features in SQL Server 2025, especially the potential for text processing that can benefit companies of all sizes. AI brings new ways to process and extract insights from data and with SQL Server being the core repository for many businesses, native AI features like embeddings, REST API support, and vector indexes are game changers. They eliminate the need for external vector databases, making AI integration more seamless and efficient.”

Rodrigo Ribeiro Gomes, Head of Innovation, Power Tuning

“SQL Server 2025 introduces seamless Azure and Arc integration and features, enhanced JSON and RegEx capabilities, and enhancements to database engine.”  

Shailesh Panday, Deputy Manager, IT, Buhler AG

Explore capabilities with new preview features

SQL Server 2025 introduces a new preview feature option, giving customers the flexibility to balance production stability with early access to innovation. When turned on, it unlocks access to upcoming features still in preview, enabling developers to test and evaluate new capabilities like vector indexing, improved text chunking, and change event streaming without impacting production workloads (a complete list of preview features is here).  

This opt-in model brings the agility of the cloud to on-premises SQL Server, empowering customers to innovate on their terms. Preview features are provided in alignment with Microsoft’s supportability guidelines. They are intended for evaluation and testing purposes only and are not recommended for use in production environments. The database itself in SQL Server 2025 remains as fully supported and is an essential component of the general availability release. Preview features are optional and designed to operate independently in preview mode. Enabling these features does not impact the stability or supportability of your database.  

SQL Server has traditionally used trace flags to enable or disable specific behaviors within the database engine. The new preview feature switch in SQL Server 2025 is fundamentally different from traditional trace flags. While trace flags are primarily used for debugging and diagnostics, often by DBAs or support engineers to control internal engine behavior, the preview feature switch is designed for developers to explore and test new, user-facing capabilities. Trace flags typically operate at the instance level, affecting the entire server, whereas the preview feature switch is a database-scoped configuration, offering more granular control and safer experimentation without impacting other workloads. Learn more about the preview features in the frequently asked questions.

New feature highlights

As SQL Server adoption on Linux continues to grow, we’re excited to introduce preview support for Ubuntu 24.04, one of the most widely used and trusted Linux distributions. This marks a significant step forward in our commitment to cross-platform flexibility and developer choice. By embracing the latest Ubuntu release, SQL Server 2025 ensures developers and IT teams can build and run modern, cloud-connected applications on a familiar and up-to-date Linux environment. 

PolyBase plays a critical role in enabling analytics scenarios by allowing SQL Server to query external data sources like Microsoft Azure Data Lake or Azure Blob Storage using familiar T-SQL. As many of SQL Server’s modern analytics capabilities are deeply integrated with Microsoft Azure services, secure and seamless access to cloud storage is essential. With preview support for Managed Identity authentication to Azure Storage, SQL Server 2025 takes a step forward in simplifying security and access management. This enhancement aligns with SQL Server’s decade-long track record as the most secure database and reinforces our commitment to enterprise-grade security. By eliminating the need for storing secrets or keys, Managed Identity makes it easier and safer for customers to build scalable, cloud-connected analytics solutions using PolyBase. 

Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric is a game-changing capability that unlocks seamless, near real-time analytics on operational data from SQL Server 2025. To help customers manage compute resources efficiently during the mirroring process, SQL Server now supports creating a dedicated Resource Governor (RG) pool. Each phase of mirroring—such as ingestion, transformation, and synchronization—can be assigned to a specific workload group, giving administrators fine-grained control over resource allocation. These workload groups can be placed in the same or different pools depending on capacity planning needs.  

Discover more 

SQL Server 2025

An AI-ready enterprise database with best-in-class security, performance, and availability.

Download RC0 today

• Download release candidate (RC0). 
• Learn more on Microsoft Learn.
• Discover what’s new in SQL Server 2025 in our latest Mechanics video.

The post Accelerating SQL Server 2025 momentum: Announcing the first release candidate appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

End-to-end migration simplified

If you’ve been using SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc, you’re likely familiar with continuous migration assessments that offer target recommendations, technical readiness, and cost estimates. Now, we’re taking the next step forward by introducing automated, end-to-end migration capabilities in SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

Once you’ve assessed the Azure readiness of your SQL Server instances, you can now select or provision your Azure targets such as Azure SQL Managed Instance, without jumping between various tools or places in the Azure portal. This streamlined workflow eliminates context switching and simplifies provisioning. You’ll see estimated costs during the provisioning process, giving you clear visibility and confidence to plan ahead. Plus, you can take advantage of the free Azure SQL Managed Instance offer to evaluate at no cost, making it easier to get started. 

Real-time database replication is also integrated into the new migration capability. This new method, built on top of distributed availability groups, enables near real-time database replication from SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance. Setting up real-time replication manually can be a complex multi-step process, but Azure Arc simplifies the entire process while providing best-in-class monitoring. If a customer decides to go back to on-premises, Azure SQL Managed Instance Link also supports seamless failback (if the source SQL Server instance is SQL Server 2022 and above). 

Migrate with confidence 

The new capability empowers customers to migrate with confidence. Before officially cutting over, you can validate that the target Azure SQL Managed Instance meets your business requirements by using the target instance as a read-only replica.  

In addition, the client connection summary feature in SQL Server, enabled by Azure Arc, automatically and continuously captures and displays which clients are connecting to each instance. This replaces the previous manual and time-consuming process of tracing applications to their databases, giving customers clear visibility and helping ensure a smooth transition to Azure.

Get started today 

If you’re looking to simplify and accelerate your migration to Azure, this new connected capability can help you get there faster—with less downtime, lower overhead, and more confidence. 

• Learn more on our Tech Community blog.
• Learn more about the new migration capability in Azure Arc on Microsoft Learn.
• Onboard your SQL Server to Azure Arc today.
• Learn more about continuous migration assessment from SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

Frequently asked questions 

1. What is SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc?  

SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc extends Azure services to SQL Server instances hosted outside of Azure: in your data center, in edge site locations like retail stores, or any public cloud or hosting provider. 

Azure Arc enables you to consistently manage SQL Server instances across hybrid and multicloud environments, bringing cloud innovations such as automated updates, unified policy, best practices assessment, and advanced security to SQL Server running anywhere.

2. What’s the continuous migration assessment from Azure Arc?  

Microsoft has announced the general availability of continuous migration assessments for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc, marking a step forward in simplifying cloud migration planning. This release introduces a redesigned assessment experience that provides deeper insights and more intuitive navigation, especially for single Arc-enabled instances. 

One of the standout features is the integration of retail pricing visibility across all Azure savings options, including Azure Hybrid Benefit (AHB), reserved instances, and Azure savings plans. These pricing insights are now available for Azure SQL Database, SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs), helping users make informed cost decisions.  

3. What is Azure Database Migration Service? 

Azure Database Migration Service is a fully managed service designed to seamlessly migrate databases to Azure with minimal downtime. It supports both homogeneous migrations (such as SQL Server to Azure SQL) and heterogeneous migrations (such as Oracle to Azure PostgreSQL).

4. What are the migration methods in the new migration capability? 

The following methods are built into the migration process. Azure SQL Managed Instance link enables near real-time database replication using distributed availability groups. Log Replay Service uses SQL Server log-shipping technology and requires a brief planned cutover. Review the Microsoft Learn page to understand the differences between these two migration methods and choose the option that best suits your needs.

The post Accelerate SQL Server Migration to Azure with Azure Arc  appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

“We are allowing the cloud provider to handle hardware resource allocation and maintenance so that our staff focus on program development. This strategy ensures that during system operation we no longer need to worry about hardware failures, power instability or information security issues, greatly improving the system’s operational reliability.”

—Ching-Lung Chang, CIO, Library and Information Services Office at YunTech .

Modernize to Azure, a smooth path, a more powerful destination  

Migrating to a cloud platform is an essential step on the journey to modernization, and there are many choices. What makes SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL unique is that it’s built on the same engine, no matter where you deploy, which means you can build on your existing SQL experience while gaining the layered security, intelligent threat detection, and data encryption that Azure provides.  

Modernizing to Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance offers cost savings, scalability, security, seamless migration, productivity, and always up-to-date features. Now in preview, Azure SQL Managed Instance next generation general purpose delivers improved performance and scalability, making migration and modernization faster and easier across more customer scenarios.  

Azure is the destination, but we know the journey matters just as much. A new SQL Server migration experience is now under preview in Azure Arc. It is powered by Azure Database Migration Service and offers seamless, end-to-end migration capabilities including continuous migration assessments, simplified provisioning, and real-time database replication, assisted by Copilot in Azure. What once took months can now be accomplished in just days, with confidence, continuity, and control.

In-place upgrade to SQL Server 2025  

Another way to stay protected is to upgrade your SQL Server to  SQL Server 2025. Built on SQL Server’s legacy of best-in-class security, performance and availability, SQL Server 2025 empowers you to develop modern AI applications using your data. It provides built-in, extensible AI capabilities, enhanced developer productivity, and seamless integration with Azure and Fabric, all within SQL Server engine using the familiar T-SQL language. 

The upgrade experience has been streamlined. With the retirement of Azure Data Studio and Data Migration Assistant, migration capabilities are now integrated directly into SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). This eliminates the need for separate tools, reducing complexity and effort. In SSMS 21, a new migration extension allows DBAs and partners to assess and upgrade SQL Server instances from older to newer versions, all within the same management environment. 

Stay protected on-premises or in multi-cloud environments with Azure Arc  

Extended Security Updates for SQL Server 2016 offers an enhanced cloud experience through Azure Arc. With this customer-centric approach, security updates will be natively available in the Azure portal through Azure Arc. Enabling your SQL Server with Azure Arc also unlocks Azure benefits and flexible subscription billing for SQL Server 2016 workloads on-premises or across multi-cloud environments.  

If you enable Extended Security Updates subscription in your production environment through Azure Arc, you have access to SQL Server Extended Security Updates subscription in the non-production environment for free, through SQL Server Developer edition or an Azure Dev/Test subscription.  

We encourage all our customers running SQL Server 2016 to start planning for the end of support. We have migration resources, best practices, and more, as well as a rich ecosystem of partners ready to help. To get started, please visit the following pages to learn more: 

• Why migrate Windows Server and SQL Server to Azure: ROI, innovation, and free offers.
• Get the full return on investment (ROI) and total cost ownership (TCO) reports from IDC: The Business Value of Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance Workload and The Business Value of Microsoft Azure for SQL Server and Windows Server Workloads.
• Onboard your SQL Server to Azure Arc.

Frequently asked questions 

What does end of support mean? 

Microsoft Lifecycle Policy offers 10 years of support (five years for mainstream support and five years for extended support) for business and developer products (such as SQL Server and Windows Server). After the end of the extended support period, there are no patches or security updates, which might cause security and compliance issues, and expose your applications and business to serious security risks. 

What do Extended Security Updates include? 

Extended Security Updates include provision of security updates and bulletins rated critical by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), for a maximum of three years after the end of extended support.  

Extended Security Updates are distributed if and when available. Extended Security Updates don’t include technical support. Customers must purchase a paid support plan (Pay Per Incident, Unified, and Premier Support for Partners) to leverage technical support. Extended Security Updates don’t include new features, functional improvements, nor customer-requested fixes. However, Microsoft might include non-security fixes as deemed necessary. 

Why do Extended Security Updates only offer “critical” updates? 

For end of support events in the past, SQL Server provided only critical security updates, which meets the compliance criteria of our enterprise customers. SQL Server doesn’t ship a general monthly security update.

The post Protect and modernize SQL Server 2016 workloads with Microsoft  appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

At Microsoft Build 2025, we announced the public preview of SQL Server 2025. Built on a foundation of best-in-class security, performance, and availability, SQL Server 2025 empowers customers to accelerate AI using their own data. The momentum doesn’t stop there. This release also brings major updates to the tools and services that power enterprise-grade reporting, analysis and integration services. In this blog, we’ll walk you through what’s new across these services so you can plan your upgrade holistically and unlock the full potential of SQL Server 2025.

SQL Server 2025 Reporting Services

For over two decades, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) has been the go-to on-premises solution for creating and managing paginated reports using Report Definition Language (RDL). With SQL Server 2025, we’re taking a step forward.

Power BI Report Server will now be the default reporting solution for SQL Server 2025. This modern platform supports both paginated and interactive reports, enabling users to build reusable data models and deliver rich, customized reporting experiences. It also offers built-in compatibility with Power BI, providing a seamless path to the cloud.

As part of this transition, we will not be releasing a new version of SSRS for SQL Server 2025. However, if you prefer to continue using SSRS, support will remain in place for both SQL Server 2025 and all in-market versions of SQL Server.

If you’re testing SQL Server 2025 preview, we recommend including the move to Power BI Report Server in your upgrade plan. Download the free trial of Power BI Report Server and explore the latest features to see if it meets your reporting needs. When SQL Server 2025 becomes generally available, any customer with a paid SQL Server license will have access to Power BI Report Server, which was previously limited to Enterprise edition customers with Software Assurance.

For customers currently using Enterprise edition of SQL Server 2022 or earlier with Software Assurance, migrating from SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) to Power BI Report Server (PBIRS) is a straightforward process. Most RDL report assets created in SSRS are fully compatible with PBIRS, making the transition less effort for the majority of users.

For more questions, review the FAQ.

SQL Server 2025 Analysis Services

SQL Server 2025 Analysis Services (SSAS) introduces several key enhancements aimed at improving performance, scalability, and modeling flexibility.

We have made significant performance improvements for Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) queries on models with Calculation Groups and Format Strings to reduce memory usage and improve responsiveness. The latest changes will greatly improve the performance and reliability of operations in Analyze in Excel on models that include Dynamic Format Strings for Measures and Calculated Items with Format Strings. For more details, refer to the Dynamic format strings documentation.

Improved parallelism in DirectQuery mode enables faster response times for complex queries. The fundamental idea is to maximize query performance by parallelizing multiple queries to the datasource for a single Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) query. This query parallelization reduces the impact of data source delays and network latencies on query performance.

For more details, refer to the Query parallelization helps to boost the Power BI dataset performance in DirectQuery mode blog post.

SSAS 2025 incorporates the latest version of Horizontal Fusion, a query performance optimization that reduces the number of SQL queries generated by DAX, improving DirectQuery efficiency. For more details, refer to the Announcing “Horizontal Fusion,” a query performance optimization in Power BI and Analysis Services blog post.

Find more about what’s new in SQL Server 2025 Analysis Services.

SQL Server 2025 Integration Services

One of the notable updates in SQL Server 2025 Integration Services (SSIS) is the improved support for ADO.NET connectivity. Historically, the ADO.NET connection manager had limitations such as the lack of ability to connect using Entra ID authentication. This posed challenges for organizations adopting modern identity solutions and cloud-first strategies.

Now, with the introduction of the Microsoft SqlClient Data Provider in ADO.NET connection manager, SSIS addresses this gap. This new capability brings the support for Entra ID authentication, enabling more secure and flexible connection scenarios.

Find more about what’s new in SQL Server 2025 Integration Services.

Explore more resources

• Check out the SQL Server docs to learn more about SQL Server 2025.
• Visit the Power BI Report Server docs to learn about PBRIS.
• Learn more about migrating to Power BI Report Server from SSRS.
• Get your questions answered with Reporting Services consolidation FAQ.

The post Enhancing reporting and analytics with SQL Server 2025 tools and services appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

A thriving community at the heart of SQL Server 2025

As we look back at the creation of SQL Server 2025, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to the community leaders, MVPs, partners, and Microsoft engineers who have shared their insights, expertise, and enthusiasm about this exciting release. Their passion for SQL Server and commitment to knowledge-sharing continue to inspire us.

In the resources below we showcase the expertise of our community as well as Microsoft, with blogs and videos that will help you make the most of everything SQL Server 2025 has to offer. These resources dive into key innovations that set SQL Server 2025 apart, including best-in-class security, built-in AI, developer enhancements, and Fabric mirroring.

Insights from Microsoft engineering, MVPs, and partners

SQL Server 2025 overview

We’ll get started with resources that provide an overview of key SQL Server innovations and then dive into each of the core pillars of best-in-class performance and security, AI-built in, made for developer, and cloud agility through Azure.

• At Microsoft Build, Microsoft’s Bob Ward and Muazma Zahid covered everything database developers need to know in their session SQL Server 2025: The Database Developer Reimagined, and Raj Pochiraju launched his deep dive blog into all things SQL Server 2025.
• Bob Ward was interviewed by theCube at Dell Technologies World, where he and Rob Sonders from Dell discussed how data fuels AI and the key AI features in SQL Server 2025.
• Joey D’Antoni from Redmond Magazine interviewed Shireesh Thota and shared his thoughts on the most exciting features in Microsoft Build: SQL Server 2025 Is (Almost) Here and Why Microsoft Is Still Betting Big on SQL Server in a Cloud-First World, both on Redmondmag.com.
• Microsoft’s Anna Hoffman and Bob Ward have launched a new series on Data Exposed that will cover all the highlights.
• Looking for a quick overview? The Microsoft Mechanics video, What’s New in SQL Server 2025 breaks it all down in just 15 minutes.

Best-in-class security and performance

SQL Server remains as the most secure database in the last decade, with best-in-class performance and availability. This latest release harnesses the latest innovation from Microsoft Entra and brings over 50 enhancements to the database engine.

• Explore how to save time and reduce risk with Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Dimitri Furman’s blog on tempdb space resource governance.
• Dimitri also shared how SQL Server 2025 has optimized Halloween protection by redesigning the way the database engine solves the Halloween problem and improves query performance.
• HPE spotlighted SQL Server 2025 in a recent blog, underscoring its exceptional performance and availability—further validating the platform’s enterprise-grade capabilities.
• Learn how to streamline T-SQL Snapshot backups using T-SQL REST API and  Pure Storage in the blog by MVP and partner, Anthony Nocentino: Streamlining T-SQL Snapshot Backups.

“SQL Server 2025 is an important release, delivering significant improvements in performance, reliability, security, and the developer experience for our trading platform.”

—Ola Hallengren, Chief Data Platforms Engineer at Saxo Bank and a Data Platform MVP

AI built-in   

Learn how to accelerate AI apps closer to your own data using extensible tools with built-in vector capabilities.

• Dive into the SQL Server 2025 AI enhancements in Microsoft’s Davide Mauri’s blog on SQL Server 2025 AI Capabilities.
• For those who are in a hurry, check out this great SQL in 5: New AI features in SQL Server 2025 from Brian Spendolini, Microsoft SQL Engineering PM.
• Dhananjay Mahajan, Microsoft SQL Engineering PM, hosted a webinar with Pure Storage to help you get ready for SQL Server 2025: Accelerating AI, Performance, and Resilience—From Query to Infrastructure.
• Follow MVPs Anthony Nocentino and Ben Weissman in their video series “Anthony and Ben talk about SQL Server 2025”, starting with Vector Search and Ollama.
• Get started with vectors with MVP, Deb Melkin’s Getting Started with Vector Searches in SQL Server 2025.

“We are excited about the AI features in SQL Server 2025, especially the potential for text processing that can benefit companies of all sizes. AI brings new ways to process and extract insights from data, and with SQL Server being the core repository for many businesses, native AI features like embeddings, REST API support, and vector indexes are game changers.”

—Rodrigo Ribeiro Gomes, Head of Innovation, Power Tuning

Made for developers

SQL Server 2025 is the most significant release for SQL developers in the last decade. With features including native JSON support, built-in REST APIs and RegEx enablement, change event streaming plus a new Standard Developer edition and new SSMS release, SQL Server 2025 helps streamline application development and greatly reduce code complexity.

• SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 21 is now generally available. Read about the new SSMS release in the Microsoft Community Hub.
• Copilot is available in SSMS, learn how Copilot in SSMS preview can help make you more efficient – answering your questions and helping you write, edit, and fix T-SQL.
• JSON Enhancements are covered by MVP Daniel Hutmacher who shares hands-on insights in JSON indexes in SQL Server: First impressions, while Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Umachandar Jayachandran explores JSON data types and aggregates in his blog.
• SQL Server 2025 introduces native support for regex functions, making it easier to perform complex text operations directly within SQL queries. Read Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Abhiman Tiwari’s blog to Unlock the Power of Regex in SQL Server.

“Our initial tests have shown great results with fuzzy string matching and regex, significantly reducing the need for external coding to clean data. This improvement in development time and data quality stability is a huge benefit for our end-users. Additionally, we are exploring vector indexes, which have the potential to be a game-changer for our data management.”

—Paw Jershauge, Senior DBA and SQL Specialist, Orifarm Group A/S

Cloud agility through Azure

Powered by Azure, SQL Server 2025 enables real-time analytics with Fabric database mirroring and brings seamless cloud agility to any environment through Azure Arc.

• Explore how Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric enables you to drive enhanced analytics and insights for your on-premise data in Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Ajay Jagannathan’s blog on Mirroring in SQL Server.
• And for our Spanish speakers, Javier Villegas, Microsoft MVP, has created a wealth of in-depth content including his video on Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric – SQL Server.

“Change Event Streaming and Fabric Mirroring for SQL Server 2025 help MSC to build the bridge to bring our operational data into Microsoft Fabric.”

—Javier Villegas, IT Director—DBA and BI Services, MSC Technology (North America)

Keep learning about SQL Server 2025

• Bookmark the SQL Server 2025 Learn page.
• Follow the SQL Server 2025 Blogging Series.
• Get SQL Server 2025 and start using it today.

SQL Server 2025

An AI-ready enterprise database with best-in-class security, performance and availability.

Discover more

The post From code to community: The collective effort behind SQL Server 2025 appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.