Microsoft Fabric is becoming an important part of the Microsoft data platform story, but for many Azure architects the positioning is still unclear. Is Fabric replacing Azure Data Factory, Synapse, Data Lake, Databricks or Power BI? Or is it something different entirely?

This session approaches Microsoft Fabric from an Azure architecture perspective. Instead of giving a product tour, we will use a practical mental model: Fabric as a SaaS analytics platform layer in the Azure ecosystem, where OneLake, workspaces, capacities, Lakehouse, Warehouse, Data Factory and Power BI come together to support governed data products.

The session is aimed at Azure architects, cloud architects and solution architects who understand the basics of Azure data services, but want to know how Fabric changes their architecture decisions. We will compare a traditional Azure data platform architecture with a Fabric-centered architecture, and discuss how curated, reusable and governed data products can become the bridge between platform teams, domain teams, BI users and AI workloads.

You will leave with a clearer way to position Fabric in enterprise Azure environments, including decision points around workspace design, capacity strategy, data product ownership, governance, security, DevOps, integration patterns and common anti-patterns. The goal is not to convince you that everything belongs in Fabric, but to help you decide what belongs in Fabric, what belongs in Azure, and how Fabric can help turn raw data platforms into trusted data products.