Microsoft makes Fabric IQ generally available and previews data-sharing tools

Microsoft made Fabric IQ generally available in Copilot Chat and Cowork as part of a group of Fabric and Azure database updates announced at its European Fabric and SQL conference in Barcelona on September 28. The company also put IQ Sharing into preview and Database Hub in Fabric into public preview.

For Fabric and Power BI customers, Fabric IQ is on by default in Copilot Chat and Cowork. Microsoft said the feature grounds responses in governed Power BI semantic models, metrics, relationships and business definitions. Integration with the new Code experience is planned through Microsoft’s Frontier program.

IQ Sharing is part of Fabric IQ. Microsoft said the preview lets organizations share selected data and business context with outside parties while retaining governance over the underlying assets. No independent evidence was provided for Microsoft’s broader claims that its releases improve control, speed or decision-making.

Microsoft also described Fabric observability features that combine cross-workspace monitoring and an enhanced Monitor Hub with Operations Agents and Activator. According to the company, the tools can investigate problems, use AI to identify root causes and automate responses. Microsoft did not state an availability stage for the observability package.

For application and data work, Microsoft said Fabric Apps adds data connections, transactional workloads, backend logic, storage and policy-controlled access. The company also announced agentic data engineering features that let engineers specify an outcome and boundaries while an agent plans and runs work, checks the results and revises its approach. Microsoft did not say whether either set of features is generally available or in preview.

Database Hub, which Microsoft introduced in early access in March, is now in public preview. Microsoft says the hub provides a central management view for SQL Server, Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB and SQL databases in Fabric, bringing inventory, health and risk signals into one control plane.

Microsoft’s availability language for SQL Server on Azure Local is inconsistent. Its September 28 overview says the product is generally available but calls disconnected operations a preview. A September 29 Microsoft SQL engineering update says both connected and disconnected modes are generally available. Microsoft also said specialist SQL and PostgreSQL database agents for Database Hub and Visual Studio Code are coming soon to public preview, with intended uses including investigating issues, performance bottlenecks and optimization opportunities.