The 2026 Agent Confidence Index: Where 300 builders see real momentum

By Dustin Ward

A couple of months ago, I sat across from my nine-year-old daughter’s teachers at a parent-teacher conference. They were kind but concerned. She takes her time on assignments, they said—often deep in thought. How would she do on timed tests next year? I told them I wasn’t worried. What they described as a problem is, to me,…

FabCon and SQLCon 2026: Unifying databases and Fabric on a single data platform

By Dustin Ward

In this article Introducing the Database Hub in Microsoft Fabric Getting your data estate ready for AI with Fabric Unifying your data estate with Microsoft OneLake Processing and harmonizing data with Fabric analytics Creating semantic meaning with Fabric IQ Empowering agents to act with Fabric data and operations agents Building mission-critical applications with developer experiences…

Microsoft at NVIDIA GTC: New solutions for Microsoft Foundry, Azure AI infrastructure and Physical AI

By Dustin Ward

Microsoft combines accelerated computing with cloud scale engineering to bring advanced AI capabilities to our customers. For years, we’ve worked with NVIDIA to integrate hardware, software and infrastructure to power many of today’s most important AI breakthroughs. What’s new at NVIDIA GTCExpanded Microsoft Foundry capabilities to build, deploy and operate production-ready AI agents on NVIDIA…

Five Reasons to attend SQLCon

By Dustin Ward

The SQL community is gathering in Atlanta this March for the first‑ever SQLCon, co‑located with FabCon, the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference, March 16-20. One registration unlocks both events, giving you access to deep SQL expertise and the latest in Fabric, Power BI, data engineering, real‑time intelligence, and AI. Whether you’re a DBA, developer, data engineer,…

New options for AI-powered innovation, resiliency, and control with Microsoft Azure

By Dustin Ward

Organizations running mission‑critical workloads operate under stricter standards because system failures can often affect people and business operations at scale. They must ensure control, resilience, and operational autonomy such that innovation does not compromise governance. They need agility that also maintains continuity and preserves standards compliance, so they can get the most out of AI,…