22-25 April 2026

Data Modernisation with Open Standards: Apache Iceberg in Fabric, Databricks and Snowflake

Proposed session for SQLBits 2026

TL; DR

Data modernization isn’t just about moving to the cloud, it’s about building a future-proof architecture that scales, interoperates, and avoids vendor lock-in. Apache Iceberg is the open standard making this possible, and platforms like Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, and Snowflake are leading the charge. In this session, we’ll show you how to harness Iceberg to unify your data estate and deliver analytics at enterprise scale.

Session Details

Enterprises today demand flexibility, interoperability, and scalability in their data platforms. Apache Iceberg has become the cornerstone of modern Lakehouse architectures, enabling schema evolution, time travel, and ACID transactions across multiple engines. In this session, we’ll explore how Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, and Snowflake leverage Iceberg to deliver open, enterprise-ready data solutions. Through real-world demos, we’ll show how Iceberg empowers organizations to modernize their data estate while embracing open standards and avoiding vendor lock-in.

3 things you'll get out of this session

By the end of this session, attendees will: 1) Understand the role of Apache Iceberg in enabling open, interoperable data architectures. 2) Learn integration patterns for Iceberg across Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, and Snowflake. 3)See real-world demos showcasing Iceberg powering analytics across multiple platforms.

Speakers

Manish Kumar

Manish Kumar's previous sessions

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The Power of Polybase with SQL - True data Virtualisation
Customers would be able to understand what exactly Polybase is, why it's useful, what are the use cases and finally how to use this feature of SQL Server. Polybase have been around for quite some time, since SQL Server 2016, however, the awareness and the way it virtualises the data may not have been understood well for some customers.
 
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Haider Raza

Haider Raza's previous sessions

Empowering SQL: Mastering Intelligent Query Processing in 20 Minutes
Dive into the heart of database optimization with our 20-minute session on Intelligent Query Processing (IQP) in SQL Server and Azure SQL. In this power-packed talk, we will demystify IQP, the driving force behind accelerated query performance. We'll begin with a quick overview, highlighting the pivotal role of IQP in query optimization and database efficiency. Then, we'll dive into key IQP features focusing on their impacts in real-world.
 
Managed Instance Link - Seamless migration to Azure
We, the cloud solutions architects from Microsoft, will be talking around SQL migration journey from on-prem to Azure SQL in general, taking you through all available Microsoft's migration tools like DMA, DMS, Azure Migrate, ADS, etc, and then focus on migration to Managed Instance using SQL MI Link. You should take away with you the understanding of when to use which tool and how the newly available Azure SQL Managed Instance Link can help you to achieve a minimum downtime migration of on-prem SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance.
 
The Power of Polybase with SQL - True data Virtualisation
Customers would be able to understand what exactly Polybase is, why it's useful, what are the use cases and finally how to use this feature of SQL Server. Polybase have been around for quite some time, since SQL Server 2016, however, the awareness and the way it virtualises the data may not have been understood well for some customers.