What’s the difference between Azure Synapse and Microsoft Fabric?
Make more of your Microsoft data platforms
Ardent’s certified engineers bring a consistent AI and data engineering capability across Azure, SQL Server, Synapse and Fabric, Azure AI Search, Azure DMS. We work with you to ensure that your Microsoft estate becomes a single governed, AI ready platform that is powered by accurate data.
TRUST AND PROOF POINTS
15+ years
Engineering data and AI platforms for organisations worldwide, since 2008.
Microsoft Gold Partner
Application Development & Integration.
Microsoft Silver Competency
Cloud Platform.
Data security
ISO 27001.
WHY MICROSOFT
Why Ardent, why Microsoft, why now
Microsoft’s data and AI stack has become a much more connected platform. SQL Server and Azure SQL still support core transactional workloads, while Synapse and Fabric bring warehousing, engineering, data science and Power BI together around OneLake.
Ardent provides the engineering underneath that stack, bringing data preparation, pipeline automation, governance and quality across SQL Server, Synapse, Fabric and Azure AI Search. The result is data that is current, governed and ready for reporting, automation and AI.
A migration project may start with SQL Server or Azure DMS, while reporting initiatives often centre on Fabric or Power BI and AI use cases on Azure AI Search and Azure OpenAI Service. We help identify the right combination, then build it for scale, reliability and ongoing cost optimisation.
Choosing between Synapse and Fabric
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Unified analytics with Fabric and OneLake
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SQL Server and Azure SQL foundations
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AI and retrieval with Azure AI Search
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Integrates with your Microsoft ecosystem
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Integrated migration and data engineering
WHAT WE DELIVER
Where Ardent’s engineering capability sits across Microsoft
Our Microsoft capability spans databases, data engineering, analytics, AI and ongoing operations, helping you build a connected environment around the workloads your business actually needs.
Data warehousing & analytics
We design and build unified analytics environments on Synapse or Fabric, engineered around OneLake so your teams stop duplicating the same data for every reporting tool.
Relational databases
We architect and tune SQL Server and Azure SQL environments, whether on-premises, in a managed instance, or fully cloud-native, for performance that holds up under complex and high velocity data environments.
Database migration and modernisation
Ardent delivers minimise downtime migrations from SQL Server, Oracle and other databases into Azure using Azure Database Migration Service.
AI-powered search
We build the vector search and retrieval infrastructure that grounds RAG and AI applications in your governed Microsoft data.
Data engineering and pipelines
Ardent helps you build automated, governed pipelines on Fabric Data Factory and Azure Data Factory, designed to catch data quality issues before they reach your dashboards.
Generative AI and machine learning
We use Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Machine Learning to build RAG pipelines, foundation model applications and custom ML on your own governed data.
BI & reporting
We deliver fast, governed reporting through Power BI, connected directly to Synapse or Fabric for performance that holds up under real demand.
Managed operations
We provide capacity and cost governance, 24/7 monitoring and incident response across your Microsoft data and AI estate, on an ongoing basis.
EXPLORE OUR SERVICES
Four ways we help you get more from Microsoft
From managed operations to AI, our services help you get more value from Microsoft across data, reporting, automation and AI workloads.
MIGRATION PATHS
Ardent can optimise and accelerate the common Microsoft migration paths
Any platform you’re moving from, we’ve done the migration before.
On-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL
Move to a Managed Instance or fully cloud native Azure SQL with minimal downtime, using Microsoft’s purpose built migration tooling.
Oracle to Azure SQL or Azure Database for PostgreSQL
Reduce or remove Oracle licensing costs and move to an Azure native database, with schema conversion and migration handled by tooling built for the purpose.
Legacy on premises data warehouse to Synapse or Fabric
Remove appliance limitations behind for a unified analytics platform that scales warehousing, engineering and reporting together.
Redshift / Teradata to Synapse or Fabric
Bring analytics workloads onto Microsoft’s platform where your organisation’s data, identity and reporting already live in Azure and Power BI.
HOW WE WORK WITH YOU
How we work with you
We follow a proven three-stage approach to help you get the most from Microsoft, with a focus on measurable outcomes.
01
Assess & design
We audit your current architecture, workloads and AI ambitions against the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and identify the highest value use cases to prioritise first. We design your target Microsoft architecture choosing between SQL Server, Synapse, Fabric and Azure AI Search for your workloads and map out a migration plan that fits your timeline and risk appetite.
02
Build & migrate
Our engineers build your pipelines, implement governance and access control, and manage workload cutover using Azure DMS and other purpose built migration tooling.
03
Optimise & run
We right size capacity and tune performance across your Microsoft services, so you get the speed your business needs without paying for what is not required. Ardent’s managed services team takes on monitoring, support and continuous improvement so your Microsoft estate keeps working for you without interruptions.
MICROSOFT FAQS
Frequently asked questions