Microsoft and Databricks Enable Single-Copy Data Sharing via OneLake and Unity Catalog
Microsoft and Databricks have converged on a shared technical foundation — OneLake storage and Unity Catalog governance — allowing organisations to maintain a single copy of Delta tables accessible across both platforms. The integration, which reached broad availability by mid-2026, eliminates the long-standing need to duplicate data and maintain separate governance models for each platform. Three distinct mechanisms enable the interoperability: Mirrored Azure Databricks Catalog (generally available), OneLake External Locations for Unity Catalog (in beta), and the Publish to Fabric workflow. Together, these tools let engineering teams write data in Databricks while Fabric, Power BI, and other Microsoft tools query the same physical files without copying them. Choosing the wrong integration mechanism, however, can recreate the old two-copy architecture under a new guise, making deliberate design decisions critical.
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