AI is finally coming to the data — not the other way around
For years, enterprises wanting to use AI had to do things the hard way — extract data from their databases, send it somewhere else for processing and then bring it back. SQL Server 2025 reflects a turning point: AI capabilities are built directly into the engine, so the data never has to leave.
The Dell Technologies Inc.–Microsoft Corp. partnership has spent years building toward exactly this moment, converging database, automation and hybrid cloud capabilities into a stack designed to let AI meet data where it already lives. That convergence took a significant step forward with the general availability of SQL Server 2025 and new announcements around the Dell Automation Platform, according to Bob Ward (pictured, right), principal architect at Microsoft.
“The key architecture for AI capabilities is integrating with things like embedding models for vector searching or chat completion models for AI agents. But we do it all inside the engine — the SQL Server Engine,” Ward said. “We [formed a] partnership with Dell so that we can connect to anything on premises. I can connect to Azure Local, Dell, Nvidia Factory. We just got a framework built in so it doesn’t matter where you’re running these AI models, we can easily integrate with it.”
