March 31, 2022 5 min read

Azure Data and AI: March 2022 Recap and What's Ahead

Azure Data AI Monthly Recap Announcements

March 2022 brought significant updates across Azure’s data and AI services. Here’s a comprehensive recap of what happened and what it means for practitioners.

OpenAI and Language AI

Azure OpenAI Service Expansion

The big news this month was Azure OpenAI Service expanding access. Key developments:

Broader availability: More organizations gaining preview access
New models: GPT-3 and Codex models available
Enterprise features: Private endpoints, managed identity support
Content filtering: Built-in responsible AI controls

# Azure OpenAI is now accessible for approved organizations
import openai

openai.api_type = "azure"
openai.api_base = os.environ["AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT"]
openai.api_version = "2022-03-01-preview"

# Enterprise-ready AI at scale

Cognitive Services Updates

Form Recognizer v3: General availability with improved accuracy
Custom Neural Voice: New expression styles
Speech translation: Lower latency, more languages
Metrics Advisor: Enhanced anomaly detection

Azure Databricks

Unity Catalog

Unity Catalog reached broader availability, transforming data governance:

Unified metastore: Single source of truth across workspaces
Fine-grained access: Row and column-level security
Data lineage: Automatic tracking of data flows
Delta Sharing: Secure data exchange across organizations

-- Unity Catalog enables enterprise governance
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE production.sales.transactions
TO `analysts@company.com`;

ALTER TABLE production.sales.customers
ALTER COLUMN email SET MASK production.masks.email_mask;

Photon Engine

Photon became default for more workloads:

2-8x performance: On typical SQL and DataFrame operations
Automatic enablement: Now default for Pro/Serverless SQL warehouses
Broader coverage: More operations running natively

Delta Live Tables

DLT received several enhancements:

Expectations: Data quality enforcement
CDC support: APPLY CHANGES for change data capture
Streaming improvements: Better watermark handling
Materialized views: Optimized refresh strategies

Networking and Security

Private Connectivity

Major focus on zero-trust networking:

DNS Private Resolver: GA for hybrid DNS scenarios
Managed VNet: Data Factory simplified private connectivity
Private endpoints: Expanded service coverage
Private Link Service: Easier cross-tenant access

# Private connectivity is now the standard
resource "azurerm_private_endpoint" "storage" {
  name                = "pe-storage"
  subnet_id           = azurerm_subnet.endpoints.id
  private_connection_resource_id = azurerm_storage_account.main.id
  subresource_names   = ["blob"]
}

What’s Coming

Based on announcements and previews, here’s what to watch:

Q2 2022 Expectations

Azure Synapse Analytics
- Improved Spark integration
- Enhanced security features
- Better Power BI integration
Databricks
- Unity Catalog GA
- Serverless compute expansion
- MLflow enhancements
AI Services
- Azure OpenAI broader access
- New Cognitive Services capabilities
- Responsible AI tooling
Data Factory
- Synapse Pipelines alignment
- New connectors
- Improved monitoring

Recommendations

Immediate Actions

Apply for Azure OpenAI: If you haven’t already, apply for access
Evaluate Unity Catalog: Start planning migration from Hive metastore
Enable Photon: Review workloads that could benefit
Audit network security: Implement private endpoints where missing

Planning Ahead

Data governance strategy: Unity Catalog changes how you manage access
AI integration: Consider where OpenAI fits in your applications
Network architecture: DNS Private Resolver simplifies hybrid scenarios
Cost optimization: Photon improves performance at same cost

Learning Resources

Documentation Updates

Key documentation that was updated or added:

Training Paths

Recommended learning paths for March’s updates:

Azure AI Engineer Associate: Updated for new Cognitive Services
Databricks Data Engineer: Includes Unity Catalog content
Azure Network Engineer: Private Link and DNS sections
Azure Data Engineer: Synapse and Data Factory updates

Community Highlights

Notable Blog Posts

Databricks Engineering Blog: Unity Catalog deep dives
Azure Blog: Private Link architecture patterns
Microsoft Learn: OpenAI getting started guides

Conferences and Events

Microsoft Ignite recordings available
Databricks Data + AI Summit coming in June
Local user group meetups resuming

Code Samples

I’ve published several code samples this month:

# All samples available at github.com/mjtpena

# 1. Azure OpenAI quickstart
# 2. Unity Catalog setup scripts
# 3. DLT pipeline templates
# 4. Private endpoint Terraform modules
# 5. DNS Private Resolver configuration

Summary

March 2022 marked a significant month for Azure data and AI:

Area	Key Update	Impact
AI	OpenAI Service expansion	Enterprise GPT access
Governance	Unity Catalog	Unified data management
Performance	Photon default	2-8x faster queries
Security	DNS Private Resolver	Simplified hybrid DNS
Pipelines	DLT enhancements	Better streaming support

The themes are clear: enterprise AI, unified governance, private connectivity, and simplified operations. Organizations investing in these areas now will be well-positioned for what’s coming.

Looking Forward

April will bring:

Power Platform updates
More AI Builder capabilities
Power BI enhancements
Continued Fabric previews

Stay tuned for more detailed coverage of these topics.

Conclusion

March 2022 delivered substantial improvements across Azure’s data and AI portfolio. The convergence of enterprise AI (OpenAI), unified governance (Unity Catalog), and secure connectivity (Private Link everywhere) represents a maturing platform ready for the most demanding workloads.

Start experimenting with these capabilities now - they’ll become table stakes quickly.