Semantic Layers Gain Momentum as AtScale and Cube Expand Integrations

As enterprises continue to embrace cloud-based analytics, the need for robust semantic layers is becoming increasingly evident. It helps organizations with data access, ensures consistency across BI tools, and enforces strong governance and security. A universal semantic layer could be the key to unlocking value from enterprise data. .

To meet the growing need for better analytics, AtScale and Cube have announced new integrations. AtScale is strengthening its partnership with Snowflake by working with Cortex Analyst to enable natural language SQL queries. Cube is improving its support for Microsoft by adding direct integrations for Power BI and Excel.

AtScale and Snowflake Bring AI-Powered Natural Language Queries to BI

With its integration into Snowflake Cortex Analyst, AtScale brings a governance layer to AI-generated SQL queries. This ensures the queries match business definitions and stay accurate.

The combination of Snowflake’s natural language processing and AtScale’s semantic layer reduces ambiguity in query results while improving performance. Also, AtScale’s optimization engine enhances performance by automating data processing and reducing the load on Snowflake’s cloud data warehouse.

AtScale also provides security features, like object and row-level security, to make sure AI-generated insights follow company policies. These combined capabilities help non-technical users work with data easily while still getting reliable, secure, and fast results for big data analysis.

Snowflake sees the integration as a way to improve the quality and accuracy of data queries. “Our integration with AtScale improves the quality of the semantic layer that sits between the user’s query and the underlying data,” said Abhinav Vadrevu, Senior Product Manager at Snowflake.

“This ultimately leads to significant improvements in text to SQL quality. By combining Cortex Analyst with AtScale’s semantic layer, users can get correct answers in seconds. Ultimately, this saves hours on manual SQL verification, leading to much faster time to insight.”

The key benefits of the AtScale and Snowflake Cortex Analyst integration include better alignment between AI-driven queries and results from BI tools. This consistency helps businesses trust their data, so they can make better decisions without worrying about differences in the results.

The integration between AtScale and Snowflake Cortex Analyst builds on AtScale’s previous efforts to improve natural language queries and data governance.

In September 2024, AtScale introduced the open-source Semantic Modeling Language (SML) to enhance semantic model portability and foster a vibrant community of model builders. Later in the year, AtScale launched a public leaderboard for Text-to-SQL solutions to set clear standards for evaluating natural language queries.

Cube Launches Cube Cloud for the Microsoft Enterprise

The deeper integration with the Microsoft ecosystem strengthens Cube Cloud’s role as a provider of a universal semantic layer for Microsoft enterprises.

Cube is introducing two major upgrades to its Microsoft integrations. The first is the Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) API for Power BI, through which users can connect natively from Power BI to Cube and query Cube data models in real time. This setup gives users live access to data in cloud warehouses like Databricks and Snowflake from Power BI while keeping all the powerful features of the DAX query language.

The other critical enhancement is the Cube Cloud for Excel Add-In that connects to governed data with Excel desktop or Excel online. Cube claims that the custom interface allows users to sort and filter through the data and update their analysis with a single click.

Instead of manually exporting or taking snapshots of data for analysis, Cube’s MDX API and Excel Add-in provide real-time connections to cloud datasets. This minimizes inefficiencies and outdated information.

“Enterprises are rapidly adopting cloud data platforms like Microsoft Azure, Snowflake, and Databricks,” said Artyom Keydunov, CEO and Co-Founder of Cube. “However, the shift to the cloud has left many organizations without a modern OLAP solution for multidimensional analysis that can integrate with a broad ecosystem of data consumption tools.”

“Today, we are excited to announce our native integrations with Excel and Power BI. With our new DAX API, enterprises can query data live, without extracts, in cloud data warehouses, such as Snowflake and Databricks, directly from Power BI.”

Prior to this launch of Cube Cloud for the Microsoft Enterprise, Cube had been progressively enhancing its integrations within the Microsoft ecosystem. In mid-2024, Cube announced compatibility with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), enabling enterprises to offer single sign-on experiences for users accessing Cube Cloud. These efforts reflect Cube’s continued expansion within the Microsoft analytics ecosystem.

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