Announcing Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) in Microsoft Power BI’s Connector for Dremio

We’re excited to share, in partnership with Microsoft, that Dremio is the first agentic lakehouse platform to fully support the open source Apache Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) driver for Power BI, bringing next-generation performance to your analytics. Whether you’re working with Dremio Cloud or Dremio Software, this enhancement is available across Power BI Desktop, Power BI Gateway, and Power BI Service, ensuring a seamless experience wherever you work with Power BI and your BI workflows.

Why This Matters for Users

Dremio is a leader in the open-source data lakehouse space, and a contributor to key open-source technologies like Apache Arrow, Iceberg, and Polaris. Aligned with this commitment to providing an open and flexible platform, Dremio partnered with Microsoft to use Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) for Power BI. ADBC is designed from the ground up for high-performance analytics on large-scale data.

Modern analytics demand speed, scale, and reliability—and that’s exactly what ADBC delivers. Built on the high-throughput, memory-efficient Apache Arrow ecosystem, the ADBC-enabled connector allows you to:

• Scale up with confidence – It’s engineered for large-volume analytics and handles big datasets with agility.
• Enjoy smoother performance – Faster query results and more responsive dashboards let you focus on insights, not wait time.
• Better supportability – Modernized architecture ensures more reliable integration and easier troubleshooting

For Power BI users connecting to Dremio, this all translates to faster, smoother analytics, and dashboards that keep pace with your business.

Key Capabilities with ADBC

Here’s what you can expect from the new ADBC experience:

• Direct connection: Connect Power BI straight to Dremio Cloud or Dremio Software using the ADBC-enabled connector.
• Arrow-native performance boost: Benefit from the speed and efficiency of Apache Arrow-based data transfer when querying, and visualizing large datasets.
• Unified support across your stack: Whether you’re in Power BI Desktop, routing via Gateway, or publishing to Service, the connector works consistently across all environments.
• Better ecosystem compatibility: The Arrow-native design brings more consistent behavior and interoperability across the data ecosystem.

Put simply: you get enterprise-grade performance and robustness in your Power BI workflows with Dremio.

How to Get Started

Getting started is simple:

1. Open Power BI and search for the Dremio (ADBC) connector.
2. Opt in to use the ADBC-based connection (required for now).
3. Enter your Dremio connection details and start building dashboards backed by Arrow-native performance.

For step-by-step instructions, refer to Dremio’s official documentation for using Power BI with the Dremio ADBC connector.

Looking Ahead

This is a foundational step toward even more high-performance analytics in Power BI with Dremio. As the ADBC support progresses, you can expect ongoing enhancements in scalability, efficiency and enterprise readiness.

Ready to unlock faster, smoother, more scalable analytics? Dive in today with the Dremio connector for Power BI, and experience what Arrow-native connectivity can do for you.