Neo4j, a Graph Database and Analytics vendor announced today a significant collaboration with computing giant Microsoft. The partnership will deliver a unified data offering that will serve the critical data needs of clients for Generative AI. In particular, the synergy will see the robust graph capabilities of Neo4j integrated natively into Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. The result is a seamless integration of structured and unstructured data enabling companies to uncover concealed patterns and relationships within their data for superior insights and decision-making.

According to Gartner's report in November last year, "By 2025, graph technologies will be used in 80% of data and analytics innovations — up from 10% in 2021 — facilitating rapid decision-making across the enterprise". The ability to build knowledge graphs out of data to resolve fragmented data management issues is becoming crucial in an age of Generative AI.

The integration of Neo4j's graph database into Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Fabric offers several benefits to users. The Azure OpenAI Service allows businesses to utilise advanced AI models and tools that maximise the potential of their data. Microsoft Fabric, with its AI-powered analytics capabilities, takes care of everything from data movement to data science, real-time analytics, and business intelligence.

This collaboration allows the transformation of unstructured data into a knowledge graph for user insights using Neo4j data visualisation and query tools. The GenAI functions of Neo4j also enhance contextual understanding and explainability with GraphRAG which outperforms previous methods applied to private databases.

Neo4j provides long-term memory storage for large language models, enhancing their intelligent GenAI applications. With this integration, Microsoft Fabric users can now utilise Neo4j's Graph Database and Analytics capabilities to explore hidden patterns and relationships within their data. This will allow developers to implement graph analytics workloads directly from the Microsoft Fabric console, create graph models, analyse graph data, and achieve seamless end-to-end integration.

As of now, Neo4j's Azure OpenAI Service integration is available, with the integration of Neo4j's graph database into Microsoft Fabric anticipated to be available later this year. Additionally, it was announced that Neo4j’s fully managed graph database offering AuraDB is now available on the Azure Marketplace.

Sudhir Hasbe, Neo4j's Chief Product Officer, expressed his enthusiasm about the collaboration: "We’re excited to combine Neo4j’s unparalleled graph capabilities alongside Microsoft’s seamless scalability, advanced AI capabilities of Azure OpenAI, and AI-Powered Analytics Platform with Microsoft Fabric. Together, we’re helping customers redefine what’s possible for their data in an increasingly interconnected GenAI world.”

Concurring with Hasbe's sentiments, Arun Ulag, CVP of Azure Data, Microsoft, confirmed: "Microsoft is committed to empowering organisations with the tools and technologies they need to thrive in today's data-driven world. Our collaboration with Neo4j represents a significant step forward in delivering innovative data solutions that will enable businesses to unlock new opportunities and drive digital transformation in the GenAI era."