The concept of a data fabric has emerged to describe a new approach to support agile development of data-driven applications, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI).

This paper lays out the 12 rules for a data fabric. A true data fabric provides the foundation for the next generation of applications and supports AI, analytics, and Internet of things (IoT). It must also scale, perform, and be reliable as well as function on‑premises, across clouds, and at the edge.