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Gemini can query federated enterprise catalogs without moving the data
Focus: Applied Generative AI for Knowledge Workers
Date: October 15, 2026
Topics: Federated analytics, Natural language queries, Data access controls
Evidence: Publisher Authored
Availability: Available
Summary: Google Cloud previewed direct Gemini access to its borderless Lakehouse, including catalog federation with Databricks Unity Catalog and Snowflake Horizon. Business users can ask natural-language questions across configured data sources without first copying records into one store. The architecture expands reach, but permissions, semantic consistency, cross-cloud costs and answer validation still determine whether a report is trustworthy.
Why it matters: Begin with one governed question whose correct result is already known. Limit catalogs and columns, record the generated query, compare totals with an approved report, and test denied access. Federation reduces copying; it does not resolve meaning or authorization automatically.
Source: Bringing the borderless Lakehouse into the agentic era with innovations for Gemini