A data fabric is an architectural approach designed to intelligently connect disparate data sources across an enterprise, enabling seamless data integration, access, and management. It leverages metadata and a semantic layer to map and describe data assets and their relationships, ensuring data is both contextually meaningful and easily consumable by different users and applications. One method for implementing a data fabric is data virtualization, which allows organizations to integrate and query heterogeneous, distributed data without replication, reducing redundancy and enabling real-time data access. The semantic layer further enhances the data fabric by translating complex data structures into business-friendly terms, improving data consistency, accessibility, and analytics usability. A robust data fabric, powered by data virtualization and a semantic layer, enhances analytics, data catalogs, self-service access, and cross-platform optimization—all of which are essential for improving data governance, operational efficiency, and enterprise-wide decision-making.