Overview
Azure Foundry IQ just hit GA at Microsoft Build 2026 — the dedicated knowledge layer behind Foundry agents. ONE SLA-backed retrieval endpoint that unifies Work IQ + Fabric IQ + Azure SQL + File Search + any MCP source. Plus Web IQ for sub-200ms live web grounding. Serverless tier in public preview. This is the technical deep dive for engineers building production agents on Azure.
✅ The retrieval architecture (query planner + parallel sources + unified ranker)
✅ Why the unified ranker is the real moat
✅ Web IQ sub-200ms architecture (caching + indexing partnerships)
✅ Code-level integration with Azure AI Foundry SDK (Python + .NET)
✅ What the GA SLA actually covers (and doesn't)
✅ 5 honest trade-offs (lock-in, opaque ranker, MCP supply chain, cold starts)
✅ Web IQ specific gotchas
Video Timeline
- 0:00 What Foundry IQ actually is (1-sentence summary)
- 0:35 3 things to understand up front
- 1:45 The 5 source types
- 2:30 What this video covers
- 2:55 Retrieval architecture deep dive
- 3:50 Why the unified ranker matters
- 4:30 Web IQ sub-200ms breakdown
- 5:15 Code: Azure AI Foundry SDK integration
- 6:00 What the SLA covers (and doesn't)
- 6:40 5 honest trade-offs
Key Takeaways
- Practical cloud architecture patterns you can apply immediately
- Real-world implementation guidance from enterprise experience
- Azure, AWS, and multi-cloud considerations
- Security-first and cost-optimised design principles
Watch & Learn
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