Apache Arrow Database Connectivity is the columnar BI wire that does what ODBC could not: hand the consumer a record batch by reference and let the BI tool read Arrow buffers directly. DeltaForge bundles the ADBC driver and a branded Power Query connector, so Power BI Desktop 2.145.1105.0+ talks to your Delta tables without per-cell conversion.
.mez connector, Windows MSI, Linux deb/rpm, macOS pkg
ODBC asks the driver to copy every cell into a caller-supplied row buffer. ADBC hands the caller an Arrow record batch and lets them read columnar buffers in place.
The ADBC driver's ArrowArrayStream.get_next callback returns an ArrowArray whose buffer pointers reference the wire payload directly. Arrow's columnar layout becomes the BI tool's columnar layout. No SQLGetData, no row marshalling.
Power BI Desktop 2.145.1105.0+ ships the Adbc.DataSource Power Query function. The DeltaForge Power Query connector (a .mez) registers a branded "DeltaForge ADBC" entry under Get Data → Database. Connect, pick a table, the Mashup engine reads Arrow.
ADBC and ODBC are two consumer surfaces on top of the same DeltaForge transport. The same RBAC, the same audit chain, the same query routing. Choose per workload; switch with a connection-string change.
The driver bench in delta-forge-benchmarks/driver-bench drives the same query through both drivers against the same self-provisioned DeltaForge stack and reports per-phase wall time. Public, scripted, reproducible.
ADBC vs ODBC bound-column path: 3.21x on total wall time, 3.90x on the drain phase. ADBC vs per-cell SQLGetData (the .NET / Power BI pattern emulated in C++): 6.27x / 7.77x.
System.Data.Odbc.OdbcDataReader vs Apache.Arrow.Adbc, same 1M x 22 fixture: ADBC is 13.68x faster end-to-end and 14.31x faster on drain. This is the gap a Power BI report scan sees today.
Clone the bench repo, ./scripts/install.sh, ./scripts/setup-host-stack.sh, ./scripts/run_bench.sh. Provisions Postgres, the control plane, the worker, the bench fixture, and runs both harnesses. Full results →
One install adds ADBC connectivity to every BI tool that speaks Arrow, including Power BI Desktop via the bundled Power Query connector
The C ABI Apache Arrow Database Connectivity v1.0.0 specifies. Loadable by any ADBC driver manager (the Apache one, the Power BI host, or direct dlopen).
.mez connectorBundled. Drops into Power BI Desktop's Custom Connectors folder. Adds "DeltaForge ADBC" under Get Data, with first-class fields for the control-plane URL and the auth modes the driver supports.
Windows MSI, Debian/Ubuntu .deb, RHEL/Fedora .rpm, macOS .pkg, tarball for everything else. Same driver binary, same connector, same call shape.
Install the ADBC driver + the Power Query connector. Point Power BI Desktop at your DeltaForge control plane. Open a report. The Mashup engine consumes Arrow batches directly from the driver.