Cdata Connect AI Gives AI Applications Semantic Rich Context with Enterprise System Connectivity

CData Software is unveiling Connect AI, a managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform that integrates AI assistants, agent orchestration platforms, AI workflow automation, and embedded AI applications with more than 300 enterprise data sources. The announcement was made at its annual Foundations conference.

With governed, in-place access to enterprise data, Connect AI preserves data semantics and relationships, giving AI complete understanding of the context, according to CData.

The solution also inherits user permissions and authentication directly from the source and can be deployed in the cloud or embedded within software products with point-and-click configuration.

Connect AI takes the same enterprise-grade connectivity technology already embedded by top technology companies including Palantir, SAP, Salesforce Data Cloud, and Google Cloud into their offerings, and reimagines it specifically for AI workloads with real-time semantic integration capabilities.

The solution builds on the momentum of the company’s MCP Servers, which have already seen thousands of users connect hundreds of data sources to AI assistants. The adoption validates AI's need for governed enterprise data integration that understands context and relationships, the company said.

“Enterprises that want to safely and effectively put their business data to work with AI need real-time access combined with semantic understanding. AI needs to comprehend what data means, not just where it lives,” said Manish Patel, chief product officer of CData. “With Connect AI, companies can for the first time give AI applications governed, live access to data across hundreds of systems with the contextual intelligence that transforms AI from a productivity experiment into a trusted enterprise tool.”

First, through data-in-place access, Connect AI preserves the rich contextual relationships that AI agents need for intelligent decision-making, delivering both immediate data access and meaningful data understanding, the company explained.

Second, Connect AI inherits existing security and authentication protocols set in the source system ensuring AI access remains aligned with organizational controls. Data access is logged under the identity of the authenticated user or agent for comprehensive governance. Additional AI controls can be layered and managed within Connect AI.

Enterprises use Connect AI with AI apps to get contextually-aware answers from business data in seconds; work that previously required days or weeks of report building, according to the vendor.

This proven connectivity technology validates CData's critical role in enterprise data connectivity and the company's expansion into AI-native integration.

"Connect AI represents a significant milestone in CData's mission to make every enterprise 'AI-ready,' with real-time semantic intelligence," said Amit Sharma, CEO of CData. "We're leveraging our deep expertise in enterprise data connectivity—built over years of connecting applications to hundreds of data sources—and reimagining it for the AI era. This allows us to provide breakthrough access and experiences that simply weren't possible before for users of AI assistants and agentic systems.”

Connect AI is immediately available now.

For more information about this news, visit www.cdata.com.