TLDR: CData Software has launched Connect AI, a pioneering Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform designed to provide AI systems with real-time, governed, and semantically rich access to over 300 enterprise data sources. This innovation aims to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of AI applications by ensuring they understand the context and relationships within business data.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – September 24, 2025 – CData Software, a global leader in data connectivity, today announced the launch of ‘Connect AI,’ a groundbreaking platform set to revolutionize how artificial intelligence systems interact with enterprise data. The announcement was made at the company’s second annual Foundations conference, which featured a dedicated ‘AI Day’ on September 24, 2025.
Connect AI is introduced as the first managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform. This innovative solution is engineered to seamlessly integrate AI assistants, agent orchestration platforms, AI workflow automation, and embedded AI applications with more than 300 diverse enterprise data sources.
A core strength of Connect AI lies in its ability to provide real-time, governed access to enterprise data while meticulously preserving data semantics and relationships. This ensures that AI applications gain a comprehensive understanding of the data’s context, moving beyond mere data retrieval to true contextual intelligence. The platform also inherently adopts user permissions and authentication directly from the source systems, bolstering data security and compliance. It offers flexible deployment options, allowing it to be set up in the cloud or embedded within existing software products in minutes through a point-to-click configuration.
Manish Patel, Chief Product Officer of CData, emphasized the critical need for this technology, stating, “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.” He added, “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.”
CData’s CEO, Amit Sharma, highlighted the strategic importance of this development: “Connect AI represents a significant milestone in CData’s mission to make every enterprise ‘AI-ready,’ with real-time semantic intelligence.” He further explained, “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.”
The platform builds upon CData’s established enterprise-grade connectivity technology, which is already embedded in offerings from major technology companies such as Palantir, SAP, Salesforce Data Cloud, and Google Cloud. This foundation validates the market’s demand for governed enterprise data integration that understands context and relationships.
Connect AI is designed to break down enterprise AI deployment barriers, enabling practical applications across various business functions. For instance, sales teams can leverage AI tools like Claude for pipeline insights, marketing teams can prompt ChatGPT for campaign analysis, and finance teams can rely on Copilot for real-time budget updates and financial reports. It also empowers IT and AI Engineering teams to build agents through AI workflow automation and orchestration platforms with direct, scalable access to semantically-rich enterprise data.
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CData Software, which has secured over $500 million in venture capital and private equity funding, is a leading provider of data access and connectivity solutions, serving millions of users worldwide. Connect AI is available immediately, with plans to expand its customization capabilities early next year, allowing customers to limit agent access to specific tools.
