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CData has announced major enhancements to its Connect AI platform, a managed Model Context Protocol system designed to move AI from experimentation to production. The company claims its platform achieved 98.5% accuracy across 378 real-world prompts, outperforming competing MCP providers by over 25 percentage points. The updates introduce new capabilities across connectivity, context and control. Connect AI now provides live access to over 350 business systems, including on-premise data sources through Connect Gateway. New agent tooling includes Universal, Source and Custom Tools, alongside Workspaces and Toolkits that define precise data and action boundaries for each agent. CData's State of AI Data Connectivity Report found only 6% of organisations are satisfied with their current AI data infrastructure. The platform adds SCIM 2.0 and Custom OAuth Applications for enhanced security.

CData appoints Ken Yagen as Chief Product Officer to lead AI Connectivity strategy. MuleSoft veteran to drive product innovation as CData scales connectivity platform for AI systems and autonomous agents. CData Software, a provider of enterprise data connectivity solutions, today announced the appointment of Ken Yagen as Chief Product Officer (CPO). Yagen will lead product strategy and engineering as CData scales its connectivity platform for enterprises deploying agentic AI internally and for software providers building AI into their products. The appointment comes as CData experiences rapid growth in the AI connectivity space. With thousands of users already connecting enterprise data sources to AI systems through CData's MCP Servers, and the recent launch of Connect AI - a managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform - Yagen's leadership will accelerate the company's product roadmap. Advancing AI-Native Connectivity Yagen joins CData as the company shapes the emerging category of AI-native connectivity. Connect AI provides the enterprise-scale infrastructure that AI systems and autonomous agents require: live, governed access to business systems combined with embedded system-level semantic intelligence that teaches AI the structure, relationships, and business logic native to each platform - transforming raw connectivity into operational fluency. "AI will fail to achieve meaningful outcomes if agents don't understand the systems they're acting in. The enterprises that will dominate the AI era are the ones whose agents have real system fluency - not just access," said Ken Yagen, Chief Product Officer at CData. "CData is eliminating a core blocker in enterprise AI by giving agents both the connectivity and the deep, system-level context to operate safely, predictably, and at scale across Salesforce, NetSuite, SAP, and 350+ business systems. We're building the context and control fabric that turns AI into a trusted digital operator inside the enterprise." Yagen is an accomplished product management and technology leader with more than 25 years of experience driving innovation in enterprise software. Most recently at Warburg Pincus, he led AI and LLM initiatives across the firm's portfolio companies, helping enterprises integrate emerging AI technologies into their business strategies. His career includes pivotal roles at MuleSoft, where he shaped product strategy for APIs and integration platforms that became foundational to modern enterprise architecture, as well as leadership positions at Box and Symphony, where he drove collaboration and enterprise SaaS innovation. Dual Market Strategy: Enterprises and ISVs Under Yagen's leadership, CData will accelerate its dual go-to-market strategy, enabling both direct enterprise adoption and embedded use by independent software vendors (ISVs). Organizations are adopting CData's managed MCP platform to standardize connectivity across departments and initiatives, while software providers are embedding CData's connectivity into their products to deliver enterprise-ready AI capabilities without building integrations themselves. "We're building a comprehensive, secure MCP platform, and we're early in this market," Yagen added. "The opportunity is to make CData a go-to connectivity layer - one that enterprises can rely on internally and that product builders embed by default. This isn't just about better integrations. It's about making every AI system enterprise-ready from day one." "Ken brings exactly the experience and vision we need at this stage of our growth," said Amit Sharma, CEO and co-founder of CData. "His track record building enterprise platforms at scale, combined with his deep expertise in distributed systems and AI infrastructure, makes him an ideal fit to lead our product organization as we help customers navigate the AI era." About CData Software CData Software provides data connectivity solutions for the AI era. Our AI Connectivity Platform provides universal, real-time access to business data across 350+ systems with enterprise-grade governance, security, and scale. Millions of users worldwide rely on CData to power advanced analytics, accelerate cloud adoption, and enable AI systems that understand the enterprise systems they connect to. Learn more at www.cdata.com or reach a representative via email at [email protected].