# Connector Layer and MCP ## An open standard lowers the cost of connection The Model Context Protocol is an open standard. It tells an AI agent how to call tools and read data. Before the standard, each model-to-system link needed a custom build. Major AI vendors and software vendors now support the standard (2026 sources). > [!danger] The standard cuts both ways > A cheap connector helps the deployment vendor. It also helps every competitor, and the customer. If connection is easy, connection is not a moat. ## What the standard does not give The standard does not set authentication, authorisation or audit rules. Each team makes its own choice. One public paper describes servers with no authentication, shared static keys and no common audit log. The same paper shows that offboarding is hard when each server has its own access list. ## Why it matters Value moves from the connector to the control of the connector. See [[Governance and Audit as Product]]. ## Related - [[AI Deployment Layer MOC]] - [[Context Layers MOC]] - [[AI Agents Stack]]