Google’s Gemini Business adds support for custom MCP server connections

Google just made its Gemini Business Edition a lot more useful for companies that don’t want their AI assistant living in a walled garden. Team administrators can now configure custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) server connections, letting the platform talk directly to private company data, internal tools, and third-party systems that support the protocol. Think of MCP as a universal adapter for AI. Instead of building bespoke integrations every time you want an AI model to access a new tool or dataset, MCP provides a standardized way for AI applications and external systems to shake hands. Anthropic originally launched the protocol in late 2024, and it has since gained traction across the industry as a de facto connectivity standard. What Google actually shipped Google first dipped its toes into MCP waters back in December 2025, when it announced support for managed remote MCP servers across its services. That was helpful, but it only covered pre-configured, Google-managed connections. If your company had a legacy inventory system or a proprietary analytics tool that wasn’t on Google’s menu, you were out of luck. The new custom MCP server capability fills that gap. Administrators...