Microsoft Supports Google’s Open Agent2Agent (A2A) Protocol

Google Introduces Agent2Agent Protocol: A New Era in AI Communication

In a significant move towards enhancing interoperability among AI systems, Google unveiled the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol last month. This initiative, backed by notable industry players, is designed to enable seamless communication between artificial intelligence agents. Rather than positioning itself as a competitor to Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), the A2A serves as a complementary framework, facilitating secure data exchange and coordinated actions across diverse enterprise platforms and applications.

Empowering Developers with A2A Protocol

The Agent2Agent protocol allows developers to create agents that can communicate with any other agent utilizing the same standard. This flexibility empowers users to efficiently manage and leverage multiple agents from various providers through a single agent call. In alignment with this development, Microsoft has recently announced its support for the A2A protocol, which will be integrated into its Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio platforms.

Industry Experts Weigh In

Highlighting the significance of the A2A protocol, Yina Arenas, Vice President of Product at Azure AI Foundry, and Bas Brekelmans, CTO of Copilot Studio, commented:

We’re aligning with the broader industry push for shared agent protocols—doing what we’ve always done: embracing openness, supporting real-world developers, and turning experimentation into enterprise-grade platforms. Our goal is simple: empower both pro and citizen developers to build agents that interoperate across clouds and frameworks.

Benefits for Developers and Enterprises

With Microsoft’s endorsement of the A2A protocol, numerous advantages await developers and enterprises:

Customers of Azure AI Foundry can create intricate multi-agent workflows, seamlessly connecting internal copilots, partner tools, and production infrastructure while ensuring compliance and governance standards are met.

Agents developed in Copilot Studio can securely access and invoke external agents, including those built on alternative platforms or hosted independently of Microsoft.

Organizations will be able to implement composable, intelligent systems capable of scaling across different organizational boundaries and cloud environments.

Microsoft’s Commitment to A2A and MCP

In a further commitment to the A2A protocol, Microsoft has joined the A2A working group on GitHub to actively contribute towards its specification and tool development. This initiative marks another step in Microsoft’s continuous involvement with the broader ecosystem, building upon their existing contributions to the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

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