Episode 407 – Model Context Protocol (MCP) Part 1: The USB Port of AI Communications

July 31, 2025

Episode Transcript

Welcome to Episode 407 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, we dive deep into the Model Context Protocol (MCP) – a game-changing specification that’s extending the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) and creating exciting new possibilities for IT professionals working with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365.

MCP represents a significant shift toward more extensible and domain-specific AI interactions. Instead of being limited to pre-trained knowledge, you can now connect your AI tools directly to live data sources, APIs, and services that matter to your specific role and organization.

Whether you’re managing Azure infrastructure, creating content, or developing solutions, MCP provides a framework to make your AI interactions more powerful and contextually relevant to your daily workflows.

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1 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:05,599 Welcome to episode 407 2 00:00:05,599 --> 00:00:08,720 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro podcast recorded 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,699 live on 07/25/2025. 4 00:00:11,919 --> 00:00:14,174 This is a show about Microsoft three sixty 5 00:00:14,174 --> 00:00:16,414 five and Azure from the perspective of IT 6 00:00:16,414 --> 00:00:18,494 pros and end users, where we discuss the 7 00:00:18,494 --> 00:00:20,894 topic for recent news and how it relates 8 00:00:20,894 --> 00:00:23,695 to you. In this episode, we dive deep 9 00:00:23,695 --> 00:00:26,274 into the USB port of AI communications 10 00:00:26,574 --> 00:00:30,280 as we discuss model context protocol or MCP. 11 00:00:30,900 --> 00:00:34,200 This is a game changing specification that's extending 12 00:00:34,260 --> 00:00:37,399 the capabilities of large language models or LLMs 13 00:00:37,859 --> 00:00:40,500 to help you bring your data together into 14 00:00:40,500 --> 00:00:43,274 a central LLM of your choice. We'll talk 15 00:00:43,274 --> 00:00:45,115 about what they are, where you can use 16 00:00:45,115 --> 00:00:46,795 them, and things you may want to think 17 00:00:46,795 --> 00:00:49,135 about when it comes to using these MCPs. 18 00:00:49,675 --> 00:00:51,535 So let's dive into the show. 19 00:00:54,075 --> 00:00:56,895 Scott, we're between vacations. I'll pretend I'm surprised. 20 00:00:57,329 --> 00:00:59,409 Yeah. I know. You just got back from 21 00:00:59,409 --> 00:01:01,909 vacation. I'm about ready to leave for vacation. 22 00:01:02,369 --> 00:01:04,689 Summer recording is always interesting. I had a 23 00:01:04,689 --> 00:01:05,510 good vacation. 24 00:01:06,370 --> 00:01:07,269 We went to 25 00:01:08,129 --> 00:01:09,189 we we did Oregon, 26 00:01:09,745 --> 00:01:10,724 Northern California 27 00:01:11,105 --> 00:01:13,265 and just did a a ton of driving. 28 00:01:13,265 --> 00:01:15,584 So we did about 2,000 miles in ten 29 00:01:15,584 --> 00:01:16,885 days. How many kilometers 30 00:01:17,265 --> 00:01:19,364 for our non American friends? 31 00:01:19,984 --> 00:01:22,084 What is it? It's multi multiply 32 00:01:22,465 --> 00:01:24,939 by, what, three? Something like that. I don't 33 00:01:24,939 --> 00:01:26,219 know. I don't know. It's a bunch of 34 00:01:26,219 --> 00:01:28,799 kilometers. But yeah, good trip, lots of hiking. 35 00:01:28,859 --> 00:01:31,020 We went and saw like the redwoods and 36 00:01:31,020 --> 00:01:31,520 did, 37 00:01:31,980 --> 00:01:36,159 Crater Lake and all sorts of stuff. 3,218 38 00:01:36,299 --> 00:01:38,719 kilometers is what you drove. Not too shabby. 39 00:01:39,185 --> 00:01:41,344 Thank goodness for rental cars and somebody else's 40 00:01:41,344 --> 00:01:43,665 mileage. That sounds good. I'm kinda I'm jealous. 41 00:01:43,665 --> 00:01:45,984 Yeah. I have never been out, like, Northern 42 00:01:45,984 --> 00:01:46,484 California, 43 00:01:46,784 --> 00:01:49,445 Oregon area. Have you ever seen The Goonies? 44 00:01:50,465 --> 00:01:51,905 I don't you're gonna make fun of me 45 00:01:51,905 --> 00:01:53,519 again. I don't know that I have. Then. 46 00:01:53,599 --> 00:01:54,799 Another one of those. If it's been a 47 00:01:54,799 --> 00:01:56,560 while if I have, it's been a while. 48 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,000 I'll make you set up the projector outside. 49 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,439 I'll come over. You can cook me dinner, 50 00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:00,979 and we'll watch you at least. The Goonies? 51 00:02:01,039 --> 00:02:02,239 So that was kind of our one of 52 00:02:02,239 --> 00:02:04,079 our last stops on that trip was staying 53 00:02:04,079 --> 00:02:07,119 up in Cannon Beach where Haystack Rock is, 54 00:02:07,119 --> 00:02:08,604 and it's like the big rock that the 55 00:02:08,604 --> 00:02:10,044 pirate ship floats out of at the end 56 00:02:10,044 --> 00:02:11,805 of The Goonies and things like that, so 57 00:02:11,805 --> 00:02:13,805 that was kind of fun too. The other 58 00:02:13,805 --> 00:02:14,944 really nice thing 59 00:02:15,245 --> 00:02:15,745 about 60 00:02:16,364 --> 00:02:19,084 that part of California, like the very tip 61 00:02:19,084 --> 00:02:21,405 Northern California up through Oregon, you're in the 62 00:02:21,405 --> 00:02:23,185 Pacific Northwest in the summer, 63 00:02:23,550 --> 00:02:26,349 it is not like Florida in the summer. 64 00:02:26,349 --> 00:02:28,509 So Florida in the summer, like I'm looking 65 00:02:28,509 --> 00:02:29,569 right now, it's 66 00:02:30,110 --> 00:02:32,349 88% outside with 82% 67 00:02:32,349 --> 00:02:34,909 humidity and feels like 106%. 68 00:02:34,909 --> 00:02:36,989 It is miserable and you do not want 69 00:02:36,989 --> 00:02:37,729 to be outside. 70 00:02:38,474 --> 00:02:41,435 In that part of The United States, it 71 00:02:41,435 --> 00:02:41,935 is 72 00:02:42,395 --> 00:02:43,754 because you're right on the coast, so you 73 00:02:43,754 --> 00:02:45,995 get that coastal fog in the morning. Some 74 00:02:45,995 --> 00:02:47,754 days you can't even see the sunrise or 75 00:02:47,754 --> 00:02:50,335 the sunset because the fog is so thick. 76 00:02:50,849 --> 00:02:51,349 70 77 00:02:51,810 --> 00:02:53,030 degrees, 60 degrees, 78 00:02:53,569 --> 00:02:56,289 it all just hits different. It was absolutely 79 00:02:56,289 --> 00:02:58,289 beautiful. I got super sad when I got 80 00:02:58,289 --> 00:02:59,810 there because I forgot to pack a pair 81 00:02:59,810 --> 00:03:00,849 of shorts and I was like, Oh my 82 00:03:00,849 --> 00:03:02,129 gosh, it's going to be like seventy, eighty 83 00:03:02,129 --> 00:03:04,335 degrees, it's going to be hot. It was 84 00:03:04,495 --> 00:03:07,235 perfectly comfortable every day in a sweatshirt 85 00:03:07,534 --> 00:03:10,034 and long pants and all that stuff. 86 00:03:10,335 --> 00:03:12,175 So it was really great, good little change 87 00:03:12,175 --> 00:03:13,855 of pace. I'm ready to go back, I 88 00:03:13,855 --> 00:03:16,495 think, on vacation. Doctor. On vacation? See, I'm 89 00:03:16,495 --> 00:03:18,254 looking forward to it too. We're going up 90 00:03:18,254 --> 00:03:20,330 north to Michigan, and then we're going out 91 00:03:20,330 --> 00:03:22,409 to Denver. And same thing, I'm like, it's 92 00:03:22,409 --> 00:03:24,110 not Florida in the summer. 93 00:03:24,569 --> 00:03:27,050 It'll be beautiful. With that, can you use 94 00:03:27,050 --> 00:03:28,189 an MCP 95 00:03:28,810 --> 00:03:30,729 something or other to help you plan your 96 00:03:30,729 --> 00:03:33,044 vacation? To plan my vacation? Was that was 97 00:03:33,044 --> 00:03:35,125 quite a stretch there, Scott, for it. For 98 00:03:35,125 --> 00:03:37,284 a segue, you were looking for one? Yeah. 99 00:03:37,284 --> 00:03:39,305 It all went sideways. You mean a Microsoft 100 00:03:39,444 --> 00:03:42,724 certified professional? Do Microsoft certified professionals? We like 101 00:03:42,724 --> 00:03:44,965 acronyms. Right? It's what an MCP used to 102 00:03:44,965 --> 00:03:47,020 be. I guess it still is. I was 103 00:03:47,020 --> 00:03:49,280 thinking more like model context protocol 104 00:03:49,819 --> 00:03:50,319 and 105 00:03:50,780 --> 00:03:52,939 some of the new specs and things have 106 00:03:52,939 --> 00:03:55,340 been coming out of anthropic and then the 107 00:03:55,340 --> 00:03:57,199 really cool nifty functionality 108 00:03:57,739 --> 00:03:59,819 that's been coming out along the way. Yeah. 109 00:03:59,819 --> 00:04:01,635 I mean, I suppose you could. Right? Like, 110 00:04:01,635 --> 00:04:02,294 with MCPs 111 00:04:03,074 --> 00:04:04,594 and kind of the goal, like you said, 112 00:04:04,594 --> 00:04:07,155 model context protocol, is that this kind of 113 00:04:07,155 --> 00:04:09,635 extends LLMs to other data sources. So I 114 00:04:09,635 --> 00:04:10,135 suppose 115 00:04:10,594 --> 00:04:11,814 maybe if there's MCPs 116 00:04:12,115 --> 00:04:13,655 out there to connect to 117 00:04:14,050 --> 00:04:15,490 some type of data that you might want 118 00:04:15,490 --> 00:04:17,649 to use to plan your vacation or something 119 00:04:17,649 --> 00:04:19,889 that you're planning your vacation from, you probably 120 00:04:19,889 --> 00:04:21,970 could use an MCP to plan your vacation, 121 00:04:21,970 --> 00:04:24,449 Scott. Probably. What is an MCP? If it 122 00:04:24,449 --> 00:04:25,810 hooked up to the right set of data 123 00:04:25,810 --> 00:04:28,954 sources. Absolutely. Yeah. With vacations, this is gonna 124 00:04:28,954 --> 00:04:31,354 be maybe the should we give people context? 125 00:04:31,354 --> 00:04:33,194 We are doing a longer episode that we're 126 00:04:33,194 --> 00:04:35,435 gonna break into two parts today because of 127 00:04:35,435 --> 00:04:37,594 vacations. So we're gonna kinda start off with 128 00:04:37,594 --> 00:04:38,574 what is an MCP 129 00:04:38,954 --> 00:04:41,709 followed by how do you use MCPs? We're 130 00:04:41,709 --> 00:04:42,849 jumping ahead of ourselves. 131 00:04:43,310 --> 00:04:46,209 So what is an MCP, Scott? What is 132 00:04:46,349 --> 00:04:48,050 the model context protocol 133 00:04:48,430 --> 00:04:49,569 from Anthropic, 134 00:04:50,189 --> 00:04:54,644 creators of also Claude? Model context protocol is 135 00:04:55,665 --> 00:04:56,485 a specification, 136 00:04:57,024 --> 00:04:58,339 like first of all, right? It's a Doctor. 137 00:04:58,339 --> 00:04:58,567 Joshua Klooz (zero 50 three:fifty three): Yep. Doctor. 138 00:04:58,567 --> 00:04:59,685 Joshua Klooz (zero fifty three:fifty three): Framework 139 00:05:00,225 --> 00:05:00,964 and architecture 140 00:05:01,425 --> 00:05:01,925 for 141 00:05:02,785 --> 00:05:03,285 developing 142 00:05:03,985 --> 00:05:04,485 servers 143 00:05:04,865 --> 00:05:05,845 and clients 144 00:05:06,439 --> 00:05:09,899 that can interact with large language models 145 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:12,779 and LLMs and become part of 146 00:05:13,479 --> 00:05:14,620 agentic workflows 147 00:05:15,399 --> 00:05:18,120 for LLMs. So they can surface very specific 148 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:19,100 pieces of functionality. 149 00:05:20,064 --> 00:05:21,125 So for example, 150 00:05:21,504 --> 00:05:23,985 you might have OpenAI out there and you're 151 00:05:23,985 --> 00:05:25,045 using ChatGPT 152 00:05:25,904 --> 00:05:28,944 four o, and you're chatting with that, and 153 00:05:28,944 --> 00:05:31,824 that thing was trained on a specific set 154 00:05:31,824 --> 00:05:32,485 of data. 155 00:05:32,970 --> 00:05:35,850 It could be that you're maybe grounding it 156 00:05:35,850 --> 00:05:37,770 in some additional data. Maybe you're doing rack 157 00:05:37,770 --> 00:05:40,330 or things like that. But maybe you need, 158 00:05:40,330 --> 00:05:41,790 like, additional functionality 159 00:05:42,250 --> 00:05:43,069 or more 160 00:05:43,770 --> 00:05:45,069 system or service 161 00:05:45,524 --> 00:05:46,345 specific functionality 162 00:05:46,805 --> 00:05:49,205 to do things. For example, let's do like 163 00:05:49,205 --> 00:05:50,824 a pie in the sky thing. So 164 00:05:51,205 --> 00:05:53,925 I have a Notion database, and one of 165 00:05:53,925 --> 00:05:57,045 my Notion databases is recipes, where I capture 166 00:05:57,045 --> 00:05:59,279 recipes that I find on YouTube. There's a 167 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,240 sub database that actually has, like, the recipe 168 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:04,740 itself. Here's the steps. Here's the ingredients, 169 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:06,720 all those kinds of things along the way. 170 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:08,000 So one of the things you might be 171 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,399 able to do is go out and ask 172 00:06:10,399 --> 00:06:11,139 an LLM, 173 00:06:11,605 --> 00:06:14,185 hey. Can you give me a new recipe 174 00:06:14,564 --> 00:06:15,064 for 175 00:06:15,845 --> 00:06:18,024 roasted chicken, roast potatoes, asparagus, 176 00:06:18,485 --> 00:06:20,645 and make it a little spicy? And what 177 00:06:20,645 --> 00:06:22,004 would be good if it had, like, these 178 00:06:22,004 --> 00:06:22,904 flavor properties? 179 00:06:23,285 --> 00:06:25,045 Well, if you had it tied into a 180 00:06:25,045 --> 00:06:27,889 tool with an MCP agent, you could also 181 00:06:27,889 --> 00:06:30,290 extend that prompt and you could say, once 182 00:06:30,290 --> 00:06:32,449 you've have that recipe and I've iterated on 183 00:06:32,449 --> 00:06:34,610 it, great. Hey, that recipe looks good. Can 184 00:06:34,610 --> 00:06:36,370 you take it and save it in my 185 00:06:36,370 --> 00:06:39,649 Notion database over here? And then because now 186 00:06:39,649 --> 00:06:41,110 you have the ability to 187 00:06:41,485 --> 00:06:43,185 have that Notion specific 188 00:06:43,485 --> 00:06:43,985 functionality 189 00:06:44,764 --> 00:06:45,504 tied into 190 00:06:45,884 --> 00:06:48,465 your client that you're chatting with that LLM, 191 00:06:48,764 --> 00:06:50,125 now you can start to chain that together 192 00:06:50,125 --> 00:06:51,884 and you can, like, push that information down 193 00:06:51,884 --> 00:06:52,705 from the LLM 194 00:06:53,085 --> 00:06:55,165 out to an external tool. Or you can 195 00:06:55,165 --> 00:06:57,000 do this in other ways. Like, let's say, 196 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:57,660 for example, 197 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:02,300 in Azure land, there's an Azure MCP server, 198 00:07:02,519 --> 00:07:05,339 and that server lets you do things like 199 00:07:05,479 --> 00:07:06,620 list the resources 200 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:07,899 in my subscription. 201 00:07:08,519 --> 00:07:10,139 Great. Like, list all the resources. 202 00:07:10,544 --> 00:07:12,785 Now, once you've listed the resources, go find 203 00:07:12,785 --> 00:07:14,944 the properties for those resources. Now, once you've 204 00:07:14,944 --> 00:07:17,664 found those resources with those properties, maybe take 205 00:07:17,664 --> 00:07:19,425 them and write them out to this other 206 00:07:19,425 --> 00:07:21,345 thing. Like, send them to Slack, send them 207 00:07:21,345 --> 00:07:23,345 to Notion, send them to OneNote, something like 208 00:07:23,345 --> 00:07:24,944 that, so that you can continue to have 209 00:07:24,944 --> 00:07:26,639 it go further. So you end up in 210 00:07:26,639 --> 00:07:29,220 this world where you can extend LLMs 211 00:07:29,759 --> 00:07:30,259 with 212 00:07:30,639 --> 00:07:34,080 domain specific knowledge and domain specific functionality that's 213 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,800 built by developers and by these services, and 214 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,060 then you can chain it all together because 215 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,535 now the clients that are interacting with these 216 00:07:41,535 --> 00:07:43,775 LLMs and have the ability to integrate with 217 00:07:43,775 --> 00:07:44,835 MCP servers, 218 00:07:45,214 --> 00:07:47,295 they can also know, like, oh, hey. I'm 219 00:07:47,295 --> 00:07:50,175 looking at an agent or a tool that 220 00:07:50,175 --> 00:07:51,714 surfaces this piece of functionality. 221 00:07:52,159 --> 00:07:53,759 Therefore, go talk to this, chain it into 222 00:07:53,759 --> 00:07:55,519 this, things like that. So that's all really 223 00:07:55,519 --> 00:07:57,699 cool because you can do that just through 224 00:07:57,759 --> 00:07:59,539 a singular client 225 00:07:59,919 --> 00:08:02,240 and kind of like a real time, like, 226 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:03,939 back and forth kind of interaction. 227 00:08:04,634 --> 00:08:06,074 The other way that these things can be 228 00:08:06,074 --> 00:08:08,414 used is as part of agentic workflows. 229 00:08:08,794 --> 00:08:11,194 So rather than me being like, hey. I'm 230 00:08:11,194 --> 00:08:12,634 gonna sit here and prompt you in real 231 00:08:12,634 --> 00:08:14,394 time, maybe I just have a prompt that 232 00:08:14,394 --> 00:08:16,235 kicks off overnight and does something in the 233 00:08:16,235 --> 00:08:18,220 background for me. And it's like one agent 234 00:08:18,220 --> 00:08:20,220 talks to another agent, talks to another agent, 235 00:08:20,220 --> 00:08:21,360 talks to another agent, talks to another agent. 236 00:08:21,660 --> 00:08:24,639 So if anybody's maybe been playing around with 237 00:08:24,860 --> 00:08:26,939 some of the agents or tools, like, they're 238 00:08:26,939 --> 00:08:28,540 called different things all over the place. Like, 239 00:08:28,540 --> 00:08:31,020 in in Microsoft three sixty five Copilot, they're 240 00:08:31,020 --> 00:08:33,355 called agents. If you go into like Copilot 241 00:08:33,414 --> 00:08:35,335 Studio, you've got these things called tools and 242 00:08:35,335 --> 00:08:37,495 other bits and pieces. Like this is a 243 00:08:37,495 --> 00:08:38,875 more rich interaction 244 00:08:39,254 --> 00:08:39,754 surface 245 00:08:40,134 --> 00:08:42,215 on top of those things that have been 246 00:08:42,215 --> 00:08:44,054 there before. I think one of the weird 247 00:08:44,054 --> 00:08:46,930 things about MCP in general is when I 248 00:08:46,930 --> 00:08:48,129 think about it, I think about more from 249 00:08:48,129 --> 00:08:49,570 like the end user side, like how do 250 00:08:49,570 --> 00:08:51,350 I as a user get started with it? 251 00:08:51,410 --> 00:08:54,610 Well, there's a whole bunch of LLM clients 252 00:08:54,610 --> 00:08:58,149 out there, like Copilot or heck, ChatGPT itself, 253 00:08:58,450 --> 00:09:00,769 that don't allow you to actually interact with 254 00:09:00,769 --> 00:09:01,269 MCPs, 255 00:09:01,855 --> 00:09:04,035 but others do. So if you have maybe 256 00:09:04,095 --> 00:09:06,674 like Claude or Perplexity on the desktop, 257 00:09:07,134 --> 00:09:10,414 then those let you run and integrate with 258 00:09:10,414 --> 00:09:14,014 MCP servers, both local servers and remote servers, 259 00:09:14,014 --> 00:09:15,934 which that's a distinction that we should talk 260 00:09:15,934 --> 00:09:17,490 through, tools like 261 00:09:17,889 --> 00:09:20,950 AI driven IDs like Cursor, WindServ, 262 00:09:21,730 --> 00:09:23,490 Versus Code as well, right, if you're just 263 00:09:23,490 --> 00:09:25,089 looking to, like, pick this up and and 264 00:09:25,089 --> 00:09:27,250 get going and get free free stuff along 265 00:09:27,250 --> 00:09:28,070 the way. So 266 00:09:28,529 --> 00:09:29,750 I think they are 267 00:09:30,209 --> 00:09:30,709 a 268 00:09:31,089 --> 00:09:33,705 weird new enabler, Like, they're definitely, like, cutting 269 00:09:33,705 --> 00:09:35,465 edge and we're on some, like, precipice or 270 00:09:35,465 --> 00:09:37,625 cliff, and it's not clear, like, does the 271 00:09:37,625 --> 00:09:39,625 ground continue to extend in front of us? 272 00:09:39,625 --> 00:09:40,904 Do we fall off the edge, and what 273 00:09:40,904 --> 00:09:42,904 does that look like? But it's definitely, like, 274 00:09:42,904 --> 00:09:44,504 exciting just to, like, be able to get 275 00:09:44,504 --> 00:09:46,110 hands on with some of this stuff and 276 00:09:46,110 --> 00:09:48,129 leverage it and find ways to 277 00:09:48,509 --> 00:09:49,809 use it in 278 00:09:50,190 --> 00:09:52,190 your day to day workflows, be it like, 279 00:09:52,190 --> 00:09:53,870 hey, you're a consumer. Like I said, maybe 280 00:09:53,870 --> 00:09:55,710 you're sitting here and you're doing, like maybe 281 00:09:55,710 --> 00:09:57,470 you're like a content creator and you're doing 282 00:09:57,470 --> 00:09:59,970 video creation and you say, okay, hey, ChatGPT, 283 00:10:00,350 --> 00:10:03,095 create my script. Well, great. Go into Versus 284 00:10:03,095 --> 00:10:05,335 Code, have a chat with ChatGPT four zero, 285 00:10:05,335 --> 00:10:06,855 create my script, now take my script and 286 00:10:06,855 --> 00:10:09,095 push it out to here, and let me 287 00:10:09,095 --> 00:10:11,014 leverage it that way or have it and 288 00:10:11,014 --> 00:10:12,875 iterate it on it, things like that. 289 00:10:13,175 --> 00:10:15,434 Or just in my day to day professional 290 00:10:15,495 --> 00:10:17,580 job, I'm always looking at 291 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:18,620 documentation, 292 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:21,480 code, samples, all those kinds of things. So 293 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:22,700 there are very specific 294 00:10:23,399 --> 00:10:23,899 MCP 295 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,639 server implementations that I can integrate with a 296 00:10:27,639 --> 00:10:28,139 client 297 00:10:28,855 --> 00:10:30,695 and be able to really kind of just, 298 00:10:30,695 --> 00:10:31,595 like, accelerate 299 00:10:32,134 --> 00:10:34,535 and augment those workflows within my day to 300 00:10:34,535 --> 00:10:37,654 day, which is very exciting. Right? Like, I 301 00:10:37,654 --> 00:10:39,735 think it's, like, I like cutting edge and 302 00:10:39,735 --> 00:10:41,495 raw, and it's always fun to get hands 303 00:10:41,495 --> 00:10:43,575 on with a new tool or a new 304 00:10:43,575 --> 00:10:45,860 toolset. A lot of these and where I've 305 00:10:45,860 --> 00:10:48,659 started playing with MCPs too is you mentioned 306 00:10:48,659 --> 00:10:50,600 like Claude or OpenAI or Copilot. 307 00:10:50,980 --> 00:10:53,139 It's you're limited in what data you can 308 00:10:53,139 --> 00:10:54,819 access. You can go build an agent in 309 00:10:54,819 --> 00:10:55,319 Copilot, 310 00:10:55,620 --> 00:10:58,184 but in that case, Microsoft has very 311 00:10:58,504 --> 00:11:00,504 defined connectors. They're starting to get more with 312 00:11:00,504 --> 00:11:03,144 some of the custom connectors and different things 313 00:11:03,144 --> 00:11:05,404 there, but like OpenAI. OpenAI, 314 00:11:06,184 --> 00:11:07,245 the data sources, 315 00:11:07,625 --> 00:11:09,465 kind of before MCPs, were a lot more 316 00:11:09,465 --> 00:11:11,860 limited. OpenAI is set to go look at 317 00:11:11,860 --> 00:11:13,379 the web or look at this data or 318 00:11:13,379 --> 00:11:16,100 use this model. Claude, same thing. This is 319 00:11:16,100 --> 00:11:19,940 really opening up that ability to say, now 320 00:11:19,940 --> 00:11:22,899 I want Claude to go look at all 321 00:11:22,899 --> 00:11:25,465 this other data that's more specific to me. 322 00:11:25,465 --> 00:11:27,065 Like you mentioned, I want Claude to go 323 00:11:27,065 --> 00:11:29,644 be able to look at my data in 324 00:11:29,705 --> 00:11:31,384 Notion, or I want Claude to be able 325 00:11:31,384 --> 00:11:33,705 to go look at the data in a 326 00:11:33,705 --> 00:11:35,705 SQL database. I want Claude to be able 327 00:11:35,705 --> 00:11:36,684 to go look at 328 00:11:37,009 --> 00:11:38,389 data over in 329 00:11:38,769 --> 00:11:41,409 Microsoft three sixty five in SharePoint land. It's 330 00:11:41,409 --> 00:11:44,210 allowing you to bring your own it's almost 331 00:11:44,210 --> 00:11:45,649 like bring your own data. Do we have 332 00:11:45,649 --> 00:11:48,769 a BYO instead of BYOD for devices? It's 333 00:11:48,769 --> 00:11:51,095 BYOD for data. Bring your own data into 334 00:11:51,095 --> 00:11:53,434 these different LLMs so that as you're querying, 335 00:11:53,654 --> 00:11:54,394 you can 336 00:11:54,774 --> 00:11:58,075 get different responses, better responses, more accurate responses, 337 00:11:58,214 --> 00:12:00,714 or responses very specific to 338 00:12:01,014 --> 00:12:03,095 the data that you want these LLMs to 339 00:12:03,095 --> 00:12:05,274 be able to parse over and 340 00:12:05,779 --> 00:12:08,340 pull these results from or these responses from? 341 00:12:08,340 --> 00:12:10,120 It's that domain specificity 342 00:12:10,740 --> 00:12:13,620 and the ability to plug and play domain 343 00:12:13,620 --> 00:12:17,559 specificity. So Anthropic, the folks who make Claw 344 00:12:17,985 --> 00:12:20,304 and SONNET and all that stuff, they are 345 00:12:20,304 --> 00:12:22,404 the ones who came up with this specification 346 00:12:22,544 --> 00:12:24,085 and pushed it out there into the world, 347 00:12:24,144 --> 00:12:26,065 and one of the ways that they frame 348 00:12:26,065 --> 00:12:27,125 it is 349 00:12:27,745 --> 00:12:28,245 MCP 350 00:12:28,865 --> 00:12:29,615 is the 351 00:12:30,799 --> 00:12:32,659 USB port of 352 00:12:33,839 --> 00:12:34,659 AI communications 353 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:36,659 and kinda AI interaction. 354 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:38,959 So if you think about that, like, if 355 00:12:38,959 --> 00:12:41,600 you think about, hey, I have this LLM 356 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:43,625 that's sitting here, and now it's got an 357 00:12:43,625 --> 00:12:46,024 infinite number of USB ports on it. Just 358 00:12:46,024 --> 00:12:47,705 think about, like, all the things that you 359 00:12:47,705 --> 00:12:49,465 plug into your computer to help you do 360 00:12:49,465 --> 00:12:51,065 your job better. You plug in the dongle 361 00:12:51,065 --> 00:12:52,745 for the mouse. You plug in your monitor. 362 00:12:52,745 --> 00:12:55,000 You might plug in a dock. I've got 363 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,319 an audio interface. I've got a camera. All 364 00:12:57,319 --> 00:12:59,159 these different things sitting in front of me. 365 00:12:59,159 --> 00:13:00,139 Well, those abstractions 366 00:13:00,519 --> 00:13:03,559 also apply in this world of MCP, where 367 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:05,720 you've got an LM that's now kinda sitting 368 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,879 there, and you've it's got, like I said, 369 00:13:07,879 --> 00:13:10,304 infinite USB ports, and you just start plugging 370 00:13:10,304 --> 00:13:13,044 in that domain specific knowledge 371 00:13:13,345 --> 00:13:15,665 and now the cool thing about the spec 372 00:13:15,665 --> 00:13:17,665 and the way it's laid out is it's 373 00:13:17,665 --> 00:13:20,325 kind of built around this core set 374 00:13:20,865 --> 00:13:24,884 of building blocks that they see and that 375 00:13:25,429 --> 00:13:27,350 sit out there. So clients can have a 376 00:13:27,350 --> 00:13:29,209 whole specific set of functionality 377 00:13:29,750 --> 00:13:32,709 where they can plug into a couple underlying 378 00:13:32,709 --> 00:13:35,909 building blocks within the MCP protocol itself. So 379 00:13:35,909 --> 00:13:38,394 you've got resources, prompts, tools, 380 00:13:39,014 --> 00:13:41,894 there's some other more esoteric things that I 381 00:13:41,894 --> 00:13:44,634 don't think I've seen involved in too many 382 00:13:44,934 --> 00:13:48,075 MCP implementations like sampling and roots and elicitation 383 00:13:48,455 --> 00:13:50,134 and things like that. But there's kind of 384 00:13:50,134 --> 00:13:52,634 like these core building blocks in 385 00:13:53,079 --> 00:13:53,579 tools, 386 00:13:53,879 --> 00:13:57,639 resources, and prompts. So tools are these things 387 00:13:57,639 --> 00:13:58,139 that 388 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,019 are specifically for AI actions 389 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:02,459 and AI interactions. 390 00:14:03,079 --> 00:14:06,120 They are controlled by the model itself, so 391 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,945 the LLM is doing things. So that might 392 00:14:08,945 --> 00:14:11,845 be like I have an MCP server maybe 393 00:14:11,904 --> 00:14:14,705 that searches for flight information. Right? Maybe it 394 00:14:14,705 --> 00:14:16,945 integrates with, like, kayak.com 395 00:14:16,945 --> 00:14:18,865 or something like that. Well, that could be 396 00:14:18,865 --> 00:14:20,965 controlled by the model where I could have 397 00:14:21,024 --> 00:14:23,809 a tool in an MCP server that's directly 398 00:14:23,809 --> 00:14:25,970 integrated with the Kayak API where I could 399 00:14:25,970 --> 00:14:28,529 say, hey. Go search I just tell my 400 00:14:28,529 --> 00:14:31,490 LLM. Go search for flights on this date 401 00:14:31,490 --> 00:14:33,410 with this carrier from a to b. And 402 00:14:33,410 --> 00:14:35,504 based on the context of, oh, I see 403 00:14:35,504 --> 00:14:37,425 the user is searching for flights, and I 404 00:14:37,425 --> 00:14:39,825 see I have this MCP server over here 405 00:14:39,825 --> 00:14:41,825 that I can attach to, and it's offered 406 00:14:41,825 --> 00:14:43,985 me an agent with this capability. Let me 407 00:14:43,985 --> 00:14:45,425 go use that. Let me go get that 408 00:14:45,425 --> 00:14:47,399 domain specific knowledge. So that could be like, 409 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:49,559 like I said, something corny. You're searching for 410 00:14:49,559 --> 00:14:52,379 flights. You're working on your scheduling, calendaring, 411 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,680 simple things like that. Maybe you're using it 412 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,080 as a way to send messages back and 413 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:58,840 forth in Slack or things like that. So 414 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,680 that's one of your building block is tools, 415 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:01,215 which are model 416 00:15:05,055 --> 00:15:07,375 controlled. Do you feel overwhelmed by trying to 417 00:15:07,375 --> 00:15:09,855 manage your Office three sixty five environment? Are 418 00:15:09,855 --> 00:15:12,815 you facing unexpected issues that disrupt your company's 419 00:15:12,815 --> 00:15:13,315 productivity? 420 00:15:13,615 --> 00:15:15,535 Intelligink is here to help. 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Remember, 437 00:16:05,845 --> 00:16:08,345 And then you have these things called resources, 438 00:16:08,485 --> 00:16:11,524 which are application controlled or controlled a little 439 00:16:11,524 --> 00:16:12,745 bit more by the 440 00:16:13,169 --> 00:16:15,509 server implementation, the MCP server, 441 00:16:15,970 --> 00:16:18,710 server implementation itself. So those are all for 442 00:16:18,769 --> 00:16:21,830 contextual data. So those would be things like 443 00:16:21,889 --> 00:16:22,389 documents, 444 00:16:22,850 --> 00:16:25,110 calendar events, could be emails, 445 00:16:25,715 --> 00:16:27,955 could be other domain specific data things like 446 00:16:27,955 --> 00:16:29,235 that like anthropic I think in one of 447 00:16:29,235 --> 00:16:31,174 their examples uses like weather data 448 00:16:31,475 --> 00:16:33,394 as a thing that's there in that first 449 00:16:33,394 --> 00:16:35,075 one where I had a tool I said 450 00:16:35,075 --> 00:16:37,554 go search for the flight and go do 451 00:16:37,554 --> 00:16:39,720 these things for me The other thing that 452 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:41,240 I could do is then I could have 453 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:41,820 a resource 454 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:43,720 that goes and actually reads out of my 455 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,039 calendar. So don't just go search for flights. 456 00:16:46,039 --> 00:16:47,639 Maybe I don't say search for flights between 457 00:16:47,639 --> 00:16:49,159 these dates where I say search for flights 458 00:16:49,159 --> 00:16:50,139 between these dates 459 00:16:50,519 --> 00:16:54,834 that don't conflict with my existing calendar. And 460 00:16:54,834 --> 00:16:57,014 if there's an integration with, like, Google Calendar 461 00:16:57,154 --> 00:16:58,834 or Outlook or things like that, then you've 462 00:16:58,834 --> 00:17:00,274 got all that. And then finally, a third 463 00:17:00,274 --> 00:17:02,274 building block that kinda comes into play with 464 00:17:02,274 --> 00:17:03,875 these that you'll see in a bunch of 465 00:17:03,875 --> 00:17:04,775 client implementations 466 00:17:05,474 --> 00:17:06,295 is prompts. 467 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,380 So these are for, like, interactive 468 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:10,980 templates basically. 469 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:13,140 So it's all user controlled. 470 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:17,119 So when you're kinda you can basically ground 471 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:18,720 these things and give them a set of, 472 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:19,859 like, base instructions 473 00:17:20,424 --> 00:17:21,724 that help them understand 474 00:17:22,265 --> 00:17:24,345 where you want them to go with it. 475 00:17:24,345 --> 00:17:26,105 So if I'm back to, like, that thing 476 00:17:26,105 --> 00:17:28,105 of kayak and search for flights, well, maybe 477 00:17:28,105 --> 00:17:29,545 I'm planning to go on a vacation or 478 00:17:29,545 --> 00:17:31,865 a business trip. So I could provide some 479 00:17:31,865 --> 00:17:35,200 very specific grounding that says, I'm planning a 480 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:36,099 family vacation 481 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,559 for a family of four. My wife likes 482 00:17:38,559 --> 00:17:40,079 to do this. My kids like to do 483 00:17:40,079 --> 00:17:41,759 this. And now I don't have to put 484 00:17:41,759 --> 00:17:44,480 all that into as I'm prompting the LMS 485 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:45,839 as I go along. It's just like a 486 00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:48,345 base set of instructions that it knows. Maybe 487 00:17:48,345 --> 00:17:49,644 you've got, like, multiple 488 00:17:50,025 --> 00:17:52,505 MCP servers that you're talking to. Maybe you've 489 00:17:52,505 --> 00:17:53,944 got one for, like, Kayak. Maybe you got 490 00:17:53,944 --> 00:17:55,704 one for Google flights. Maybe you've got one 491 00:17:55,704 --> 00:17:57,704 for, like, a carrier like Delta. Maybe you've 492 00:17:57,704 --> 00:17:59,704 got one for, like, hotels like Marriott, things 493 00:17:59,704 --> 00:18:01,309 like that. And you can actually tell it 494 00:18:01,309 --> 00:18:03,710 in the instructions like, hey, I I really 495 00:18:03,710 --> 00:18:05,950 prefer you to book and look for hotels 496 00:18:05,950 --> 00:18:07,950 with Marriott or like me, like, I tend 497 00:18:07,950 --> 00:18:09,549 to fly with Delta a lot. Like, please 498 00:18:09,549 --> 00:18:11,490 only pick Delta flights with 499 00:18:11,789 --> 00:18:13,710 no more than two stops and that go 500 00:18:13,710 --> 00:18:15,684 through these hubs kind of thing. So they 501 00:18:15,684 --> 00:18:19,365 just enable and open up this really kinda 502 00:18:19,365 --> 00:18:19,865 interesting 503 00:18:20,325 --> 00:18:21,924 world. So you've got a little bit of 504 00:18:21,924 --> 00:18:23,285 a graphic up on the screen now that 505 00:18:23,285 --> 00:18:26,884 kinda talks about and speaks to clients and 506 00:18:26,884 --> 00:18:27,384 servers 507 00:18:27,924 --> 00:18:29,144 and how they come together. 508 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:30,940 So with MCP, 509 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:33,160 obviously, you need an endpoint or a thing 510 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:34,680 that you can talk to, that you can 511 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,240 have the LLM and the ID or the 512 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,720 client that's able to recognize MCP servers that 513 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,240 it, like, knows how to talk to it 514 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:43,424 and get out there. So a server 515 00:18:43,805 --> 00:18:46,605 and the implementation of a server can be 516 00:18:46,605 --> 00:18:49,244 local or it can be remote. So for 517 00:18:49,244 --> 00:18:49,744 example, 518 00:18:50,365 --> 00:18:51,345 there is 519 00:18:51,965 --> 00:18:53,265 an Azure, 520 00:18:53,884 --> 00:18:57,059 there there's a Microsoft Learn MCP server. And 521 00:18:57,059 --> 00:18:59,220 what the folks at Microsoft Learn did was 522 00:18:59,220 --> 00:19:02,659 they actually stood up an MCP endpoint, and 523 00:19:02,659 --> 00:19:04,980 it's an endpoint that's compliant with the MCP 524 00:19:04,980 --> 00:19:05,480 protocol. 525 00:19:06,579 --> 00:19:09,220 And you can install you can install an 526 00:19:09,220 --> 00:19:12,119 MCP server for Microsoft Learn into 527 00:19:12,484 --> 00:19:14,565 your local client. But when you're installing that 528 00:19:14,565 --> 00:19:16,484 server, all it's really doing is talking to 529 00:19:16,484 --> 00:19:19,285 a remote HTTP endpoint. It's doing, like, SSE 530 00:19:19,285 --> 00:19:21,205 and stream mobile HTTP and things like that. 531 00:19:21,205 --> 00:19:23,224 The alternative way you could do it is 532 00:19:23,525 --> 00:19:25,525 and how some of these have manifested is 533 00:19:25,525 --> 00:19:27,865 they've manifested as local server implementations. 534 00:19:28,470 --> 00:19:30,150 So literally you go in and you say, 535 00:19:30,150 --> 00:19:32,970 okay. Here's the configuration for an MCP server. 536 00:19:33,190 --> 00:19:34,789 And quite often these things will be spun 537 00:19:34,789 --> 00:19:37,349 up inside of, like, containers or just little 538 00:19:37,349 --> 00:19:40,230 m MPM servers that are running locally, where 539 00:19:40,230 --> 00:19:41,529 it's running a web endpoint 540 00:19:41,855 --> 00:19:45,394 locally on the same client where you're executing 541 00:19:45,695 --> 00:19:47,775 the client with the prompt and things like 542 00:19:47,775 --> 00:19:49,695 that, and you've got a little bit of 543 00:19:49,695 --> 00:19:51,615 a different flow there. But you can always 544 00:19:51,615 --> 00:19:53,134 mix and match all these things. Right? Like, 545 00:19:53,134 --> 00:19:54,654 this is all just, like, how many of 546 00:19:54,654 --> 00:19:56,734 these things do I chain together? What what 547 00:19:56,734 --> 00:19:58,909 what are they, and how do they all 548 00:19:59,049 --> 00:20:01,130 manifest? So the biggest thing you gotta figure 549 00:20:01,130 --> 00:20:03,210 out is, like, hey. Like, is there, 550 00:20:04,169 --> 00:20:05,929 is is there a use case for me 551 00:20:05,929 --> 00:20:08,269 with MCP, you know, given your persona, 552 00:20:08,809 --> 00:20:10,269 you you know, your work identity, 553 00:20:10,569 --> 00:20:11,849 whatever it is you happen to do and 554 00:20:11,849 --> 00:20:13,375 and how you wanna use it? And if 555 00:20:13,375 --> 00:20:15,934 yes, then what's the client I wanna use 556 00:20:15,934 --> 00:20:18,095 to get there? Because there are a there's 557 00:20:18,095 --> 00:20:20,095 a pretty broad set of clients that can 558 00:20:20,095 --> 00:20:21,794 leverage MCP integrations. 559 00:20:22,174 --> 00:20:23,615 But that said, you gotta kinda, like, pick 560 00:20:23,615 --> 00:20:24,974 the right tool for the right job, and 561 00:20:24,974 --> 00:20:26,974 and that's a little confusing right now because, 562 00:20:26,974 --> 00:20:29,980 like I said, things like Copilot desktop, Microsoft 563 00:20:30,039 --> 00:20:31,960 three sixty five Copilot, they don't have the 564 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,119 ability to integrate with an MCP server, nor 565 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:37,419 does the, I believe, the OpenAI desktop client. 566 00:20:37,559 --> 00:20:39,480 But that said, the Claw desktop client does, 567 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,599 the perplexity client does, Versus Code does, Cursor 568 00:20:42,599 --> 00:20:44,894 does, WinSurf does, like, like, all these different 569 00:20:44,894 --> 00:20:46,095 things that are out there. And then and 570 00:20:46,095 --> 00:20:47,615 then, like, I'm I'm missing a whole list. 571 00:20:47,615 --> 00:20:48,914 Like, if you go on, like, the anthropic 572 00:20:48,975 --> 00:20:51,855 documentation, like, they've got, like, gobs and gobs 573 00:20:51,855 --> 00:20:54,174 and gobs of clients and which ones work 574 00:20:54,174 --> 00:20:56,414 with resources, which ones work with prompts, which 575 00:20:56,414 --> 00:20:58,809 ones work with tools, all those kinds of 576 00:20:58,809 --> 00:21:01,690 things along the way. I would imagine for 577 00:21:01,690 --> 00:21:03,049 most of the folks that probably listen to 578 00:21:03,049 --> 00:21:05,230 our podcast who are living in the 579 00:21:05,609 --> 00:21:06,750 Microsoft ecosystem, 580 00:21:07,369 --> 00:21:10,190 you probably work with an MCP 581 00:21:10,649 --> 00:21:13,365 capable client already. I know, like, I live 582 00:21:13,365 --> 00:21:16,105 in Versus Code, like, 90% of my day. 583 00:21:16,164 --> 00:21:18,644 That's all just there and ready to go 584 00:21:18,644 --> 00:21:19,144 and 585 00:21:19,445 --> 00:21:22,244 available to me. This stuff is, like it 586 00:21:22,244 --> 00:21:23,924 looks a little geeky, like, when you start 587 00:21:23,924 --> 00:21:25,569 to get into it, but, you know, you 588 00:21:25,569 --> 00:21:26,769 need to know, like, hey. How do I 589 00:21:26,769 --> 00:21:29,329 define an MCP server that already exists out 590 00:21:29,329 --> 00:21:30,609 there? And some of the clients, you just 591 00:21:30,609 --> 00:21:33,250 have to pull like, just post, like, and 592 00:21:33,250 --> 00:21:35,409 copy and paste, like, raw JSON into these 593 00:21:35,409 --> 00:21:37,109 things to get them going for the configs. 594 00:21:37,315 --> 00:21:39,075 So that can be, like, a little intimidating. 595 00:21:39,075 --> 00:21:40,755 But once you've done all that, like, really, 596 00:21:40,755 --> 00:21:42,515 it just becomes chatting with an LLM, and 597 00:21:42,515 --> 00:21:46,295 now you've extended the you've extended the capabilities 598 00:21:46,595 --> 00:21:48,934 of that LLM. And by extending the capabilities 599 00:21:48,994 --> 00:21:51,315 of that LLM, I think really what we're 600 00:21:51,315 --> 00:21:54,490 saying is we're extending the capabilities of ourselves, 601 00:21:54,490 --> 00:21:56,650 right, because we were using those LLMs to 602 00:21:56,650 --> 00:21:59,210 enable our jobs and enable our workflows and 603 00:21:59,210 --> 00:22:00,809 and move those things forward. So that that's 604 00:22:00,809 --> 00:22:02,730 kind of an exciting thing. For sure. And 605 00:22:02,730 --> 00:22:04,650 like you said, there's a whole list of 606 00:22:04,650 --> 00:22:05,150 clients. 607 00:22:05,724 --> 00:22:08,684 I think OpenAI is getting closer to having 608 00:22:08,684 --> 00:22:10,944 more. Like, with some of the connectors they've 609 00:22:11,484 --> 00:22:14,524 put in there, their desktop client is getting 610 00:22:14,524 --> 00:22:16,284 close, and I've started playing with a few 611 00:22:16,284 --> 00:22:17,105 of these clients. 612 00:22:17,750 --> 00:22:20,390 Because of that, with Claude, with OpenAI, with 613 00:22:20,390 --> 00:22:21,289 Versus Code, 614 00:22:21,670 --> 00:22:23,990 all of those. But one thing that's interesting, 615 00:22:23,990 --> 00:22:26,650 and this is something again, we're talking about 616 00:22:26,789 --> 00:22:28,630 using these clients, hooking them up to other 617 00:22:28,630 --> 00:22:31,345 data sources, pulling them into an LLM, kinda 618 00:22:31,345 --> 00:22:32,964 like this architecture diagram 619 00:22:33,505 --> 00:22:34,944 you were talking about where you have your 620 00:22:34,944 --> 00:22:37,764 MCP host or your AI application, OpenAI Cloud. 621 00:22:37,825 --> 00:22:39,264 You're using the clients, and you're going out 622 00:22:39,264 --> 00:22:40,944 and connecting it to all this data. Tying 623 00:22:40,944 --> 00:22:43,605 that into another concept you mentioned where 624 00:22:44,279 --> 00:22:47,480 Anthropic described this as the like a USB 625 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,880 c port where you can have unlimited USB 626 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:51,559 c ports plugged it in. What is the 627 00:22:51,559 --> 00:22:53,960 first thing you you're taught with data security, 628 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:55,880 Scott, with USB ports? You plug in any 629 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:57,640 random stuff you can. Plug them in. Right. 630 00:22:57,640 --> 00:22:59,160 When you see a USB port, just plug 631 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,375 it in. I think that's one interesting aspect 632 00:23:01,375 --> 00:23:03,555 too when you start thinking about these MCPs 633 00:23:03,775 --> 00:23:05,934 is to that extent, what are you plugging 634 00:23:05,934 --> 00:23:07,615 your data into? If I go in and 635 00:23:07,615 --> 00:23:08,275 you mentioned 636 00:23:08,575 --> 00:23:10,174 you give it access to your calendar, you 637 00:23:10,174 --> 00:23:13,134 give it access to your Notion database, maybe 638 00:23:13,134 --> 00:23:14,940 you're giving it access to a SQL server. 639 00:23:14,940 --> 00:23:16,779 You're giving it access to your file server. 640 00:23:16,779 --> 00:23:19,019 It's actually now pulling data from all these 641 00:23:19,019 --> 00:23:20,079 different data sources 642 00:23:20,779 --> 00:23:23,419 into an LLM. I know SharePoint is one 643 00:23:23,419 --> 00:23:25,740 that has started coming up more and more 644 00:23:25,740 --> 00:23:26,960 as well is 645 00:23:27,274 --> 00:23:29,835 from that security side, like Microsoft three sixty 646 00:23:29,835 --> 00:23:31,755 five, you can do sensitivity labels, you can 647 00:23:31,755 --> 00:23:32,414 do security. 648 00:23:32,875 --> 00:23:35,434 They've built a bunch of different controls into 649 00:23:35,434 --> 00:23:35,934 SharePoint 650 00:23:36,794 --> 00:23:39,214 so that you can control how 651 00:23:39,869 --> 00:23:41,089 Copilot and 652 00:23:41,390 --> 00:23:42,769 the LLMs behind 653 00:23:43,230 --> 00:23:44,930 Microsoft three sixty five Copilot 654 00:23:45,309 --> 00:23:47,390 interact with your data. What data they're allowed 655 00:23:47,390 --> 00:23:49,329 to interact with? How does that handle 656 00:23:49,710 --> 00:23:52,589 sensitive information? How does it handle Social Security 657 00:23:52,589 --> 00:23:54,930 numbers that it may come across? How can 658 00:23:55,195 --> 00:23:57,994 you define different controls? But now what happens 659 00:23:57,994 --> 00:23:59,055 if you have 660 00:23:59,835 --> 00:24:02,474 a connector, an MCP, that maybe goes and 661 00:24:02,474 --> 00:24:05,775 looks at your Microsoft three sixty five data 662 00:24:06,154 --> 00:24:09,035 and starts pulling all these files and documents 663 00:24:09,035 --> 00:24:11,299 in because there's an API for them. You 664 00:24:11,299 --> 00:24:13,859 can get them. But that MCP or that 665 00:24:13,859 --> 00:24:14,359 connector 666 00:24:14,900 --> 00:24:17,640 may not have all those same controls that 667 00:24:18,019 --> 00:24:20,580 Copilot has in place for, especially, I think, 668 00:24:20,580 --> 00:24:22,580 of things like sensitivity labels and how you 669 00:24:22,580 --> 00:24:25,424 can filter things out there. Permissions, the ACLs 670 00:24:25,424 --> 00:24:26,785 that are maybe on some of these files 671 00:24:26,785 --> 00:24:28,384 are a little bit easier. But I think 672 00:24:28,384 --> 00:24:30,704 you really also need to start thinking about 673 00:24:30,704 --> 00:24:32,884 now from a security perspective, 674 00:24:33,585 --> 00:24:35,585 whether it's at a corporate data level or 675 00:24:35,585 --> 00:24:38,224 even your personal data, what's happening to your 676 00:24:38,224 --> 00:24:38,724 data 677 00:24:39,139 --> 00:24:39,639 as 678 00:24:39,940 --> 00:24:42,099 you're bringing it into these different LLMs? For 679 00:24:42,099 --> 00:24:43,539 sure. And I'll I'll I'll throw you one 680 00:24:43,539 --> 00:24:45,159 more on top of there. So, 681 00:24:45,779 --> 00:24:47,240 if you think about a 682 00:24:48,019 --> 00:24:50,339 local MCP server, so like I said, like, 683 00:24:50,339 --> 00:24:51,819 often you can spin these things up Yep. 684 00:24:51,940 --> 00:24:54,805 Just like a simple m MPM Docker on 685 00:24:54,805 --> 00:24:57,125 your machine. Yep. Do you do it in 686 00:24:57,125 --> 00:24:59,605 Docker where it's isolated and you have maybe 687 00:24:59,605 --> 00:25:01,365 some more of those operational controls, but then 688 00:25:01,365 --> 00:25:03,465 you might have to contend with things like 689 00:25:03,924 --> 00:25:04,904 container networking 690 00:25:05,205 --> 00:25:07,144 and and routing and other constructs? 691 00:25:07,579 --> 00:25:09,119 Do you end up in a place where 692 00:25:09,420 --> 00:25:11,500 you have just a bunch of random web 693 00:25:11,500 --> 00:25:13,579 servers running, like, locally on on your on 694 00:25:13,579 --> 00:25:15,420 your machine? Right? Like, how many tie how 695 00:25:15,420 --> 00:25:17,339 many MPM servers do you wanna spin up 696 00:25:17,339 --> 00:25:18,160 in the background 697 00:25:18,700 --> 00:25:21,660 for API endpoints for these specific pieces of 698 00:25:21,660 --> 00:25:22,160 functionality? 699 00:25:22,565 --> 00:25:24,565 Because really, like, in some cases, what we're 700 00:25:24,565 --> 00:25:27,944 talking about sometimes is even, like, little helpers 701 00:25:28,085 --> 00:25:29,924 to to do things. Right? Because you could 702 00:25:29,924 --> 00:25:32,244 have, like, you could have an MCP interaction 703 00:25:32,244 --> 00:25:34,484 where the MCP is interacting with, like, a 704 00:25:34,484 --> 00:25:36,184 local file on your desktop, 705 00:25:36,500 --> 00:25:38,500 and then it's taking information from that file, 706 00:25:38,500 --> 00:25:40,820 pushing it to a cloudy service, a sassy 707 00:25:40,820 --> 00:25:43,059 service, whatever that is, vice versa. So I 708 00:25:43,059 --> 00:25:44,820 I there there are a whole bunch of 709 00:25:44,820 --> 00:25:47,799 considerations there. You know, these things are not 710 00:25:48,100 --> 00:25:50,115 super mature in the sense that, you know, 711 00:25:50,115 --> 00:25:51,714 they've been out for years and years and 712 00:25:51,714 --> 00:25:53,634 years, and we understand all the edge cases 713 00:25:53,634 --> 00:25:55,714 and the flows and, you know, do they 714 00:25:55,714 --> 00:25:57,795 have the right operational controls, things like that. 715 00:25:57,795 --> 00:25:59,234 So it's like, yeah, I think you need 716 00:25:59,234 --> 00:26:01,075 to be a little bit, like, careful with 717 00:26:01,075 --> 00:26:04,599 them, but I don't know that, like, where 718 00:26:04,599 --> 00:26:05,659 things are today 719 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,440 that it's as big of a concern as 720 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:09,640 it might be. Like, I see a lot 721 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,099 of these things as 722 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:13,419 accelerators for developer, 723 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,179 workflows, accelerators 724 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,105 for, like, no code, low code kind of 725 00:26:18,105 --> 00:26:19,964 workflows, those kinds of things. 726 00:26:20,345 --> 00:26:22,424 And, you know, if you're scared of the 727 00:26:22,424 --> 00:26:24,505 destructive nature of something, like, just don't use 728 00:26:24,505 --> 00:26:26,024 it. Keep doing it the way you've you've 729 00:26:26,024 --> 00:26:28,105 been doing it. Right? Like, nobody's saying, like, 730 00:26:28,105 --> 00:26:30,049 hey. You have to do these things. But 731 00:26:30,049 --> 00:26:32,289 certainly, yeah, like, treat them safely, right, if 732 00:26:32,289 --> 00:26:34,369 you can. Run-in a sandbox the first time. 733 00:26:34,369 --> 00:26:35,970 Figure out, like, hey, is is is this 734 00:26:35,970 --> 00:26:38,769 the right thing for me, my workflow, and 735 00:26:38,769 --> 00:26:40,470 what I'm trying to 736 00:26:40,769 --> 00:26:43,134 accomplish right now? Yeah. And I think there 737 00:26:43,134 --> 00:26:45,134 are some scenarios I think about when we 738 00:26:45,134 --> 00:26:47,054 get into some of the examples and start 739 00:26:47,054 --> 00:26:48,115 talking about maybe 740 00:26:48,494 --> 00:26:50,174 how we've used them that I think about 741 00:26:50,174 --> 00:26:52,015 a little bit. There's an aspect to some 742 00:26:52,015 --> 00:26:54,414 of these too, depending on the MCP you're 743 00:26:54,414 --> 00:26:56,815 using. Like, I would love to see these, 744 00:26:56,815 --> 00:26:59,179 and I'm hoping they will get there eventually 745 00:26:59,399 --> 00:27:00,059 come to 746 00:27:00,519 --> 00:27:02,919 something like Copilot so I can tie some 747 00:27:02,919 --> 00:27:05,179 of these MCPs that I wanna use into 748 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,599 my Microsoft three sixty five environment so that 749 00:27:08,599 --> 00:27:11,720 I can start maybe supplementing Microsoft three sixty 750 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:13,134 five Copilot with some of the data that 751 00:27:13,134 --> 00:27:15,055 would come from an MCP. Right now, I 752 00:27:15,055 --> 00:27:17,634 feel like I'm in the opposite boat where 753 00:27:17,855 --> 00:27:20,335 things like Cloud and OpenAI are building all 754 00:27:20,335 --> 00:27:22,174 these connectors and allowing me to pull data 755 00:27:22,174 --> 00:27:24,835 in from all of those, including from SharePoint, 756 00:27:25,375 --> 00:27:28,309 where I'm starting to sometimes even find myself, 757 00:27:28,309 --> 00:27:30,309 it's like, well, it's almost easier to use 758 00:27:30,309 --> 00:27:30,809 OpenAI 759 00:27:31,269 --> 00:27:31,769 or 760 00:27:32,389 --> 00:27:32,889 Claude 761 00:27:33,269 --> 00:27:34,970 or some of these other LLMs 762 00:27:35,589 --> 00:27:36,409 just because 763 00:27:37,429 --> 00:27:39,369 the openness is there to get 764 00:27:39,805 --> 00:27:41,644 some of this other data in from other 765 00:27:41,644 --> 00:27:42,705 tools that I use 766 00:27:43,085 --> 00:27:45,164 where I mean, personally, I would love to 767 00:27:45,164 --> 00:27:47,164 just have it in Copilot. Some of it, 768 00:27:47,164 --> 00:27:48,684 again, due to the nature of the data, 769 00:27:48,684 --> 00:27:50,285 some of it is, like, a lot of 770 00:27:50,285 --> 00:27:53,359 these MCPs yet, they're still paywalled. I'm paying 771 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:55,460 for Claude right now. I'm playing for OpenAI 772 00:27:55,519 --> 00:27:57,599 right now, and I'm paying for Copilot right 773 00:27:57,599 --> 00:27:58,960 now. Just so I can test all this 774 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:00,399 out where if there started to be some 775 00:28:00,399 --> 00:28:03,200 of that feature parity, I could not pay 776 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:04,419 for all three of them. 777 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:05,700 Yeah. 778 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,015 I think it is tough to get there, 779 00:28:08,015 --> 00:28:09,954 right? Like, there's certainly, like, an ecosystem 780 00:28:10,815 --> 00:28:12,095 kind of thing. I I will say, like, 781 00:28:12,095 --> 00:28:13,134 you can get by a lot with a 782 00:28:13,134 --> 00:28:14,335 lot of the stuff just, like, on the 783 00:28:14,335 --> 00:28:15,714 on the on the free side. 784 00:28:16,015 --> 00:28:17,775 So, you know, like, if you're using, like, 785 00:28:17,775 --> 00:28:21,109 Claude, Claude desktop, Perplexity, things like that, you 786 00:28:21,109 --> 00:28:22,309 don't need to be on, like, the paid 787 00:28:22,309 --> 00:28:25,269 plan to integrate an MCP server with with 788 00:28:25,269 --> 00:28:27,350 Claude. I think most of these even like, 789 00:28:27,350 --> 00:28:28,630 all all the ones that I can think 790 00:28:28,630 --> 00:28:30,970 of, like, they do have some free version. 791 00:28:31,269 --> 00:28:33,269 Even, like, GitHub, like, hey. I'm gonna turn 792 00:28:33,269 --> 00:28:35,670 on GitHub Copilot because I need GitHub Copilot 793 00:28:35,670 --> 00:28:36,585 to be able to do the chat with 794 00:28:36,585 --> 00:28:37,204 the LLMs, 795 00:28:37,585 --> 00:28:39,904 and then I'm, like, adding these agentic flows 796 00:28:39,904 --> 00:28:41,984 to it. That stuff's available and ready to 797 00:28:41,984 --> 00:28:44,224 go, and and you can do that pretty 798 00:28:44,224 --> 00:28:46,224 turnkey. So you might be limited in some 799 00:28:46,224 --> 00:28:47,825 functionality and some other things that are out 800 00:28:47,825 --> 00:28:50,659 there. I don't think that stops folks from 801 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:52,640 trying to get, you know, hands on with 802 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,079 it and and see where some of that 803 00:28:54,079 --> 00:28:56,659 value is. And as we get into 804 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,359 our later conversation about, like, maybe some specific 805 00:28:59,359 --> 00:29:01,679 MCP servers, at least everything I plan to 806 00:29:01,679 --> 00:29:04,035 talk about, like, it's all free or it's 807 00:29:04,035 --> 00:29:06,515 already integrated into the ecosystems that you're probably 808 00:29:06,515 --> 00:29:08,755 in anyway. You're paying for, like, the underlying 809 00:29:08,755 --> 00:29:09,875 thing. Right? Like, if you use, like, the 810 00:29:09,875 --> 00:29:12,674 Azure MCP server, then you're probably already an 811 00:29:12,674 --> 00:29:14,929 Azure customer. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see 812 00:29:14,929 --> 00:29:16,769 where this goes, see where the architecture goes, 813 00:29:16,769 --> 00:29:19,329 see how these different clients start bringing them 814 00:29:19,329 --> 00:29:22,849 in, incorporating all of it together. Yeah. So 815 00:29:22,849 --> 00:29:23,410 why don't we, 816 00:29:23,890 --> 00:29:26,049 wrap this one, and then we'll come back 817 00:29:26,049 --> 00:29:28,289 for a part two, and and we'll talk 818 00:29:28,289 --> 00:29:29,109 about some 819 00:29:29,809 --> 00:29:30,309 specific 820 00:29:30,984 --> 00:29:33,304 MCP servers and kinda like how we're using 821 00:29:33,304 --> 00:29:34,825 them in in our day to day and 822 00:29:34,825 --> 00:29:36,744 and kinda how our journey has been here 823 00:29:36,744 --> 00:29:38,664 a little bit, and maybe that informs some 824 00:29:38,664 --> 00:29:40,984 others. You know, if anybody's out there and 825 00:29:40,984 --> 00:29:43,944 you're using an MCP server, like, we we'd 826 00:29:43,944 --> 00:29:45,990 love to hear from you, like, hey, What 827 00:29:45,990 --> 00:29:47,589 are you using it for? What's going on? 828 00:29:47,589 --> 00:29:49,210 Like, what's your specific 829 00:29:49,509 --> 00:29:50,890 use case use cases? 830 00:29:51,349 --> 00:29:52,549 You know, I I think Ben and I 831 00:29:52,549 --> 00:29:55,430 are, like, pretty big on just, experimentation. Ben 832 00:29:55,430 --> 00:29:57,109 always talks about his list that is ever 833 00:29:57,109 --> 00:29:59,109 growing. I've got a similar one. Like, we'd 834 00:29:59,109 --> 00:30:01,575 love to hear how others are enabling, like, 835 00:30:01,654 --> 00:30:04,214 their workflows. For sure. So reach out. Let 836 00:30:04,214 --> 00:30:04,875 us know. 837 00:30:05,255 --> 00:30:07,335 Again, LinkedIn is probably the best. I am 838 00:30:07,335 --> 00:30:09,755 finding that as becoming my social network 839 00:30:10,375 --> 00:30:10,875 of 840 00:30:11,335 --> 00:30:14,454 choice lately Mhmm. Or contact page on the 841 00:30:14,454 --> 00:30:16,534 website, mscloudi2pro.com. 842 00:30:16,534 --> 00:30:18,509 We'd love to hear from you. Alright. Sounds 843 00:30:18,509 --> 00:30:21,150 good. Hopefully, this was enthralling and folks come 844 00:30:21,150 --> 00:30:22,210 back for part two. 845 00:30:22,830 --> 00:30:25,410 Absolutely. Alright. Thanks, Ben. Yep. Thanks, Scott. 846 00:30:27,390 --> 00:30:29,630 If you enjoyed the podcast, go leave us 847 00:30:29,630 --> 00:30:31,869 a five star rating in iTunes. It helps 848 00:30:31,869 --> 00:30:33,625 to get the word out so more IT 849 00:30:33,625 --> 00:30:35,704 pros can learn about Office three sixty five 850 00:30:35,704 --> 00:30:36,365 and Azure. 851 00:30:36,984 --> 00:30:38,585 If you have any questions you want us 852 00:30:38,585 --> 00:30:40,744 to address on the show, or feedback about 853 00:30:40,744 --> 00:30:43,065 the show, feel free to reach out via 854 00:30:43,065 --> 00:30:45,244 our website, Twitter, or Facebook. 855 00:30:45,625 --> 00:30:47,464 Thanks again for listening, and have a great 856 00:30:47,464 --> 00:30:47,964 day.

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Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast

Ben Stegink, Scott Hoag

On the MS Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott and Ben discuss the Microsoft Cloud with a focus on IT Pros. They'll discuss the latest in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 News, Azure news and talk about their experiences with managing the Microsoft Cloud as well as interview industry experts on various cloud technology. They'll cover things such as SharePoint, Exchange, Microsoft Teams, PowerShell, Azure, Azure AD, Security, Networking, Storage, and the many other technologies and products that have made their way into the Microsoft 365 suite and Azure. To stay up-to-date on the latest in Microsoft Cloud news and gain some valuable knowledge as you deploy it within your own organization, make sure to tune in every week! Find out more at msclouditpropodcast.com.

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