Google Cloud Next 2026: Vertex AI Reborn as Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform With A2A Protocol and 200+ Models

At Google Cloud Next 2026 on April 22, 2026, Google unveiled a sweeping reorganization of its enterprise AI portfolio under a single new brand: the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. The platform is the direct evolution of Vertex AI, absorbing Agentspace and consolidating Google's model selection, agent building, DevOps, orchestration, and security capabilities into one unified environment. Bloomberg reported that the announcement represents Google's most aggressive move yet to challenge OpenAI and Anthropic in the enterprise AI market, where both competitors have gained significant ground with developer-focused products. The rebranding takes effect immediately, with all existing Vertex AI services migrating under the Gemini Enterprise umbrella.

The platform launches with several significant technical milestones. The Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol v1.0 is now in production at 150 organizations, providing a standardized communication layer that allows AI agents from different vendors to interoperate. Google's Agent Development Kit (ADK) v1.0 is stable across four programming languages. A new Workspace Studio provides a no-code agent builder for business users, while Project Mariner — a web-browsing autonomous agent — is rolling out to enterprise customers. The Model Garden provides first-class access to 200+ models, including Gemini 3.1 Pro, Gemma 4, and third-party models such as Anthropic Claude Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku. Managed MCP servers with Apigee as an API-to-agent bridge complete the agentic infrastructure stack. The Register described the announcement as Google claiming it 'has all the answers for AI agent sprawl.'

Partner integrations announced at Cloud Next span Box, Workday, Salesforce, and ServiceNow, all of which are building native agents on the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. Google is also integrating AI-powered 'auto browse' capabilities into Chrome for enterprise users, allowing workers to automate repetitive browser-based tasks such as research, data entry, and form completion. For enterprise buyers, the consolidation simplifies a previously fragmented product landscape and positions Google's platform as a direct alternative to Microsoft's Azure AI Foundry and OpenAI's enterprise agent offerings. Analysts at SiliconAngle noted that 'Google brings agentic development, optimization, and governance under one roof' for the first time, reducing the friction for large organizations seeking to deploy AI agents at scale.