Enterprise AI Architecture and the Modern AI Stack: An Architect's Field Guide to Models, Agents, RAG, Security, Governance, and 100 Essential Tools

The enterprise AI stack grew from three layers to nine in four years. Most teams are still selecting tools as if it were 2022 — and their production systems show it.Enterprise AI Architecture and the Modern AI Stack is a practitioner's field guide to the complete 2026 AI stack, organised around a nine-layer reference architecture that maps every tool decision to its architectural consequences. One hundred tools are profiled in a consistent twelve-section template — what it is, where it fits, working code, a production case study, governance posture, cost model, decision rule, and a signed architect's note — so the profiles compare like-for-like across the entire landscape.The book covers foundation models (closed and open-weights), the MCP and A2A protocols, agent frameworks, RAG and context engineering, AI coding tools, training and MLOps, inference and serving, observability and evaluation, and AI security and governance — then goes where other AI books stop: five chapters on enterprise practice covering AI economics and ROI, platform selection (Bedrock, Vertex, Microsoft Foundry, Databricks, SAP), the AI operating model, a five-level maturity model, and industry reference architectures for healthcare, banking, retail, manufacturing, and government.Written by a Senior Enterprise Architect with more than eighteen years of production experience — IEEE Senior Member and author of the GMAEI framework — this is a book of judgement, not just facts: every profile ends with a clear recommendation grounded in production deployment.For enterprise architects, AI architects, CIOs, CTOs, security and governance leaders, and solution architects. All tool data is date-stamped to May 2026, with errata and updates maintained by the autho Read more