# Operating model (/docs/foundation/operating-model)



Foundation follows a shared platform model. It is operated as a common capability layer that multiple higher-level services consume.

## Core Principle [#core-principle]

Foundation owns platform concerns. Higher layers own product and use-case concerns.

That separation keeps the architecture clearer:

* Foundation focuses on secure execution, exposure, persistence, observability, and delivery
* AI focuses on AI platform services and developer-facing capabilities
* Data focuses on enterprise data systems and advanced data operations

## Foundation Responsibilities [#foundation-responsibilities]

Foundation provides the platform mechanisms that behave consistently across the stack:

* network exposure and ingress
* identity and access patterns
* secrets and certificate handling
* inference execution substrate
* workflow execution substrate
* operational storage services
* monitoring, logging, and tracing
* GitOps deployment mechanics

## How Other Layers Consume Foundation [#how-other-layers-consume-foundation]

AI and Data consume these shared Foundation services:

* an AI service uses Foundation ingress, identity, storage, and telemetry
* a workflow-oriented service uses Foundation workflow engines and storage
* a user-facing application benefits from the same DNS, TLS, and access patterns as the rest of the platform

## Why This Matters [#why-this-matters]

The operating model reduces duplication and makes the platform easier to scale. Instead of each product area solving security, routing, monitoring, and storage independently, those concerns are handled once in Foundation and reused consistently.