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Information about Middleware

This article is about integration software. For video game engine software, see Game engine#Middleware.


'Middleware is computer software that sits 'in the middle' between application software (e.g. a word processing program) and the operating system (Unix, Windows, z/OS etc.) It is similar to operating system software in that it provides functions to multiple applications, and it is similar to application software in that it is not used for all applications, and that it eventually depends on operating system functions. Examples include database systems, telecommunications software, transaction monitors and messaging-and-queueing software.

The distinction between operating system and middleware functionality is to some extent arbitrary. While core kernel functionality of course can only be provided by the operating system itself, some functionality previously provided by separately sold middleware is now integrated in operating systems. The typical example is the TCP/IP stack for telecommunications, nowadays included in virtually every operating system.

Middleware is computer software that connects software components or applications. The software consists of a set of enabling services that allow multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact across a network. This technology evolved to provide for interoperability in support of the move to client/server architecture. It is used most often to support complex, distributed applications. It includes web servers, application servers, content management systems, and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on XML, SOAP, Web services, and service-oriented architecture.

The term middleware is sometimes considered a buzzword.

Middleware in Simulation Technology. In Simulation, "middleware" is a term generally used in the context of the High Level Architecture (HLA) that applies to many distributed simulations. It is a layer of software that lies between the application code and the Run-Time Infrastructure (RTI), hence `middle' in its title. Middleware generally consists of a library of functions, and enables a number of applications (simulations, or Federates in HLA terminology) to page these functions from the common library rather than re-create them for each application

Definition

Middleware is the enabling technology of Enterprise application integration. It describes a piece of software that connects two or more software applications so that they can exchange data.

ObjectWeb defines middleware as: "The software layer that lies between the operating system and the applications on each side of a distributed computing system in a network."[1]

Origins

Middleware is a relatively new addition to the computing landscape. It gained popularity in the 1980s as a solution to the problem of how to link new applications to older legacy systems, although the term had been in use since 1968.[2] It also facilitated distributed processing – the connection of multiple applications to create a larger application, usually over a network.

Organizations

IBM is the most important vendor in the middleware software. In addition to the existing vendors updating their wares to address the newly expanded vision, vendors such as TIBCO, Mercator Software, Crossflo, Vitria and webMethods were specifically founded to provide Web-oriented middleware tools. Groups such as the Apache Software Foundation and the ObjectWeb Consortium encourage the development of open source middleware.

Use of Middleware

Middleware services provide a more functional set of Application Programming Interface(API) to allow an application to i. locate transparently across the network thus providing interaction with another service or application ii. be independent from network services iii. be reliable and available always when compared to the operating system and network services.

Types of middleware

Hurwitz's classification system organizes the many types of middleware that are currently available. These classifications are based on scalability and recoverability:
  • Remote Procedure Call (RPCs) — Client makes calls to procedures running on remote systems. Can be asynchronous or synchronous.
  • Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) — Messages sent to the client are collected and stored until they are acted upon, while the client continues with other processing.
  • Object Request Broker (ORB) — This type of middleware makes it possible for applications to send objects and request services in an object-oriented system.
  • — middleware between applications and database servers.
Other sources include these additional classifications:

See also

References

1. ^ Krakowiak, Sacha. What's middleware?. ObjectWeb.org. Retrieved on 2005-05-06.
2. ^ Gall, Nick (July 30, 2005). Origin of the term middleware.
3. ^ Definition of middleware. Carnegie Mellon: Software Engineering Institute.

External links

Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system. [1]
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A database management system (DBMS) is computer software designed for the purpose of managing databases. Typical examples of DBMSs include Oracle, DB2, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, FileMaker and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise.
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Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system. [1]
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Component-based software engineering (CBSE) (also known as Component-Based Development (CBD) or Software Componentry) is a branch of the software engineering discipline, with emphasis on decomposition of the engineered systems into functional or logical components
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Interoperability is a property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together (inter-operate). The term is often used in a technical systems engineering sense, or alternatively in a broad sense, taking into account social, political, and
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distributed applications are two-tier (client-server), three-tier (client-middleware-server), and multitier (Source: [1]

See also distributed computing.
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web server can mean one of two things:
  1. A computer program that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from clients, which are known as web browsers, and serving them HTTP responses along with optional data contents, which usually are web pages such as HTML documents and

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An application server is a software engine that delivers applications to client computers or devices. Moreover, an application server handles most, if not all, of the business logic and data access of the application (a.k.a. centralization).
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A Content Management System (CMS) is a software system used for content management. Content management systems are deployed primarily for interactive use by a potentially large number of contributors.
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Extensible Markup Language

File extension: .xml
MIME type: application/xml, text/xml (deprecated)
Uniform Type Identifier: public.xml
Developed by: World Wide Web Consortium
Type of format: Markup language
Extended from: SGML
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Simple Object Access Protocol, and lately also Service Oriented Architecture Protocol, but is now simply SOAP. The original acronym was dropped with Version 1.2 of the standard, which became a W3C Recommendation on June 24 2003, as it was considered to be misleading.
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The W3C defines a Web service (many sources also capitalize the second word, as in Web Services) as "a software system designed to support interoperable Machine to Machine interaction over a network.
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Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural design pattern that concerns itself with defining loosely-coupled relationships between producers and consumers. While it has no direct relationship with software, programming, or technology, it's often confused with an
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The High Level Architecture (HLA) is a general purpose architecture for distributed computer simulation systems. Using HLA, computer simulations can communicate to other computer simulations regardless of the computing platforms.
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In computing, run-time infrastructure (RTI) is a middleware that is required when implementing the High Level Architecture. RTI is the fundamental component of HLA. It provides a set of software services that are necessary to support federates to coordinate their operations and
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Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is defined as the uses of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.
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An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. An operating system processes system data and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and internal system resources as a service to users and programs of the
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TIBCO Software Inc.

Public (NASDAQ: TIBX )
Founded 1988
Headquarters Palo Alto, CA

Key people Vivek Ranadive, founder, CEO, chairman
Industry Computer Software
Products Business software
Revenue US $517.
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webMethods Inc.

Subsidiary of Software AG
Founded 1996
Headquarters Fairfax, VA

Key people David Mitchell, President & CEO
Industry Computer software
Products webMethods Fabric
webMethods Integration Server
webMethods Servicenet
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World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, a user views web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigates between them using hyperlinks.
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Apache Software Foundation

Type 501(c)(3)
Founded June 1999
Headquarters Forest Hill, Maryland
Website www.apache.org The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a non-profit corporation (classified as 501(c)(3) in the United States) to support Apache software
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The OW2 Consortium (formed in January 2007 from the merger of the ObjectWeb Consortium and Orientware) is a not-for-profit, international consortium mainly devoted to producing open source middleware, EAI, e-business, clustering, grid computing.
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Open source is a set of principles and practices that promote access to the design and production of goods and knowledge. The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent intellectual property
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An application programming interface (API) is a source code interface that an operating system or library provides to support requests for services to be made of it by computer programs.
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Hurwitz is a surname and may refer to:
  • Aaron Hurwitz, musician, see Live on Breeze Hill
  • Adolf Hurwitz (1859-1919), German mathematician
  • Hurwitz polynomial

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Remote procedure call (RPC) is a technology that allows a computer program to cause a subroutine or procedure to execute in another address space (commonly on another computer on a shared network) without the programmer explicitly coding the details for this remote
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Asynchrony, in the general meaning, is the state of not being synchronized.
  • Asynchronous learning
  • Collaborative editing systems
In specific terms of digital logic and physical layer of communication, an asynchronous process does not require a clock signal.
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Synchronicity or synchronous can refer to the following meanings:
  • synchronization, the coordination of events to operate a system in unison.
  • Synchronization (computer science)
  • Synchronization (alternating current)

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Message-oriented middleware comprises a category of inter-application communication software that generally relies on asynchronous message-passing as opposed to a request/response metaphor.
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In distributed computing, an object request broker (ORB) is a piece of middleware software that allows programmers to make program calls from one computer to another via a network.
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