Middleware in the context of
distributed applications is
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...
that provides services beyond those provided by the
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
to enable the various components of a distributed system to communicate and manage data. Middleware supports and simplifies complex
distributed applications. It includes
web server
A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initia ...
s,
application server
An application server is a server that hosts applications or software that delivers a business application through a communication protocol.
An application server framework is a service layer model. It includes software components available to a ...
s, messaging and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...
,
SOAP
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are us ...
,
Web services, and
service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. By consequence, it is also applied in the field of software design where services are provid ...
.
Middleware often enables
interoperability
Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...
between applications that run on different operating systems, by supplying services so the application can exchange data in a standards-based way. Middleware sits "in the middle" between
application software
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...
that may be working on different
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
s. It is similar to the middle layer of a
three-tier single system architecture, except that it is stretched across multiple systems or applications. Examples include
EAI software, 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 can only be provided by the operating system itself, some functionality previously provided by separately sold middleware is now integrated in operating systems. A typical example is the
TCP/IP
The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the su ...
stack for telecommunications, nowadays included virtually in every operating system.
Definitions
Software that provides a link between separate software applications. Middleware is sometimes called plumbing because it connects two applications and passes data between them. Middleware allows data contained in one database to be accessed through another. This definition would fit
enterprise application integration and
data integration
Data integration involves combining data residing in different sources and providing users with a unified view of them.
This process becomes significant in a variety of situations, which include both commercial (such as when two similar companies ...
software.
ObjectWeb defines middleware as: "The software layer that lies between the
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
and applications on each side of a distributed computing system in a network."
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 newer applications to older legacy systems, although the term had been in use since 1968. It also facilitated
distributed processing, the connection of multiple applications to create a larger application, usually over a network.
Use
Middleware services provide a more functional set of
application programming interface
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
s to allow an application to:
*Locate transparently across the network, thus providing interaction with another service or application
*Filter data to make them friendly usable or public via
anonymization process for privacy protection (for example)
*Be independent from network services
*Be reliable and always available
*Add complementary attributes like
semantics
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
when compared to the operating system and network services.
Middleware offers some unique technological advantages for business and industry. For example, traditional database systems are usually deployed in closed environments where users access the system only via a restricted network or
intranet
An intranet is a computer network for sharing information, easier communication, collaboration tools, operational systems, and other computing services within an organization, usually to the exclusion of access by outsiders. The term is used in c ...
(e.g., an enterprise’s internal network). With the phenomenal growth of the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
, users can access virtually any database for which they have proper access rights from anywhere in the world. Middleware addresses the problem of varying levels of
interoperability
Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...
among different database structures. Middleware facilitates transparent access to legacy
database management system
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases ...
s (DBMSs) or applications via a
web server
A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initia ...
without regard to database-specific characteristics.
Businesses frequently use middleware applications to link information from departmental databases, such as payroll, sales, and accounting, or databases housed in multiple geographic locations. In the highly competitive healthcare community, laboratories make extensive use of middleware applications for
data mining,
laboratory information system (LIS) backup, and to combine systems during hospital mergers. Middleware helps bridge the gap between separate LISs in a newly formed healthcare network following a hospital buyout.
Middleware can help software developers avoid having to write
application programming interface
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
s (API) for every control program, by serving as an independent programming interface for their applications.
For
Future Internet network operation through traffic monitoring in
multi-domain scenarios, using mediator tools (middleware) is a powerful help since they allow
operators, searchers and
service providers to supervise
Quality of service
Quality of service (QoS) is the description or measurement of the overall performance of a service, such as a telephony or computer network, or a cloud computing service, particularly the performance seen by the users of the network. To quantitat ...
and analyse eventual failures in
telecommunication services.
Finally, e-commerce uses middleware to assist in handling rapid and secure transactions over many different types of computer environments. In short, middleware has become a critical element across a broad range of industries, thanks to its ability to bring together resources across dissimilar networks or computing platforms.
In 2004 members of the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...
(EBU) carried out a study of Middleware with respect to system integration in broadcast environments. This involved system design engineering experts from 10 major European broadcasters working over a 12-month period to understand the effect of predominantly software-based products to media production and broadcasting system design techniques. The resulting reports Tech 3300 and Tech 3300s were published and are freely available from the EBU web site.
Types
Message-oriented middleware
Message-oriented middleware
Message-oriented middleware (MOM) is software or hardware infrastructure supporting sending and receiving messages between distributed systems. MOM allows application modules to be distributed over heterogeneous platforms and reduces the comple ...
(MOM) is middleware where transactions or event notifications are delivered between disparate systems or components by way of messages, often via an
enterprise messaging system. With MOM, messages sent to the client are collected and stored until they are acted upon, while the client continues with other processing.
; Enterprise messaging
: An
enterprise messaging system is a type of middleware that facilitates message passing between disparate systems or components in standard formats, often using
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...
,
SOAP
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are us ...
or
web services. As part of an enterprise messaging system,
message broker software may queue, duplicate, translate and deliver messages to disparate systems or components in a messaging system.
; Enterprise service bus
:
Enterprise service bus (ESB) is defined by the
Burton Group
Arcadia Group Ltd (formerly Arcadia Group plc and, until 1998, Burton Group plc) was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BH ...
as "some type of integration middleware product that supports both
message-oriented middleware
Message-oriented middleware (MOM) is software or hardware infrastructure supporting sending and receiving messages between distributed systems. MOM allows application modules to be distributed over heterogeneous platforms and reduces the comple ...
and
Web services".
Intelligent middleware
Intelligent
Middleware
Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue".
Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement ...
(IMW) provides real-time intelligence and event management through
intelligent agents. The IMW manages the real-time processing of high volume sensor signals and turns these signals into intelligent and actionable business information. The actionable information is then delivered in end-user power dashboards to individual users or is pushed to systems within or outside the enterprise. It is able to support various heterogeneous types of hardware and software and provides an API for interfacing with external systems. It should have a highly scalable,
distributed architecture which embeds intelligence throughout the network to transform raw data systematically into actionable and relevant knowledge. It can also be packaged with tools to view and manage operations and build advanced network applications most effectively.
Content-centric middleware
Content-centric middleware offers a simple ''provider-consumer'' abstraction through which applications can issue requests for uniquely identified content, without worrying about where or how it is obtained. Juno is one example, which allows applications to generate content requests associated with high-level delivery requirements. The middleware then adapts the underlying delivery to access the content from sources that are best suited to matching the requirements. This is therefore similar to
Publish/subscribe middleware, as well as the
Content-centric networking paradigm.
; Remote procedure call
:
Remote procedure call
In distributed computing, a remote procedure call (RPC) is when a computer program causes a procedure ( subroutine) to execute in a different address space (commonly on another computer on a shared network), which is coded as if it were a normal ...
middleware enables a client to use services running on remote systems. The process can be
synchronous or
asynchronous
Asynchrony is the state of not being in synchronization.
Asynchrony or asynchronous may refer to:
Electronics and computing
* Asynchrony (computer programming), the occurrence of events independent of the main program flow, and ways to deal wit ...
.
; Object request broker
: With
object request broker middleware, it is possible for applications to send objects and request services in an object-oriented system.
; SQL-oriented data access
:
SQL-oriented Data Access is middleware between applications and database servers.
; Embedded middleware
: Embedded middleware provides communication services and software/
firmware
In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide h ...
integration interface that operates between embedded applications, the embedded operating system, and external applications.
Other
Other sources include these additional classifications:
*
Transaction processing monitors provides tools and an environment to develop and
deploy distributed applications.
*
Application server
An application server is a server that hosts applications or software that delivers a business application through a communication protocol.
An application server framework is a service layer model. It includes software components available to a ...
s software installed on a computer to facilitate the serving (running) of other applications.
Integration Levels
Data Integration
*Integration of data resources like files and databases
Cloud Integration
*Integration between various cloud services
B2B Integration
*Integration of data resources and partner interfaces
Application Integration
*Integration of applications managed by a company
Vendors
IBM,
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide.
Red Hat has become a ...
,
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...
and
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
are some of the vendors that provide middleware software. Vendors such as
Axway
Axway Software is a French-American publicly held information technology company that provides software tools for enterprise software, enterprise application integration, business activity monitoring, business analytics, mobile application de ...
,
SAP,
TIBCO,
Informatica,
Objective Interface Systems,
Pervasive, ScaleOut Software and
webMethods were specifically founded to provide more niche middleware solutions. Groups such as the
Apache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is an American nonprofit corporation (classified as a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States) to support a number of open source software projects. The ASF was formed from a group of developers of the ...
,
OpenSAF, the
ObjectWeb Consortium (now OW2) and OASIS'
AMQP
The Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) is an open standard application layer protocol for message-oriented middleware. The defining features of AMQP are message orientation, queuing, routing (including point-to-point and publish-and-subsc ...
encourage the development of
open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized so ...
middleware. Microsoft .NET "Framework" architecture is essentially "Middleware" with typical middleware functions distributed between the various products, with most inter-computer interaction by industry standards, open APIs or RAND software licence.
Solace
Consolation, consolement, and solace are terms referring to psychological comfort given to someone who has suffered severe, upsetting loss, such as the death of a loved one. It is typically provided by expressing shared regret for that loss and ...
provides middleware in purpose-built hardware for implementations that may experience scale. StormMQ provides
Message Oriented Middleware as a service.
See also
*
Comparison of business integration software
This article is a comparison of notable business integration and business process automation software.
General
Scope
Scope of this comparison:
* Service-oriented architecture implementations;
* Message-oriented middleware and message brokers ...
*
Middleware Analysts Middleware analysts are computer software engineers with a specialization in products that connect two different computer systems together. These products can be open-source or proprietary. As the term implies, the software, tools, and technologies ...
*
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. By consequence, it is also applied in the field of software design where services are provid ...
*
Enterprise Service Bus
*
Event-driven SOA
*
ObjectWeb
References
External links
Internet2 Middleware InitiativeSWAMI - Swedish Alliance for Middleware InfrastructureOpen Middleware Infrastructure Institute (OMII-UK)European_Broadcasting_Union_( European_Broadcasting_Union_(EBU)_Middleware_report">EBU">European_Broadcasting_Union_(EBU
)_Middleware_report
More_detailed_supplement_to_the_European_Broadcasting_Union_Middleware_report
ObjectWeb_-_international_community_developing_open-source_middleware
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)_Middleware_report.html" ;"title="EBU">European Broadcasting Union (EBU
) Middleware report">EBU">European Broadcasting Union (EBU
) Middleware report
More detailed supplement to the European Broadcasting Union Middleware report
ObjectWeb - international community developing open-source middleware
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Systems engineering