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{{short description|Provides services for the various components of a distributed system}}'''Middleware''' in the context of [[distributed application]]s is [[software]] that provides services beyond those provided by the [[operating system]] to enable the various components of a distributed system to communicate and manage data. Middleware supports and simplifies complex [[distributed application]]s. It includes [[web server]]s, [[application server]]s, messaging and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on [[XML]], [[SOAP]], [[Web service]]s, and [[service-oriented architecture]].▼
▲'''Middleware''' in the context of [[distributed application]]s is [[software]] that provides services beyond those provided by the [[operating system]] to enable the various components of a distributed system to communicate and manage data. Middleware supports and simplifies complex [[distributed application]]s. It includes [[web server]]s, [[application server]]s, messaging and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on [[XML]], [[SOAP]], [[Web service]]s, and [[service-oriented architecture]].
Middleware often enables [[interoperability]] 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]] that may be working on different [[operating system]]s. It is similar to the middle layer of a [[Multitier architecture|three-tier]] single system architecture, except that it is stretched across multiple systems or applications. Examples include [[Enterprise Application Integration|EAI]] software, telecommunications software, [[Transaction Processing System|transaction monitors]], and messaging-and-queueing software.
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==Definitions==
== Origins ==
Middleware
==Use==
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Databases. Journal of Database Management, 17(4), 20-39,41-46. Retrieved March 7,
2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1155773301).
</ref> 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.<ref>Bagwell, H. (2008). [http://www.devicelink.com/ivdt/archive/08/07/007.html Middleware: providing value beyond autoverification] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012130823/http://www.devicelink.com/ivdt/archive/08/07/007.html |date=2009-10-12 }}. IVDT. Retrieved March 3, 2009.
Middleware can help software developers avoid having to write [[application programming interface]]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 [[Network management|multi-___domain scenarios]], using mediator tools (middleware) is a powerful help since they allow [[Telecommunications service provider|operators]], searchers and [[service providers]] to supervise [[Quality of service]] and analyse eventual failures in [[telecommunication service]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Kai Oswald Seidler |url=http://www.fp7-moment.eu/ |title=MOMENT |publisher=Fp7-moment.eu |access-date=2010-08-19}}</ref>
Finally, e-commerce uses middleware to assist in handling rapid and secure transactions over many different types of computer environments.<ref>Charles, J. (1999). [
In 2004 members of the [[European Broadcasting Union]] (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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3300.pdf |title=EBU middleware report Tech 3300 |access-date=2010-08-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3300s.pdf |title=EBU middleware reports Tech 3300s |access-date=2010-08-19}}</ref>
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===Message-oriented middleware===
[[Message-oriented middleware]] (MOM) <ref>Curry, Edward. 2004. [http://www.mendeley.com/download/public/1652511/4338215212/cce0f06f047faa57879a1fc36a8e8d6d754d2f6a/dl.pdf "Message-Oriented Middleware"] {{Dead link|date=January 2019
; Enterprise messaging
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; Enterprise service bus
: [[Enterprise service bus]] (ESB) is defined by the [[Burton Group]]
===Intelligent middleware===
<ref>[http://www.cougaarsoftware.com/files/CSI_ActiveEdge.pdf Choosing the Right Middleware] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402121113/http://www.cougaarsoftware.com/files/CSI_ActiveEdge.pdf |date=2012-04-02 }}
Intelligent [[Middleware]] (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.
==={{Anchor|EMBEDDED}}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.<ref>[http://www.dcs.kcl.ac.uk/staff/tysong/files/PhD.pdf Juno] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426045143/http://www.dcs.kcl.ac.uk/staff/tysong/files/PhD.pdf |date=2011-04-26 }}
; Remote procedure call
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; Embedded middleware
: Embedded middleware provides communication services and software/[[firmware]] integration interface that operates between embedded applications, the embedded operating system, and external applications.
===Policy Appliances===
Policy appliance is a generic term referring to any form of middleware that manages policy rules. They can mediate between data owners or producers, data aggregators, and data users. Among heterogeneous institutional systems or networks they may be used to enforce, reconcile, and monitor agreed information management policies and laws across systems (or between jurisdictions) with divergent information policies or needs. Policy appliances can interact with smart data (data that carries with it contextual relevant terms for its own use), [[intelligent agent]]s (queries that are self-credentialed, authenticating, or contextually adaptive), or [[context awareness|context-aware]] applications to control information flows, protect security and confidentiality, and maintain privacy. Policy appliances support policy-based information management processes by enabling rules-based processing, selective disclosure, and accountability and oversight.<ref>{{Citation |title=Designing Technical Systems to Support Policy: Enterprise Architecture, Policy Appliances, and Civil Liberties |date=2010 |work=Emergent Information Technologies and Enabling Policies for Counter-Terrorism |url=https://doi.org/10.1109/9780470874103.ch22 |access-date=2025-04-28 |publisher=IEEE |isbn=978-0-470-87410-3}}</ref>
Examples of policy appliance technologies for rules-based processing include analytic filters, [[Contextual searching|contextual search]], semantic programs, labeling and wrapper tools, and [[Digital rights management|DRM]], among others; policy appliance technologies for selective disclosure include anonymization, content personalization, subscription and publishing tools, among others; and, policy appliance technologies for accountability and oversight include [[authentication]], authorization, immutable and non-repudiable logging, and audit tools, among others.
===Other===
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==Vendors==
[[IBM]], [[Red Hat]], [[Oracle Corporation]] and [[Microsoft]] are some of the vendors that provide middleware software. Vendors such as [[Axway]], [[SAP AG|SAP]], [[TIBCO]], [[Informatica]], [[Objective Interface Systems]], [[Pervasive Software|Pervasive]], ScaleOut Software and [[webMethods]] were specifically founded to provide more niche middleware solutions. Groups such as the [[Apache Software Foundation]], [[Opensaf|OpenSAF]], the [[ObjectWeb|ObjectWeb Consortium]] (now OW2) and OASIS' [[AMQP]] encourage the development of [[Open-source software|open source]] 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 Corporation|Solace]] provides middleware in purpose-built hardware for implementations that may experience scale.
==See also==
* [[Comparison of business integration software]]
* [[Service-oriented architecture]]
* [[Enterprise Service Bus]]
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040220065312/http://www.omii.ac.uk/ Open Middleware Infrastructure Institute (OMII-UK)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20191213122020/https://www.srinsofttech.com/what-are-the-levels-in-the-middleware-integration.html Middleware Integration Levels]
*[http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3300.pdf European Broadcasting Union
*[http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3300s.pdf More detailed supplement to the European Broadcasting Union Middleware report].
*[http://www.ow2.org/ ObjectWeb - international community developing open-source middleware]
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