Middleware

• Middleware is an important part of client/server systems because it solves many interoperability problems, opens the door for multiple servers, and in general provides great flexibility. Middleware is an important intermediate layer of software, for the following reasons:
  • It makes it possible for new systems to coexist with legacy systems, which means we can use it to glue together new clients with old mainframe databases;
  • It solves a number of interoperability problems because it can simultaneously convert formats and gain access without code rewriting;
  • It isolates system components so that changes in one component have little effect on other components;
  • It lowers effort and time to develop and deploy systems because programmers do not need to know network and distributed programming details.