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Middleware is considered anything between the kernel and the user applications. Functionality such as gesture recognition or speech recognition is usually processed by some middleware, and the results are transmitted to user applications.

Middleware is a computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glues".[1] Middleware makes it easier for software developers to perform communication and input/output, so they can focus on the specific purpose of their application. Middleware is the software that connects software components or enterprise applications. Middleware is the software layer that lies between the operating system and the applications on each side of a distributed computer network. Typically, it supports complex, distributed business software applications.


Middleware includes Web servers, application servers, content management systems, and similar tools that support application development and delivery. It is especially integral to information technology based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web services, SOA, Web 2.0 infrastructure, and Light weight directory access protocol(LDAP)

Middleware in distributed applications[edit]

Software architecture: Middleware

The term is most commonly used for software that enables communication and management of data in distributed applications. In this more specific sense middleware can be described as the dash in client-server, or the -to- in peer-to-peer.[citation needed]

ObjectWeb defines middleware as: "The software layer that lies between the operating system and applications on each side of a distributed computing system in a network."[2] Services that can be regarded as middleware include enterprise application integration, data integration, message oriented middleware (MOM), object request brokers (ORBs), and the enterprise service bus (ESB).


Other examples of middleware[edit]


  • Wireless networking developers can use middleware to meet the challenges associated with wireless sensor network (WSN), or WSN technologies. Implementing a middleware application allows WSN developers to integrate operating systems and hardware with the wide variety of various applications that are currently available.[4]
  • The QNX operating system offers middleware for providing multimedia services for use in automobiles, aircraft and other envien middleware system standard designed by the DVB project for interactive digital television. The MHP enables the reception and execution of interactive, Java-based applications on a television set.




Middleware 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.[5] It also facilitated distributed processing, the connection of multiple applications to create a larger application, usually over a network.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "What is Middleware?". Middleware.org. Defining Technology. 2008. Retrieved 2013-08-11. 