The creation of new applications has been influenced by various software development paradigms, from structured programming and modular development to prototyping, object-oriented, agent-oriented and aspect-oriented programming. Development methods today include component-based development, model-driven development, re-factoring design and architecture patterns, extreme programming and agile development. Regardless of the preferred methodology, many developers embrace integrated development environments and frameworks. These include Eclipse, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE), Hibernate, Spring, .NET and various AJAX frameworks. Frameworks provide efficiency with tested, reusable components, including components that use data access middleware. Using frameworks and components raises the level of abstraction for developers, but they do not obviate the need for data access middleware.

Despite the appeal of data-aware components, Web 2.0, and AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), not all information processing lends itself to mashup, scripting or point-and-click solutions. Classic applications, such as order processing, business intelligence, design engineering and supply chain automation, require sophisticated behind-the-browser technology. They can also be quite complex, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suites with a database schema having thousands of tables. We’ve traded monolithic applications and centrally managed computers for distributed systems composed of many parts (servers, network gear, software libraries, databases and more). The tradeoff for distributing data closer to the user is an increased need for:

• Data integration software
• Versioning and configuration control tools
• High-bandwidth networking
• Distributed query capabilities
• Sophisticated authorization and authentication solutions
• Locales and globalization
• Load balancing and failover capabilities.