Question

Explain what middleware is and what it does. Based on your explanations, analyse why MIS managers would be interested in using such software.

Answer 1

Explanation of what middleware is and what it does:
It is basically a computer software. It is also simply called middleware. It in general handles and enables communication and management of data in distributed applications acting like a software layer lying between the operating system and enterprise applications on either side of a distributed computing system in a network. It is a hidden translation layer acting as a software glue between the system's OS and the distributed enterprise applications running on the OS.

It is a software that provides services to other enterprise software applications available beyond the existing software applications working on top of the OS and components from the Operating System (OS). It helps software developers making it easier for them to implement communication and Input/Output (I/O), focusing and engaging more in the specific purpose of their application they develop rather on the communication and I/O implementation.

Middleware is also called as plumbing. What it does is, it connects or integrates two different applications together so data and database are easily passed between the "pipe". Middleware software examples in general are, database middleware, application server middleware, message-oriented middleware, web middleware, etc.

Analysis of why Management Information System (MIS) managers would be interested in using middleware software:
The reason is, in general, middleware software enables multiple systems to communicate amongst themselves across different platforms making the synergy and integration across those systems and applications possible. Since it acts as a communication channel between different systems, all monitoring of the integrations is carried out on one system. It is also used in handling concurrency, threading, transaction management issues, etc.

As an example, MIS managers fill the great difference in the database environments and integrate them through database middleware software. Middleware apps are used to link different apps. MIS managers develop applications or manage the development of applications, minimizing the risk for MIS management in the sense, freeing the MIS managers from making so many decisions on hardware platforms, network protocols, Graphical User Interface (GUI), or DBMSs (DataBase Management Systems) supportability, which otherwise would give MIS managers limited options due to the unpredictability of the products that are to be most widely accepted.

Middleware software insulates users, developers, and MIS managers from being vendor locked or locked into any particular product, hardware, software, platform, or standard and makes the development, integration, implementation, and operations easier, simpler, quicker, and seamless. Middleware software provides independence to leverage vendors. The MIS managers need not be dependent on vendors technically and thus they are not being dictated by the vendor in economic terms.

With respect to the databases, there are interactions that happen between front-end development tools and back-end database servers causing performance degradation. A database middleware software optimizes these interactions between tools and databases thus achieving performance gains. A database middleware can even provide interface directly between an OS say, Microsoft Windows and a series of back-end databases. This middleware software is used in production applications. These middleware software, in general, and as a whole, offer interfaces, connections, connectivity, querying databases, performance, and applications interoperability.