Data within an enterprise can be stored in heterogeneous formats, including relational databases (which themselves come in a large number of varieties), text files, XML files, spreadsheets and a variety of proprietary storage methods, each with their own indexing and data access methods.
Many applications exist that implement these APIs' commands across various data sources, most notably relational databases.
EII products enable loose coupling between homogeneous-data consuming client applications and services and heterogeneous-data stores.
Such client applications and services include Desktop Productivity Tools (spreadsheets, word processors, presentation software, etc.
), development environments and frameworks (Java EE, .NET, Mono, SOAP or RESTful Web services, etc.