Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on XML, SOAP, Web services, and service-oriented architecture.
"[1] 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.
Middleware facilitates transparent access to legacy database management systems (DBMSs) or applications via a web server without regard to database-specific characteristics.
The Content and Subscriber Management System (CSMS) is the central part of the solution commonly referred to as an administration portal.
it also controls the majority of TV services and interacts with streaming & CDN and DRM serves to deliver Live, VOD and recorded content to the end users.
[8] In short, middleware has become a critical element across a broad range of industries, thanks to its ability to bring together resources across dissimilar networks or computing platforms.
It should have a highly scalable, distributed architecture which embeds intelligence throughout the network to transform raw data systematically into actionable and relevant knowledge.
Content-centric middleware offers a simple provider-consumer abstraction through which applications can issue requests for uniquely identified content, without worrying about where or how it is obtained.
Other sources[citation needed] include these additional classifications: IBM, Red Hat, Oracle Corporation and Microsoft are some of the vendors that provide middleware software.
Vendors such as Axway, SAP, TIBCO, Informatica, Objective Interface Systems, Pervasive, ScaleOut Software and webMethods were specifically founded to provide more niche middleware solutions.
Groups such as the Apache Software Foundation, OpenSAF, the ObjectWeb Consortium (now OW2) and OASIS' AMQP encourage the development of open source middleware.