Message Queuing Middleware

What is Message Queuing Middleware?

Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) is one of three categories of connectivity middleware that provide program-to-program communications by message passing. MOM, because it generally supports multiple protocols comprises an infrastructure that will support reliable and scalable high-performance distributed application networks. Most Message Oriented Middleware is implemented with queued message store-and-forward capability, that is Message Queuing Middleware (MQM).

The other categories of connectivity middleware are Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) and conversational programming such as Common Programming Interface for Communications (CPI-C).

In general, MOM provides a high performance foundation for application interoperability in diverse and complex environments. For a table summarizing communications models used by middleware products, click here.

Quick comparison of MQM, RPC, and CPI-C
Attribute	MQM	RPC	CPI-C
Communications Style	Queued	Call/Return	Conversational
Application Interface	Non-blocking	Blocking	Non-blocking
Partner	Need not be available	Must be available	Must be available
Message Flow	All	Send/Receive	Send/Receive Send/Receive/...

Last updated 29 Feb 2008