The combination of low-cost computing, fast networks, and, of course, the Internet, has driven software beyond the boundaries of a single computer. Almost all of today's enterprise software applications are built and deployed as distributed components, which can be spread across computers, networks, and entire corporations. A single user request may interact with a global set of computers and networks, each owned by different companies around the globe, before a response is assembled and delivered back to the user.

This may be obvious. However, what is less obvious are the solutions to the challenges that distributed software development create. In this article, I guide you through a solution-set to these challenges, using a relatively new piece of software, called the "Enterprise Service Bus" (ESB).

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