The distributed application development process is the result of a commitment to continuous learning, refinement of experience and improvement of process as new ideas have been developed and new technologies have been employed. It is a collection of experiences and best practices that have been taken from real-world development engagements, providing development teams with access to shared experiences and a proven, repeatable process. The distributed application development process encompasses modern design principles and proven practices to facilitate the development task and provide developers with a blueprint for building robust and correct distributed applications.

Multiple forces are altering the landscape of application development. The PC revolution continues to make ever more powerful computers available at ever-lower costs, while the internet is enabling global information sharing.

Distributed architecture is based on a network model in which processes can be distributed on any processor and any two individual nodes of the network are in a client/server relationship with any number of intervening middle layers. The heart of distributed architecture is based on the client/server pattern. The additional complexity comes from the design of the components for the middle layer, referred to as "middleware."

Distributed software technology has much in common with and is often served by object technology and software components. There are many points of synergy between these technologies, including a focus on real world modeling, as well as a focus on simplicity, reusability, extensibility, and productivity.