Patent ID: 8812678

Claim:
A system for providing a software application executing on an application server direct access to a distributed resource provided by a data grid, comprising a computer which includes an application server with a software application executing thereon; a data grid which includes a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of nodes is adapted to provide a distributed resource for use by the software application; a resource configuration in the software application, wherein the resource configuration is specified by a resource annotation added in the software application, or defined by a deployment descriptor of said software application, wherein the resource configuration specifies a local resource provided by the application server for use by the software application, a mapping between the local resource for the software application and the distributed resource; wherein when the software application is deployed, the application server interprets the resource configuration to identify the mapping between the local resource and the distributed resource, and provides the mapping to the software application, wherein the software application uses the mapping to access the distributed resource, in addition to directly accessing the local resource, during operation of the software application.