TECHNIQUES FOR GENERICALLY ACCESSING DATA

Techniques for generic data access are provided. A middle-tier server agent uses data providers that can communicate with backend resources. A request received in a first format is used to identify a specific data provider by the middle-tier server agent; the data provider uses the first format to communicate with a specific backend resource in a second format. Results from the specific backend resource are returned from the data provider in the first format and passed to a client that initially made the request.