Middleware is comprised of a variety of disparate segments.   The most well-established of those is middleware messaging that provides asynchronous delivery of transaction data once and only once.  If the network is down during the message transmission it is bad for the message to get lost or delivered twice.
Think of a $1 billion-dollar transfer across the Atlantic Ocean.   The interest alone on a transfer of that size lost overnight is in the millions of dollars, not an efficient, or even possible way to do business.   The market research study provides insight into market driving forces, assessment of market opportunities, market share analysis, and market forecasts.