Ehcache is an open-source, standards-based caching API that enables applications to fetch frequently used data from memory (or another nearby resource) rather than having to retrieve it from a database or other back-end system. Terracotta extends the Ehcache API so applications can create very large in-memory caches and share cached data with other applications on the network.

The products you use for in-memory data management are BigMemory and Terracotta Server Array. Information on how Software AG products use in-memory data management is provided in the other chapters in this guide.