Remote Method Invocation
Java RMI is a mechanism that allows a Java program running on one computer (e.g., the client) to apply a method to an object on a different computer (e.g., the server).
In itself, the syntax of the remote invocation looks exactly like an ordinary Java method invocation. The remote method call can be passed arguments computed in the context of the local machine. It can return arbitrary values computed in the context of the remote machine. The RMI system transparently forwards these arguments and results.
RMI is an implementation of the of the Distributed Object programming model—similar to CORBA, but simpler, and specialized to the Java language