Accessing a Desktop Database
Most desktop databases currently require a JDBC solution using the JDBC/ODBC bridge.
The bridge does not operate across the network, so if you want network access to the desktop database, you must use a 3-tier solution.
One way to do this is to use an RMI/JDBC server. This RMI server provides the JDBC methods themselves in the RMI interface to be called from applets or applications on remote clients. An example of this is from the Mediation Project, http://dyade.inrialpes.fr/mediation/download.