Enterprise JavaBeans extends the JavaBeans component model to handle the needs of transactional business applications.

JavaBeans is a component model for visual construction of reusable components for the Java platform. Enterprise JavaBeans extends JavaBeans to middle-tier/server side business applications. The extensions that Enterprise JavaBeans adds to JavaBeans include support for transactions, state management, and deployment time attributes.

Although applications deploying the Enterprise JavaBeans architecture are independent from the underlying communication protocol, the Enterprise JavaBeans architecture specifies how communication among components maps into the underlying communication protocols, such as CORBA/IIOP.