MDB shares data using a standarized file formats (e.g. RSS, CML) and well known web services protocols (REST, XML-RPC, SOAP) *REST* is the simplest way to share (publish a URL). Little or no modification needed to your CGI scripts. *XML-RPC* is simple and has instrospection, but data with complex structure might not be easy to represent. *SOAP* is more complex, but it gives you more flexibility (XML Schemas, RPC and Document Literal, WSDL, Service redirection, WS-Security, etc.) Plan on synchronous and asynchronous access to improve performance. Implementing more than one protocol is no more difficult than implementing just one. Modularization is the key.