Answer:
a. connect ----------- a network.
Explanation:
Middleware sits in between the front end and the back end. The back end can be like a database residing on the server, which can be on the cloud or at any computer systems across the network, however, it is always on the server, and the front end or the client request is on the user's computer. Hence, it connects the processes running on different computer systems across the network. Hence, Option A is correct.
So it does not connect a computer system to a network, and nor does it provide the best business practices to ERP Systems, and it does not integrate the computer's operating system and its applications as well. The last one is application software like a word processor.