1. A computer-implemented method comprising: storing data from an application operating on an application server in an application format defined by an application custom data type and an application custom data structure in a database operating on a database server, the database server further comprising a hard disk drive storing other data in a database format that is different from the application format; retrieving the data from the database in response to a request to access the data; receiving the application custom data structure in the database; transforming the other data stored in the hard disk drive from the database format to an intermediate format using the application custom data structure processed by a database service layer to translate generic access logic into a specific dialect of structured query language (SQL); the database service layer sending the transformed other data in the intermediate format to an application server memory utilizing a client of the application server, wherein sending the transformed other data in the intermediate format comprises: storing the transformed other data in the intermediate format from the database in a shared memory, and accessing the transformed other data in the intermediate format from the shared memory for use in the application; and causing the application server to further transform the other data in the intermediate format, into the application format.