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 further 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; storing the data from the database in a shared memory; accessing the data from the shared memory for use in the application; receiving the application custom data structure in the database; transforming the other data stored in the database from the database format to the application format using the application custom data structure processed by an in-memory database engine; and sending the transformed other data from the database to the shared memory in the application format, wherein the application stores said data in an application memory as a first table in the application format, and wherein the database stores said data in a database memory as a second table in a database format, the method further comprising transforming the second table from the database format to the application format so that the data stored in the shared memory is a third table in the application format.