1. A method for providing data caching for transactions involving entity beans in an application server, said method comprising the steps of: reading a data item instance that is contained in a database and is required by a transaction; holding the data item instance by an entity bean in a cache; and associating a time-out value with said entity bean in the cache wherein said time-out value determines how long the entity bean should hold the instance of said data item before updating to a new version of said data item.