Mule ESB is a lightweight Java-based integration platform that allows applications to connect and exchange data. It acts as an integration bus carrying data between applications within or across organizations. Mule enables easy integration of existing systems regardless of technology and provides capabilities like service creation, mediation, routing, and transformation. When integrating 3 or more applications that may need to connect more applications or use different protocols, or requiring capabilities like routing or publishing services, an ESB like Mule can help. Mule provides advantages over competitors like scalability, reusability, and ability to integrate existing components without changes.