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 with more in the future or use different communication protocols, an ESB like Mule can provide scalability, reuse, and separation of concerns.