Mule is an open-source enterprise service bus (ESB) that allows for flexible movement of data between different endpoints and systems. It uses a staged event-driven architecture and non-blocking Java I/O to provide scalability. Core Mule concepts include universal message objects, endpoints, transports, connectors, routers, filters and transformers that allow data to be routed and transformed declaratively between systems and applications. Mule provides capabilities for XML validation, transformation and routing through its built-in components.