Described herein are systems and methods for providing a software application executing on an application server direct access to at least one of a distributed data or distributed service provided by a data grid. The system includes an application server having software applications executing thereon, and a data grid including a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of nodes is adapted to provide at least one of a distributed data or distributed service. A resource configuration specified by one of a resource annotation added in the software applications or a resource reference defined in a deployment descriptor of said software applications is provided. Upon deployment of the software applications, the resource configuration is used by the system to provide the software applications direct access the distributed data and the distributed services provided by the data grid.