Got some more information onthis feature from the SharePoint Team Blog

This is one of the most exciting features of the next version of ShrePoint that has not been evangelized much from what I can tell. I think this feature will allow organizations to present information in thier portal from MANY different line of business apllications and allow users to mix and match the information the way they need to.

It also allows Administrators to associate business data with users of the portal for use in custom web parts. Way Way Cool... Can't wait to get my hands on it !