Doug Huff : A Profile on Profiles: "Profiles are a new feature in ASP.NET 2.0 connected with a user or an anonymous user. Unlike session variables, they can be strongly typed, have default values, and are persistant between sessions and within a web farm. Their definition in the web.config file causes consistency throughout the web application, and their ability to be stored in various locations create many solution possibility. However, business data should not be stored as a Profile property within a multiple tier solution. An academic example is the weather forecast based on a ZIP code. The forecast is the business data accessed through a Web service. The Zip code is kept a part of the UI."