News

DataDirect Boosts ODBC Drivers

Looking to give a boost to applications that rely on Microsoft's Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standard, DataDirect Technologies this week released version 6.0 of its DataDirect Connect for OBDC.

DataDirect, a subsidiary of Progress Software Corp., is among a handful of companies that provide ODBC drivers. ODBC is a driver specification designed to let applications make SQL queries to any database across most major operating systems. Most leading database vendors offer their own ODBC drivers, and there are numerous less expensive open source alternatives, as well. But Bedford, Mass.-based DataDirect says its drivers are aimed at ISVs and large enterprises.

DataDirect Connect for ODBC version 6.0 is the first upgrade in well over a year, according to Rob Steward, the company's vice president of research and development. The release substantially increases the speed at which data is loaded into an application into a database, allows for the exporting of data from one database into another, and performs bulk transfers without having to use Microsoft's bcp utility, Steward said. Existing batch processes will also run faster without requiring changes to application code, he added. It also adds application failover.

"The big deal is the performance that you gain. Those bulk utilities are much faster at inserting large numbers of records, and now we provide the ability to do that through ODBC," Steward said. The features will allow developers to better tune their applications, he added.

In addition to Microsoft's SQL Server, DataDirect's ODBC drivers provide connectivity to databases from Oracle, IBM (DB2 and Informix) and Sybase, among others. With the new release, the company has added connectivity to PostgreSQL and Greenplum.

The drivers start at $4,000 per single core. Additional cores on the same CPU cost approximately $3,000.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

comments powered by Disqus

Featured

  • Mastering Blazor Authentication and Authorization

    At the Visual Studio Live! @ Microsoft HQ developer conference set for August, Rockford Lhotka will explain the ins and outs of authentication across Blazor Server, WebAssembly, and .NET MAUI Hybrid apps, and show how to use identity and claims to customize application behavior through fine-grained authorization.

  • Linear Support Vector Regression from Scratch Using C# with Evolutionary Training

    Dr. James McCaffrey from Microsoft Research presents a complete end-to-end demonstration of the linear support vector regression (linear SVR) technique, where the goal is to predict a single numeric value. A linear SVR model uses an unusual error/loss function and cannot be trained using standard simple techniques, and so evolutionary optimization training is used.

  • Low-Code Report Says AI Will Enhance, Not Replace DIY Dev Tools

    Along with replacing software developers and possibly killing humanity, advanced AI is seen by many as a death knell for the do-it-yourself, low-code/no-code tooling industry, but a new report belies that notion.

  • Vibe Coding with Latest Visual Studio Preview

    Microsoft's latest Visual Studio preview facilitates "vibe coding," where developers mainly use GitHub Copilot AI to do all the programming in accordance with spoken or typed instructions.

  • Steve Sanderson Previews AI App Dev: Small Models, Agents and a Blazor Voice Assistant

    Blazor creator Steve Sanderson presented a keynote at the recent NDC London 2025 conference where he previewed the future of .NET application development with smaller AI models and autonomous agents, along with showcasing a new Blazor voice assistant project demonstrating cutting-edge functionality.

Subscribe on YouTube