DataDirect Boosts ODBC Drivers -- Visual Studio Magazine

DataDirect Boosts ODBC Drivers

By Jeffrey Schwartz
03/26/2009

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.

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