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- SEATTLE -- March 9,1992 -- Microsoft Corporation and Information Builders,
- Inc. (IBI) announced a key business relationship today at the Microsoft
- ODBC Developers Conference whereby the two companies will jointly develop
- a Microsoft ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) driver for IBI's EDA/SQL
- (enterprise data access/structured query language) client-server software.
- The driver will provide applications that support ODBC -- running under
- Microsoft Windows operating system and other platforms -- with the ability
- to access the full range of heterogeneous data sources addressed by
- EDA/SQL application programming interface (API). ODBC-enabled applications
- will have access to more than 50 relational and non-relational data
- sources available through IBI, including data managed by IBM's Information
- Warehouse.
-
- ODBC is Microsoft's open, vendor-neutral database connectivity API that
- allows applications to communicate easily with both relational and
- non-relational database management systems (DBMSs). It is based on the
- Call-level Interface specification developed by the SQL Access Group, the
- consortium of leading hardware and software database vendors dedicated to
- universal data access. The SQL Access Group endorsed Microsoft's
- implementation of the specification when ODBC was announced in November
- 1991. SQL Access Group members include Information Builders, Informix,
- Borland, Ingres, Microsoft, Oracle and others.
-
- "Our working relationship with IBI, a leader in enterprise data access,
- will extend the reach of ODBC-enabeled applications to all data sources
- currently accessed by IBI," said Mike Maples, executive vice president of
- the worldwide products group at Microsoft. "This will benefit customers by
- providing them with a solution that spans across the widest range of
- platforms, bringing the industry closer to the vision of universal
- database interoperability."
-
- "The power of Windows, combined with ODBC and the breadth of data sources
- and platform environments accessed by EDA/SQL is a combination that will
- be irresistible for many customers," said Gerald D. Cohen, president and
- founder of IBI. "Through our development relationship, Microsoft and IBI
- are giving Windows users enterprise-wide data access using a single
- standard call-level interface. We're pleased to be working together to
- bring universal data access to the desktop."
-
- The ODBC driver for EDA/SQL makes it easy for developers to write
- applications for Windows and other platforms using ODBC to access all data
- sources available to EDA/SQL, without having to learn and use an
- additional API. The driver extends the reach of applications, enabling
- users to transparently access enterprise data residing in more than 50
- different databases and file structures in more than 35 different
- operating environments, including those from Digital Equipment,
- Hewett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems, Inc. The ODBC driver for EDA/SQL
- also extends the reach of ODBC-based applications to IBM's Information
- Warehouse, including VSAM and IMS environments and all IBM relational
- databases.
-
- IBI's EDA/SQL is a family of four client-server products that work together
- to provide SQL-based access to relational and non-relational data on
- interconnected multivendor systems. IBI is an IBM International Alliance
- member, and EDA/SQL supports IBM's Information Warehouse architecture,
- giving corporate information applications access to interconnected IBM and
- non-IBM systems throughout the enterprise.
-
- Microsoft ODBC provides a universal method for accessing both SQL and
- non-SQL data. Implementing ODBC speeds the development of applications
- that support multiple DBMSs, reduces application complexity and minimizes
- support requirements for both independent software vendors (ISVs) and DBMS
- vendors. ODBC is currently available as a pre-release Software Developers'
- Kit (SDK). The final SDK is scheduled to be available in the first half of
- 1992. Microsoft will also implement ODBC in a future version of the
- Microsoft Windows operating system.
-
- The ODBC driver for EDA/SQL will be available from Microsoft and IBI in
- 1992. Microsoft and IBI will also cooperate in joint sales and marketing
- efforts in support of ODBC and EDA/SQL.
-
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