doc.Index.index.uda

In today's knowledge economy your ability to exploit data ultimately determines success. Thus, the technology that impacts your ability to store, access, and disseminate data across the enterprise is of ever-increasing value.

Knowledge is the basis of competitive advantage, but there is no knowledge without Information, and there is no Information without Data. Basically, there is no such thing as Information Technology (IT) without Data.

Universal Data Access (UDA) middleware defines a category of software that provides transparent access to data sources (such as databases) from Desktop Productivity Tools, Application Development Environments, and Web & Internet Points of Presence.

UDA middleware ensures that your data assets remain yours to exploit in the manner that bests serves the needs of your organization. You are empowered by having the freedom to mix and match "best of class" IT infrastructure components without "vendor lock-in" at the operating system, programming language, application server, or database level. The cost of vendor lock-in at any of these levels ultimately impedes enterprise agility.

UDA middleware from OpenLink Software describes a collection of industry standards-compliant Data Access Drivers that support the following:

Open Database Connectivity ( http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=ODBC|ODBC )
Java Database Connectivity ( http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=JDBC|JDBC )
Object Linking & Embedding for Databases (OLE DB)
ActiveX Data Objects for http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Microsoft_.NET|.NET ( http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=ADO.NET|ADO.NET - Microsoft or the Open Source http://www.go-mono.com/ado-net.html|Mono flavor)
You simply acquire and/or develop database independent solutions that are ODBC, JDBC, OLE DB, or ADO.NET compliant, and then install the appropriate UDA driver(s) for the database(s) to which you need access.

UDA utilization can be as simple as connecting your Spreadsheet or Word Processor to your back-end database, without need of a single line of code or any exposure to the complexities of networking and low-level database interaction. It may be a little more involved if you are an applications or systems programmer. Irrespective of why you seek to exploit UDA based middleware, it will always ultimately provide better value to your enterprise than any proprietary (aka Native) alternative.

Oracle (7.x-9.x), Microsoft SQL Server (6-2000), DB2 (5.x-7.x), SYBASE ASE (10.x-12.x), Informix (5.x - 2000), PROGRESS (7.x-9.x), CA-Ingres (6.4-II editions), MySQL , PostgreSQL , and others (via our ODBC and JDBC bridge technologies).

ODBC Drivers are available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, and all UNIX flavors.

JDBC Drivers are 100% pure and run on any platform hosting a Java Virtual Machine (runtime environment).

ADO.NET providers are available for use with Microsoft .NET (on Windows) or Mono (on Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, and others).

OLE DB providers are available only for Microsoft Windows.