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High-Performance 32 Bit ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET and OLE-DB Drivers that provide transparent access to remote databases from any compliant application. These include Desktop Productivity Tools such as Spreadsheets, Word Processors, J2EE applications, Client & Application Server Application Development Environments, Web based Database Publishing Tools and Computer Telephony Integration packages are just a few of the many products that can take advantage of our standards compliance. 

For several years, a working party called the SQL-Access Group (SAG), consisting of interested hardware and software vendors , worked towards defining a common database access method to simplify Client-Server computing. Microsoft has taken a core set of SAG''s output and developed a call-level interface called the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) Application Programming Interface. 

ODBC defines a low-level set of calls which allow client applications and servers applications to exchange instructions and share data without needing to know anything about each other. It applies to any Client-Server operation, whether or not the client and server applications are resident on the same machine, or on different PC''s, or even if the server is on a remote machine running a different operating system. 

The Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface allows applications to access data from database management systems (DBMS). 

The interface permits maximum interoperability - a single application can access diverse back-end database management systems. An application developer can develop, compile, and ship an application without targeting a specific DBMS product. Users can then add modules called database drivers that link the application to their choice of database management systems. 

The ODBC interface defines the following: 

*A library of ODBC function calls that allow an application to connect to a DBMS, execute SQL statements, and retrieve results.  
*A standard way to connect and log on to a DBMS.  
*A standardized representation for data types.  
The Interface is flexible enabling: 

*An application to construct SQL statements at compile time or at run time  
*An application to use the same object code to access different DBMS products  
*An application to connect to multiple instances of DBMS products  
*An application to send and receive data in a format convenient to the application; the driver converts data values to the format of a specific DBMS product.  

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