ProData Expands Database Support in DBU

November 4, 2008 Alex Woodie

ProData Computer Services expanded the number of databases its SQL-based power tools can work with yesterday when it announced support for JDBC drivers with its DBU Remote Database (RDB) offering. ProData already supported most major databases–including DB2/400 of course–with its DBU RDB tool, but with the new release, customers gain access to additional databases such as IBM‘s Informix and Sybase ASE Server through those vendors’ standard JDBC drivers.

DBU RDB was launched by ProData about 18 months ago to expand the number and types of databases that users of its flagship Database Utility (DBU) power tool can work with. DBU was originally designed over a decade ago to provide AS/400 programmers with a quick and easy way to work with DB2/400, the database underlying the majority of their applications.

With the RDB plug-in installed, DBU users had the capability to access and manipulate data residing in DB2 UDB (which IBM apparently has taken to calling DBU for Linux, Unix, and Windows, or LUW), Oracle 11i, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and PosgreSQL using the same interfaces (GUI or green screen) and techniques they had grown accustomed to using to access DB2/400 with DBU.

Considering that ProData has thousands of DBU customers around the world, and a good percentage of them use computer platforms in addition to the System i, it made sense for ProData to expand its database support and eliminate the need for its customers to learn other techniques.

With yesterday’s announcement, customers can now use DBU RDB to connect to any JDBC-compliant database, thereby expanding the list of databases that were supported with that first release of DBU RDB back in May 2007.

The enhancement to RDB will make it easier for customers to do their jobs, says Allen Hartley, owner and CEO of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company. “DBU RDB allows our customers simple setup and the use of one database tool across multiple platforms to access their data,” he says. “With DBU RDB, they no longer have to learn other tools to access remote information.”

The addition of JDBC support in the RDB plug-in follows a similar announcement that ProData made in September for a variant of the DBU RDB tool, called RDB Connect.

RDB Connect automates the SQL activity of the RDB plug-in through a series of programmatic interfaces that allow customers to incorporate RDB routines directly into RPG, COBOL, and CL programs, thereby automating SQL connections among connected servers and eliminating the need for manual data transfers or data entry.

RDB Connect supports both JDBC and ODBC connections, giving it access to a wider variety of databases. ProData is working on supporting ODBC connections with DBU RDB, and will roll it out at a future time, according to a company spokeswoman.

For more information and downloads, see ProData’s Web site at www.prodatacomputer.com.

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