ProData Widens Database Support with RDB Connect

September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

ProData Computer Services yesterday launched RDB Connect 3.0, a new version of its remote database connectivity software for the System i. With version 3, ProData is opening the product up to support practically any database management system, providing System i shops with more options when it comes to sharing data among applications running on different systems.

Few System i shops these days run nothing but System i servers. Whether it’s Windows, Unix, mainframe, or Linux, most IT departments rely on different types of computers to run their applications. But accompanying that diversity is increased complexity and difficulty in getting the different operating systems and databases to connect to each other and communicate. That’s where ProData’s RDB Connect comes in.

Launched almost a year ago, RDB Connect is a variant of ProData’s DBU RDB (sometimes called DBU Remote), which is a relatively new plug-in its popular Database Utility (DBU) product that allows users to access data stored on non DB2/400 databases, in addition to DB2/400 databases.

RDB Connect delivers the same type of capabilities for using SQL to access non DB2/400 data stores as the DBU RDB plug-in offers, but packages those capabilities in such a way that they can be used by programmers and integrated directly into RPG, COBOL, and CL applications. In this regard, RDB Connect–with its collection of APIs and other functions–allows OS/400 and non-OS/400 applications to share data sight unseen, without requiring a user to initiate and complete the connection in real-time.

When it launched last October, RDB Connect supported the major databases, including Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle 11i, and PostgreSQL, IBM DB2 UDB, and MySQL.

With the launch of RDB Connect version 3, ProData is opening the product up to support any database that includes a ODBC or JDBC driver. This means that RDB Connect can connect to a range of previously unsupported databases, including Microsoft Access, ADABAS, CloudScape (Apache Derby), Informix, Ingres, Sybase, Teradata, in addition to the range of other open source databases often deployed within MySQL, such as Oracle’s InnoDB, Solid Information Technology‘s SolidDB, NitroSecurity‘s NitroEDB, and Infobright‘s BrightHouse.

Allen Hartley, the owner and CEO of ProData, says the new release of RDB Connect will help customers integrate their business applications. “RDB Connect allows our customers to easily share data across platforms within their programs, which can eliminate data transfers or duplicate data entry in some cases,” he says. “With this release we go beyond the current supported databases and allow access to almost all databases out there.”