HiT Updates ODBC and OLE Drivers for IBM i

October 19, 2010 Alex Woodie

HiT Software yesterday announced new releases of its OLE and ODBC drivers for accessing the IBM i database from Windows client and server machines. ODBC/400 version 9.0 and OLEDB/400 version 5.0 offer support for the latest Microsoft Windows server and development tools, as well as support for IBM i 7.1.

ODBC/400 and OLEDB/400 are Windows-based middleware products designed for accessing, retrieving, and updating the DB2/400 database from Windows clients and servers. The software, which complies with IBM protocols, is used by third-party vendors and in-house developers who, for whatever reason, are reluctant to use the database drivers that IBM ships with the database.

The new versions of ODBC/400 and OLEDB/400 offer support for the latest products from Microsoft, including 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010, Office 2010, and Windows Server 2008. Support for IBM i 7.1 is also included.

Developers who are developing in C# will be glad to hear about new capabilities that HiT now provides with ODBC/400. A new C# Toolkit in the developer edition of ODBC/400 provides powerful SQL management, the company says.

Enhancements common to both products include a new feature that stores traces in common documents and person folders; a new default folder for Microsoft data link files for Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008; the capability to show lists of views inside the Server Explorer component of Visual Studio; a new timestamp format; and improved security options.

Circle K Stores is one IBM i shop that will be upgrading to ODBC/400 version 9. The Tempe, Arizona-based convenience store chain has been using ODBC/400 “for many years,” the company’s IT director says in a HiT press release (the IT director’s name was not included). “We look forward to using this new version so that our developers can take advantage of new features available in the IBM i V7R1 as well as new Microsoft Windows and server features.”

HiT, which was acquired by BackOffice Associates earlier this year, also develops Ritmo, ADO.NET, and JDBC drivers for DB2/400. Other IBM i products include the DBMoto database synchronization tool and the Allora XML mapping and transformation tool.