Middleware Promises to Ease Data Transfer

by Cynthia Morgan, ComputerWorld Online

February 22, 1999

http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/9902229176

Tony Johnson

OpenLink’s Virtuoso takes server-based approach to linking interfaces, databases

Providing direct access to databases diverse in nature and number via the Internet is a problem facing many IT shops/professionals. OpenLink’s Virtuoso is a "virtual database engine" that provides Internet connectivity to interfaces like Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), DB-LIB and OLE-DB with Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and other prominent databases.

Virtuoso resides at the server level and eliminates the need to install and maintain a variety of DB drivers on each client. It should decrease the level of technical support required as well as improve performance. It provides a full functionality menu.

Other companies have attempted to provide connectivity across multiple databases, but Virtuoso extends the Universal Data Access (UDA) model by interconnecting multiple databases and interfaces. It transforms client queries into the appropriate database format. The entire process remains transparent to the user.

The package should ship this spring and will cost $99 for a single-client license. It will support Windows NT, Mac OS, OpenVMS, OS400, and a wide variety of Unix OS’s including Linux.