HP announced at HP World that it's licensing the M.B. Foster ODBCLink product for an upcoming release of MPE/iX, reaching for already developed technology to resolve a problem with 32-bit ODBC access for TurboIMAGE databases.
HP licensed an OEM version of ODBCLink, not the full product that's shipped as part of M.B. Foster DataExpress product. This version of ODBCLink supports one DBE connection and only attaches to Allbase and IMAGE/SQL databases. Support for connections to TurboIMAGE databases without using the Allbase middleware still requires the full ODBCLink product.
Customers who need support for multiple databases, KSAM files or Cognos dictionaries can follow a smooth upgrade path to the full ODBCLink product, according to Birket Foster.
"This special version makes the basic ODBC functionality accessible to the entire IMAGE SQL and Allbase/SQL customer base," Foster said. "For those within that overall group who do want serial access, or access to KSAM or MPE files or the other added features of the full ODBCLink product, this arrangement now allows them the smoothest possible upgrade path."
HP canceled its own ODBC upgrade project after signing the deal with M.B. Foster. The OEM version of ODBCLink will be shipped in place of the 16-bit PC API driver that HP has been including with IMAGE/SQL, since ODBCLink provides all the functionality of the 16-bit software as well as 32-bit capability. HP said the ODBC driver will be delivered as part of the HP Express release system in an update expected this fall. It will be shipped automatically to all Allbase/SQL and IMAGE/SQL customers who are on support contracts.
Commercial Systems Division General Manager Harry Sterling made the announcement about ODBCLink, noting that the software will provide HP 3000 connectivity to some of the most widely shipped desktop environments. Microsoft estimates that 40 million copies of Windows 95 were shipped in the first year of its release, with about 75 percent of them pre-loaded on new PCs.
"With this driver, you'll be able to access valuable enterprise data directly from NT and Windows 95 clients," Sterling said. "Our marketing department has been telling me that just about 40 percent of our 3000 customers are now running heterogeneous environments with Unix, MPE and NT Servers all working together."
The licensing arrangement was the latest in a long line of deals that CSY has cut to ensure the 3000 is better connected and has more flexibility. HP makes some solutions, such the OEM ODBCLink, free to supported customers, while pointing others toward best-of-breed third party solutions. For example, Quest Software's NFS/iX is now part of the HP price list, while HP directs customers at the 3k Associates' DeskLink gateway to give DeskManager users Internet and SMTP capability.
Sterling said choosing the M.B. Foster solution "is consistent with our philosophy of encouraging third party software development for HP hardware. HP is helping protect customer investment and providing customer satisfaction by facilitating easy accessibility to the basic functions of a product already produced by M.B. Foster Associates."
Even though the new software will extend HP's current 3000 connectivity solution for only the cost of IMAGE/SQL support, at least one developer was pushing for more features after the announcement. Denys Beauchamin of HI-Comp Systems noted that the best kind of ODBC access for IMAGE users would bypass Allbase completely, instead of using part of Allbase to enable the connection.
"We need to ensure that the M.B. Foster ODBCLink which is replacing the existing ODBC driver will be able to access IMAGE directly, without going through Allbase," Beauchamin said. Such access has never been offered by HP, but it is available by purchasing the full ODBCLink version in DataExpress.
Beauchamin said that "The addition of Allbase is, in my opinion, the single biggest impediment to the deployment of client-server on HP 3000. It is confusing, difficult to maintain, and as M.B. Foster has shown, not critical. If people need to make use of SQL concepts such as rules and others, they can be utilized by going through Allbase/SQL. But to get moving, we need Allbase out of the loop."