What are the Microsoft Data Access Components? 

Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) provide easy-to-use, high-performance 
access to all types of data throughout the enterprise.  Developers creating 
client/server and Internet/intranet-based data driven solutions use these 
components to easily integrate information from a variety of sources, both 
relational and non-relational.  Microsoft Data Access Components consists 
of new versions of ActiveX® Data Objects (ADO), OLE DB, and Open Database 
Connectivity (ODBC) which are released, documented, and supported together. 

Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 1.5 is the latest release of 
Microsoft’s data access technologies.  The main design goals for 
MDAC 1.5 are as follows:

1. Integration with Internet Explorer 4.0. MDAC 1.5 provides the 
data-binding technologies used to create data-bound Web pages in IE4.

2. ADO enhancements for Visual Basic and Internet Information Server 
4.0 Active Server Page developers.  These include a more powerful client 
cursor engine capable of working with data offline to reduce network 
and server traffic, asynchronous data fetching for faster client 
response, and expanded options for updating data on a remote client.

3. Integrated remoting capabilities (merger of Advanced Data Connector with ADO 1.5).

MDAC 1.5 is available for free via the Internet, and is supported for use 
with any Microsoft tools, applications, and Internet products running on 
Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. 

Microsoft Data Access Components 1.5 includes: 

ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) 1.5
ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) enables you to write an application to access 
and manipulate data in a database server through an OLE DB provider.  ADO's 
primary benefits are ease of use, high speed, low memory overhead, and a 
small disk footprint.  ADO supports key features for building client/server 
and web-based applications.


Remote Data Service 1.5 (RDS/ADC)
Remote Data Service is a high-performance Web-based technology that brings 
plug-and-play database connectivity and corporate data publishing 
capabilities to Internet and intranet applications.  You can use Remote 
Data Service to build intelligent Web applications that let you access 
and update data from an ODBC-compliant database management system (DBMS).
And because you can implement Remote Data Service with familiar technology, 
off-the-shelf visual controls, HTML, and Microsoft Visual Basic® Scripting 
Edition (VBScript), Remote Data Service integrates seamlessly with existing 
Visual Basic applications, letting you transport them to the Web. 


ODBC Drivers and Components
Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver
The Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver now provides Unicode support.

Microsoft Oracle ODBC Driver 2.0
Allows you to connect your ODBC-compliant application to an Oracle database.  
This version adds additional performance and control features, including 
access to PL/SQL packages, XA/DTC integration, and Oracle access from within 
Internet Information Server (IIS).  The ODBC driver conforms to the Open 
Database Connectivity (ODBC) specification described in the ODBC 
Programmer's Reference (Version 2.0) for your platform. 

OLE DB Provider for ODBC 1.5
Provides a bridge between OLE DB and ODBC and provides high performance 
access to ODBC drivers via OLE DB.

ODBC 3.5
Provides Unicode support for ODBC interfaces and connection pooling.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of use. 

COPYRIGHT NOTICE. Copyright © 1998 Microsoft and/or its suppliers, One Microsoft Way, 
Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 U.S.A. All rights reserved. 

TRADEMARKS. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, MSN, The Microsoft Network and/or 
other Microsoft products referenced herein are either trademarks or registered 
trademarks of Microsoft.  Other product and company names mentioned herein may 
be the trademarks of their respective owners. 

The names of companies, products, people, characters and/or data mentioned herein 
are fictitious and are in no way intended to represent any real individual, company, 
product or event, unless otherwise noted. 

Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.