DataDirect Technologies Announces Availability of DataDirect Connect for ODBC on Sun Microsystems' Solaris 10 Operating System

Fast, Scalable and Reliable ODBC Connectivity Now Supports Sun’s Customers and Partners on SPARC™ and x64/x86 Based Systems

BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DataDirect Technologies, the leader in data connectivity and mainframe integration and an operating company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS), today announced that the DataDirect Connect® for ODBC product is available on the Solaris™ 10 Operating System (OS) for x64 and SPARC™ systems. This expands the portfolio of applications available for the Solaris 10 OS by providing ODBC connectivity with multiple database products/versions on a variety of hardware platforms.

The DataDirect Connect for ODBC product is a comprehensive suite of ODBC drivers for all major databases and platforms. Embedded by more than 300 independent software vendors (ISVs), DataDirect is the market leader and preferred independent vendor for ODBC drivers. With the launch of the Solaris 10 OS, several of Sun’s business partners and ISVs requested robust ODBC data connectivity with strict compliance to open standards and support for the Solaris 10 OS on SPARC and x64/x86 systems.

“The Solaris 10 OS is a flexible, open operating system that was designed to support the applications and platforms that are critical to our customers’ businesses,” said Juan Carlos Soto, vice president of market development at Sun Microsystems. “DataDirect’s availability on the Solaris 10 OS helps satisfy our customers’ needs by providing connectivity to the greatest number of databases and platforms.”

The Solaris 10 OS is supported by 5,000 commercial applications on more than 800 platforms from Sun and other vendors, including Sun's competitively priced SPARC and x64/x86 servers, blades and workstations. Users of the Solaris 10 OS have access to the unique features of this operating system, including Dynamic Tracing (DTrace), Predictive Self-Healing, Solaris Containers and Solaris Zettabyte File System (ZFS). With DataDirect Connect for ODBC drivers generally available for the Solaris 10 OS on x64/x86, SPARC platforms and future releases of Solaris, customers have greater choice and software developers can bring high performance, business-critical applications to market faster, while fully optimizing existing hardware assets.

“We recognize the huge investment that Sun has made in the Solaris 10 OS and its adoption by software vendors and enterprise customers,” said John Goodson, vice president of product operations for DataDirect Technologies. “The DataDirect Connect for ODBC product is production-proven in many of the world's most demanding business applications and provides users with the confidence of getting the performance results and system uptime they need.”

About DataDirect Technologies

DataDirect Technologies is the software industry’s only comprehensive provider of software for connecting the world’s most critical business applications to data and services, running on any platform, using proven and emerging standards. Developers worldwide depend on DataDirect® products to connect their applications to an unparalleled range of data sources using standards-based interfaces such as ODBC, JDBCTM and ADO.NET, XQuery and SOAP. More than 300 leading independent software vendors and thousands of enterprises rely on DataDirect Technologies to simplify and streamline data connectivity for distributed systems and to reduce the complexity of mainframe integration. DataDirect Technologies is an operating company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS). For more information, visit www.datadirect.com.

DataDirect and DataDirect Connect are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the United States and other countries. Sun, Sun Microsystems and Solaris are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC, International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.