Borland International Inc has rallied IBM Corp, Novell Inc and Wordperfect Corp behind its battle with Microsoft Corp over database access techniques and products. The quartet yesterday announced the Integrated Database Applications Programming Interface, conceived as a new standard for creating applications that will work with a variety of databases. Other vendors, including Oracle Corp, are expected to pledge support in principle for the effort, dubbed IDAPI. The idea is that IDAPI compliance should enable users to do things such as run an application developed for dBase with an SQL Server back end. The new interface is a challenge to Microsoft Corp’s Open Database Connectivity, designed to achieve the same end. Integrated Database Application Programming Interface will support both set-oriented access methods typically used by SQL databases on larger systems and networks, and navigational, record-oriented capabilities found in low-end databases, such as Btrieve, dBase Paradox and DataPerfect. It will support current and evolving standards such as SQL/Call Level Interface. Borland, IBM and Novell will deliver the new for OS/2, NetWare, Windows and MS-DOS in the form of software developer kits and WordPerfect will incorporate it in new versions of its MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows applications. The four will also propose a navigational extension to the existing CLI specification, Nav/CLI, for Navigational Call Level Interface. Once a draft specification has been completed, the companies will work with the SQL Access Group, X/Open, ANSI and other appropriate industry groups to promote NAV/CLI as a standard. IDAPI is derived from Borland’s Open Database interface technology, which is included in the firm’s Quattro Pro for Windows.
