Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp says it is now shipping Microsoft SQL Bridge, a protocol gateway for building distributed client-server systems in Windows, MS-DOS, OS/2, Unix, Macintosh and VMS environments. SQL Bridge is designed to provide seamless integration of Microsoft and Sybase Inc SQL Server applications, databases and gateways, independent of operating systems and network protocols. It routes client-server requests across networks having different protocols, such as named pipes, TCP/IP and DECnet. It eliminates the need for client workstations to add libraries or protocols in order to access SQL Server data on Unix systems, the company quotes a user as saying: A single workstation configuration can obtain data from both Unix and OS/2-based servers. It enables Excel, Visual Basic and more than 150 other Windows- and MS-DOS-based tools written for SQL Server to connect to Sybase on Unix and VMS machines using native PC-LAN protocols. Unix- and VMS-based clients on Sun Microsystems Inc, IBM Corp RS/6000, Digital Equipment Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co and other workstations can access SQL Server using the Sybase Open Client interface. It also enables Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase SQL Server to exchange information using remote stored procedure calls and will support all new Windows-based Open DataBase Connectivity ODBC – applications as well as current SQL Server applications. A release later this year will add support for IPX/SPX and TCP/IP on NetWare and Vines networks and a version of the product for Windows NT is planned. It is available for $2,500.
