Heterogeneous Data Access in .NET – The Introduction

Things have been fairly quiet around here since Microsoft’s Tech Ed event, so I’ve invited Mike Frost, our Product Marketing Manager for ODBC and ADO.NET technologies, to add some of his thoughts that we’ve been discussing over the past while. This is the first of a series of guest postings – Mike will be sharing his thoughts on this venue over a series of postings. If you have a chance, check out his blog as well.

So, welcome Mike!

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Thanks, JB. Comments and descriptions of the advantages and benefits of developing software using Microsoft’s .NET environment are easy to find – there are websites and blogs galore that go into these details ad nauseum. Unfortunately, finding a clear, concise comparison of the different approaches to developing or modifying a .NET application to access multiple data sources has been next to impossible…until now. ^_^

This is part one of a series of posts aimed at untangling the web of options and technologies available for heterogeneous data access in .NET. Each posting I will introduce an approach and explain its benefits and drawbacks as well as its options and limitations. By the time this series is concluded, we will have a nice summary of information all in one place that will allow anyone to make an informed assessment of the right approach for any project or organization no matter how great or small.