Selection and extraction of data from mainframe data sources and integration of this data into a Microsoft Office application (i.e. Excel, Word or Access) is extremely simple and straightforward. No programming skills are required. All Office components are ODBC-enabled and can send SQL queries to the Ivory Data Access SQL engine. The SQL engine exposes all mainframe data sources as "relational" resources. An administrator can predefine queries and views and make them available to the individual user or whole community. The user simply references that table or view from the ODBC or JDBC application to execute the query. The result set can be displayed as an Excel spreadsheet or Access table, for example.
Ivory Data Access can be used to synchronize production data residing on different systems. Only the data which has been changed on one system will be transferred, keeping the systems synchronized with minimal overhead and bandwidth. Transaction processing is also supported. For example, some customers use Ivory Data Access for "real-time" synchronization of SAP data files with mainframe data sources, and vice versa.
Using the Ivory Data Access ODBC and JDBC/J2EE components or the Ivory Data Access API simplifies web application access to mainframe data sources. Ivory Data Access presents a mainframe file as if it were a relational table, so that no mainframe knowledge is required for the web application developer to access the data.
Web applications and workstation programs can directly access existing mainframe programs, allowing for the integration of mainframe business logic that has been developed to support production business processes. This is especially useful when you need to incorporate legacy application data that is encrypted or requires special access algorithms. It is also used when complex data validation is required. Through integration of the existing data validation modules, accurate and secure updates and inserts can be performed from web applications.
Ivory Data Access provides full SQL support for VSAM, DL/1 or IMS/DB, ADABAS, CA-Datacom, CA-IDMS, EDN, KDBS, SPITAB and other sources. Ivory Data Access can be used to migrate these data sources to DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and other ODBC/JDBC data sources, using standard SQL commands.
The Ivory Data Access JDBC/J2EE component provides a platform-independent implementation for JAVA-based applications to access mainframe data sources via TCP/IP. In addition, the Ivory Data Access UNIX/Linux component enables open systems applications to upload and download data to and from the mainframe, without requiring a Java Virtual Machine. The Ivory Data Access JDBC/J2EE component also provides direct access to mainframe data sources from Web applications for companies that use WebSphere to gain mainframe data integration.
