(July 26, 2002) - Microsoft Corp. this week unveiled the Microsoft® .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle, a new technology that enables enterprise developers to more easily integrate applications built on the Microsoft .NET Framework with Oracle databases. The technology enables users of ADO.NET, a core technology of the Microsoft .NET Framework, to achieve high-performance access to Oracle data, empowering customers to get more benefit from their existing databases. Furthermore, the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle provides a programming model similar to SQL Server Managed Provider, meaning that developers can access data from multiple sources without having to learn new skills. The technology is currently available for download at www.msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/sample.asp?url=/ msdn-files/027/001/940/msdncompositedoc.xml&frame=true .

The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle can be used in place of a nonmanaged OLE DB provider and delivers a native interface to Oracle. This results in dramatically improved scalability; in some cases the performance is improved 200 percent over that achieved when an OLE DB driver is used. Equally important, because the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle provides a similar programming model as the SQL Server Managed Provider, developers will be able to use their current Oracle skills to build and deploy applications on other databases. In addition, the technology gives full access to data that resides in Oracle databases by offering a full set of Oracle 9i data types and full support for reference cursors and result sets returned by Oracle-stored procedures.