The Microsoft® OLE DB Provider for AS/400 and VSAM allows users to directly access record-level data in mainframe VSAM, Partitioned Data Sets (PDS), and midrange OS/400 files from within an OLE-aware application. The object linking and embedding database (OLE DB) is a standard set of interfaces that provide heterogeneous access to disparate sources of information located anywhere — file systems, e-mail folders, and databases. The OLE DB Provider for AS/400 and VSAM combines the universal data access of OLE DB with the record-level input/output (RLIO) protocol of IBM's Distributed Data Management (DDM) architecture.
Organizations have invested in secure, robust, enterprise-wide data storage and management systems. DDM is a set of rules for distributing or extending the data management from one computer to another, such as from a mainframe to an AS/400 computer, or from one of these host computers to a PC server computer. By combining the OLE DB and DDM architectures, Microsoft allows organizations to preserve their investments in existing data management infrastructure, while extending universal data access to all enterprise-wide data sources.