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Embarcadero Technologies
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June 23, 2023

Austin, Texas - Embarcadero Introduces New InterBase Driver for Python, Free InterBase IBLite Edition, Subscription License for InterBase IBToGo Edition


Embarcadero is pleased to announce the release of three InterBase-related products to improve the flagship database product's connectivity and accessibility for developers.

The first release is a driver for Python. The second is a free IBLite version for all developers, and the third is a Subscription License for IBToGo.

Python Driver

Embarcadero has released for the first time an official InterBase database driver for the Python programming language. The new InterBase Driver for Python is technically a Python 3 library package that implements the Python Database API 2.0-compliant support (as specified in https://peps.python.org/pep-0249/) for the Embarcadero InterBase Database.

The driver offers support for running applications on Windows and Linux, after installing the InterBase client library, but also works on macOS. It can be used from those operating systems to work with a regular InterBase server instance running on Windows or Linux. However, it can also be used locally with the InterBase Desktop edition and with the embedded editions of the database, IBToGo and IBLite.

The new driver by Embarcadero adds support for all configurations of InterBase and it also adds specific support for many recent features of the database, like change views and encryption.

Getting the InterBase Driver for Python

The driver is available at https://github.com/Embarcadero/InterBasePython under an open source license. It is derived from an existing InterBase Python open source driver, which in turn was based on a Firebird database driver.

Besides in the GitHub project linked above, the driver will be made available on the pip Python package manager.

Free IBLite for All Developers

Embarcadero has also announced the availability of the lightweight embedded version of InterBase, called IBLite, for free distribution with customer applications. IBLite was already available for free, but only to RAD Studio developers. Developers who don't use RAD Studio, Delphi or C++Builder can find the free IBLite download here.

IBLite lacks a few features of the full embedded version, IBToGo, in particular the support for database encryption, but also a more generous database size and ChangeViewsTM. The server edition adds even more, but it is highly compatible, so moving your application from one edition to the other is very smooth.

The new IB Lite edition can be found here: https://www.embarcadero.com/products/interbase/lite/free-download

For a comparison of the different editions you can refer to: https://www.embarcadero.com/products/interbase/product-editions

InterBase IBToGo Subscription Edition

InterBase IBToGo is the embedded version of the InterBase database, with high-grade encryption, larger database size, ChangeViews, and other extended features compared to the IBLite free version. InterBase IBToGo is a multi platform solution available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS. A comparison between IBToGo, IBLite and the server editions is available at https://www.embarcadero.com/products/interbase/product-editions

The InterBase 2020 ToGo Subscription Edition can be downloaded here:

https://store.embarcadero.com/542/purl-buy-interbase-2020-togo-term

The InterBase 2020 ToGo Subscription Edition is essentially the same product with a new licensing plan: a yearly subscription with unlimited distribution, and a very competitive price. This subscription can be renewed in the following years to maintain the right to distribute new copies of desktop applications and mobile apps embedding IBToGo.

In the past, the only option to license IBToGo was a per-seat license or a VAR Agreement, with the exception of the mobile versions available in RAD Studio Enterprise. In all other cases the license was based on the user's count. The new subscription license, instead, is for unlimited users and unlimited installations. The new plan will allow, for example, to have an application on a mobile app store, which uses IBToGo , without worrying about additional costs in case the app is successful. Similarly, you can deploy apps to desktop stores (like those from Apple for macOS and Microsoft for Windows).

The IBToGo Subscription License offers a 1-year distribution term, not a limited license term. In other words, the subscription allows a customer to freely deploy his solution to any number of end users for a year. After the expiration, if the customer does not renew the subscription, the copies of IBToGo already distributed to end users will keep working and remain legal, but the developer cannot distribute any further copies of the software with IBToGo embedded.

Additionally, the license is focused on small and medium businesses, and not available for companies with revenues exceeding US$20 million or equivalent. Larger corporations are encouraged to reach out to the Embarcadero sales team and discuss a VAR distribution agreement on specific terms.

Distributing InterBase as a VAR

Any business interested in building a software solution based on InterBase can also benefit from Embarcadero's VAR distribution agreements, which can be adapted to the needs of each software development company.

Other InterBase Connectivity Options

InterBase, in addition to this Python driver, provides excellent connectivity and integrated drivers for Embarcadero RAD Studio, Delphi and C++Builder using the FireDAC and IBX database connectivity libraries, plus additional third party solutions. Embarcadero also offers an ADO.NET driver for .NET and Visual Studio developers.

InterBase also includes a JDBC driver for Java applications as well as an ODBC driver for the majority of other development environments and programming languages.

What is InterBase

InterBase is an ultrafast, scalable, embeddable SQL database with commercial grade data security, disaster recovery, and change synchronization. With a long history as a powerful and reliable database system, InterBase has a very small footprint and can be deployed on a server, but even embedded in a mobile application. For more information on InterBase please visit https://www.embarcadero.com/products/interbase/.