StarSQL v5 is a software driver that provides fast, direct access to IBM-’s DB2 relational databases from any ODBC-based Windows or UNIX application. The StarSQL driver is compliant with the IBM CLI Version 2, the ODBC v3 standard, and DRDA Level 3. With the StarSQL driver, users can access DB2 data seamlessly from spreadsheets, reporting applications, web-based applications such as php and perl, and many other applications and development tools. StarSQL includes conversion support for all major language groups, including legacy hosts that use Extended EBCDIC for East Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean). StarSQL also supports modern applications and hosts that take advantage of UNICODE encoding.