Simba Data Connectivity Platform
The Gold Standard in ODBC & JDBC Drivers for Data Access
Simba is our high-performance data connectivity software that simplifies how ISVs and enterprises access their diverse data. Its portfolio of 60+ ODBC and JDBC drivers makes it secure and easy to manage multiple data systems for faster ETL and reporting.
Everything You Can Do with Simba
Move More Data, Way Faster
Simba drivers are built for large data workloads. Run high-volume queries with consistent speed, stability, and throughput across platforms.
Databricks Customers Worldwide
“Simba ODBC connector lets users query Spark data directly from Excel, Tableau, Qlik or others. No complex ETL or data moves needed.”
Talk SQL to Anything
Query structured or unstructured sources using standard SQL. Simba drivers translate behind the scenes so tools work without custom code.
From Chaos to Queryable Schema
Transform nested or semi-structured data into clean relational tables. Simba makes complex sources easy to work with in SQL-based tools.
Sisense Customers Worldwide
“With Simba drivers and SDK support, Sisense users gained the power to query MongoDB and BigQuery using real SQL for advanced analytics.”
Global Leaders Trust Simba for Data Access to Power Apps, BI, & AI
The ODBC and JDBC Drivers Behind BI, AI, & Analytics at the World’s Top Companies
Data Access That Powers AI, BI & Apps for Enterprise Teams
Enterprise teams use Simba to power reporting, dashboards, AI, and internal apps with real-time, trusted data. Whether it’s Excel, Power BI, Logi Symphony, or custom tools, Simba connects directly to real-time sources and eliminates data silos.
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Drivers That Unlock Your Platform for Customers
Your customers need to connect your platform to their favorite tools, like Tableau, Logi Symphony, Power BI, and Excel. Simba drivers deliver direct access that works out of the box, helping you boost adoption, reduce support overhead, and expand your ecosystem.
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Built-In Connectivity for ISVs and App Builders
Simba drivers embed directly into your platform, giving users secure, reliable access to the data sources they care about. Whether you’re building BI tools, ETL platforms, or data-driven apps, you can offer native connectivity without building it yourself.
Learn MoreWhy Data Connectivity Breaks and What’s Costing You Time
ETL Is Slow, Fragile, and Always Out of Date
ETL pipelines take weeks to build, and are brittle when source systems change. You waste time copying stale data across platforms, only to rebuild it all later. Simba skips the copy-paste and connects your tools directly to live data as it exists today.
Cheap Drivers Fail When You Need Them Most
Open-source or low-cost drivers often break with version updates or struggle under load. Simba drivers are production-tested, backed by experts, and built for real enterprise workloads. When reliability matters, generic drivers are not worth the risk.
Driver Maintenance Wastes Time and Focus
Your team didn’t sign up to babysit connectivity. But every time a source system changes, your drivers collapse and your roadmap stalls. Simba handles the maintenance for you, so you can stop chasing patches and start focusing on your actual product.
A Data Connectivity Solution That’s Proven, Maintained, & Built to Scale
Simba pioneered the ODBC standard alongside Microsoft and continues to lead the industry in enterprise data access. Our drivers power mission-critical systems at Google, Microsoft, Snowflake, and more. With expert maintenance, enterprise-grade reliability, and responsive, premium support, Simba delivers trust where others cut corners.
Query Any Data from Any Tool with Simba in the Middle
Simba drivers sit between your applications and your data sources, translating queries into the language each system understands. Whether you use BI tools, reporting platforms, or custom apps, Simba gives you real-time access to cloud platforms, APIs, and databases without extra work.
Built-In Data Integration Features That Power Every Simba Driver
Simba data connectivity drivers are optimized for performance, security, and scale. Each one delivers production-ready connectivity with the core capabilities your team expects, whether you’re embedding into a product or building internal workflows.
High Performance with Real-Time Access
Simba drivers keep your dashboards fast and data fresh with high-throughput, real-time access across any environment.
SQL Query Access Across Any Source
Query APIs, NoSQL, or cloud platforms using standard SQL without building custom code or learning new data interfaces.
Schema Mapping for Complex Sources
Automatically reshape nested or semi-structured data into clean relational tables, ready for BI tools and analytics.
Expose Metadata for BI & Automation
Expose tables, fields, and relationships so your BI tools and pipelines can support drag-and-drop and semantic models.
Pushdown Processing for Faster Queries
Simba pushes filters, joins, and aggregations to the data source, improving performance and reducing system load.
Enterprise-Grade Security with FIPS Compliance
Support for SSO, OAuth, Kerberos, and LDAP with optional FIPS-compliant encryption for strict enterprise compliance.
Connect Anything From APIs to AI
Powered by the Most Trusted Connections in the Industry
Why Leading Teams Trust Simba Drivers
How Databricks Boosted BI Adoption with Simba
Databricks needed seamless BI integration across platforms like Tableau, Power BI, and Excel. But without native SQL connectivity, adoption was stalled, and users were stuck in manual workflows. Simba delivered a high-performance ODBC connector that worked across Mac and Windows, giving non-technical users direct access to Spark. The result: faster time to insight, broader platform adoption, and a direct uplift in customer satisfaction with no additional training or workarounds required.
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Enhanced Visibility How Real-Time Access Saved Critical Research Time
A leading children’s hospital oncology team struggled to access critical lab data stored in Netezza. With a Mac-only research environment and a time-sensitive mandate, delays in data extraction risked patient outcomes. Simba’s Mac-compatible Netezza ODBC driver enabled direct access without replication or manual exports. Researchers gained real-time insight into patient data in under 20 days. The project helped accelerate treatment decisions and scale access to life-saving data across the hospital’s research environment.
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Simba & Data Connectivity FAQs
Simba’s differentiators that put it on the cutting edge of data connectivity include:
- Curated portfolio of purpose-built, high-demand drivers with deep optimizations (rather than a “mile-wide” catalog with minimal depth).
- A thorough SDK to build custom drivers with unified SQL if you use any data sources that aren’t part of our catalog.
- Enterprise-grade security features and auth (TLS, OAuth 2.0, SAML/SSO, Kerberos) so your data is never at risk.
Data integration is how analysts combine information from multiple sources and systems into a cohesive, unified view. This enables users (and applications) to query, examine, and operationalize the data. Think of data integration as consolidating and standardizing the information scattered across different databases, apps, files, and data lakes so it can be used in a centralized location.
Common processes include ETL pipelines to transform and relocate data into a warehouse or data lake. Data virtualization can be used to federate queries across sources without copying the data. ODBC and JDBC drivers are commonly leveraged so apps can query sources directly via SQL. However, you aren’t limited to just one method, and most organizations use a combination of these tools.
Data connectivity is similar but distinct from data integration. It refers to the way that applications establish standardized and secure sessions to data sources for exchanging queries and results. In other words, instead of combining data from different sources, data connectivity allows you to query each individual source from a central hub like Simba. The industry standards right now are ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) and JDBC (Java Database Connectivity), which both define how apps “speak” SQL to many back ends via drivers.
Best practices for data connectivity include:
- Using standards like ODBC/JDBC and the latest certified drivers.
- Pooling your connections to improve throughput and avoid thrashing.
- Encrypting in transit with TLS/SSL and using modern auth (OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, Kerberos).
- Prioritizing parameterized queries to reduce SQL injection risk.
- Centralizing configuration and pinning driver versions and test changes to monitor.
Simba is our data connectivity platform that features a portfolio of over 60 commercial ODBC/JDBC drivers and a Simba SDK. This enables ISVs and enterprises to reliably connect analytics, BI, and data tools with a variety of cloud and on-prem data sources using standard SQL.
Simba focuses on the most widely used and strategically important data sources to ensure quality, stability, and performance. If you need access to something not listed, we offer two options. The Simba SDK allows your team to build custom drivers using our proven architecture. Or, work with our Managed Services team, who can build and maintain the driver for you. Explore the Simba SDK or learn about Simba Managed Services.
Simba’s native SQL pushdown and collaborative execution minimize data movement, while connection pooling and optimized fetching help control throughput and memory. It also comes with enterprise security (TLS/SSL, OAuth 2.0, SAML/SSO, Kerberos, and proxy support, with broad OS support) for consistent deployments. Simba also leans on mature driver architecture so you always have reliable and dependable access to data.
Yes. Simba drivers run on Windows, Linux, and macOS, as well as connecting to cloud services (e.g. Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, etc.) and on-prem engines (e.g. Hive, PostgreSQL, etc.). Simba’s flexibility doesn’t stop there — our drivers also include options for proxies and enterprise auth for hybrid or VPN environments.
We provide a catalog of 60+ enterprise-grade ODBC/JDBC drivers for a wide range of data platforms, including cloud, SaaS, big data, and legacy systems. These drivers span warehouses like Snowflake and Redshift, lakehouses, NoSQL like MongoDB and Cassandra, cloud services like Salesforce and Hubspot, ERPs and HR systems, and more. Our focus is on delivering production-ready drivers that are secure, scalable, and easy to integrate.
Simba makes it easy to integrate MongoDB with your data visualization tools. First, install the MongoDB ODBC/JDBC driver and configure server/auth. Once this is done, you can connect from BI tools (e.g. Tableau, Power BI, etc.) via ODBC/JDBC.
Many generic drivers struggle with reliability, scalability, or version compatibility. Simba drivers are tested and maintained for real production use. They support real-time access, pushdown queries, enterprise security, and are backed by a support team that understands mission-critical workloads. See the full breakdown of DIY vs. pro-grade drivers.
Yes. Simba drivers are designed for OEM and embedded use. You can bundle multiple drivers into your application and white-label them to create a seamless user experience. With flexible licensing, support agreements, and expert guidance, we help platform builders offer powerful data access without the complexity.
ODBC and JDBC are open standards that allow different tools and applications to connect to data sources using SQL. They act like universal adapters for data. Simba drivers use these standards to provide plug-and-play compatibility with BI tools, custom apps, and reporting platforms. This means faster integration, fewer surprises, and no need for custom APIs. Explore what’s next in data connectivity beyond ODBC and JDBC.
No. Simba drivers also support NoSQL, semi-structured, and API-based data sources. They reshape complex data into table-like formats that can be queried using standard SQL. This allows you to work with modern data systems while maintaining familiar access patterns.
Legacy data platforms often rely on outdated APIs or proprietary integrations that are fragile, hard to scale, or being deprecated. For example, Salesforce is retiring critical APIs that many SAP BODS integrations still depend on. Simba drivers provide a modern, supported, and standards-based way to connect to legacy systems without rewriting your entire stack. They offer SQL-based access to complex sources and help organizations move forward without breaking what already works.
Yes. Standardizing on ODBC/JDBC and a proven driver stack enables teams like yours to decouple apps from individual sources. As new sources emerge, Simba makes it easy to add a driver (or build one) without having to change your applications. The reduced lock-in and data integration flexibility directly contribute to long-term agility and competitive advantages.
