ADO.NET

ADO.NET is a data access technology from the Microsoft .NET Framework that provides communication between relational and non-relational systems through a common set of components.

This helps catch more programming errors at compile-time and enhances the IDE's Intellisense feature.

ADO.NET providers can be created to access such simple data stores as a text file and spreadsheet, through to such complex databases as Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, IBM Db2, Sybase ASE, and many others.

Because different data store technologies can have different capabilities, every ADO.NET provider cannot implement every possible interface available in the ADO.NET standard.

Microsoft describes the availability of an interface as "provider-specific," as it may not be applicable depending on the data store technology involved.

This technology forms a part of .NET Framework 3.0 (having been part of the framework since version 1.0)