(OLE DataBase) A programming interface for data access from Microsoft. It is a COM object that functions in a similar manner to ODBC, but for every type of data source, not just SQL databases. Applications can use OLE DB to access data sources directly or they can use OLE DB to call ODBC to access ODBC databases. OLE DB for OLAP is used to access OLAP databases. Microsoft's ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) is a set of COM objects that provides a simpler interface to OLE DB. See ADO, ODBC, DAO and RDO.