Btrieve

Btrieve is a transactional database (navigational database) software product. It is based on Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM), which is a way of storing data for fast retrieval. There have been several versions of the product for DOS, Linux, older versions of Microsoft Windows, 32-bit IBM OS/2 and for Novell NetWare.

It was originally a record manager published by SoftCraft. Btrieve was written by Doug Woodward and Nancy Woodward and initial funding was provided in part by Doug's brother Loyd Woodward. Around the same time as the release of the first IBM PCs, Doug received 50% of the company as a wedding gift and later purchased the remainder from his brother. After gaining market share and popularity, it was acquired from Doug and Nancy Woodward by Novell in 1987, for integration into their NetWare operating system in addition to continuing with the DOS version. The product gained significant market share as a database embedded in mid-market applications in addition to being embedded in every copy of NetWare 2.x, 3.x and 4.x since it was available on every NetWare network. After some reorganization within Novell, it was decided in 1994 to spin off the product and technology to Doug and Nancy Woodward along with Ron Harris, to be developed by a new company known as Btrieve Technologies, Inc. (BTI).