Firebird is a database server. Powerful, but at the same time, with minimum requirements for setup and administration, Firebird easily scalable from single applications to large corporate systems. One Firebird server can handle several independent databases, each with multiple user connections. And, not least, Firebird is a true open source, completely free from royalties, even for commercial use.

Features:

• Firebird has full support of Stored Procedures and Triggers
• Firebird has full ACID compliant transactions
• Referential Integrity
• Multi Generational Architecture (sometimes called MVCC)
• Firebird has very small footprint
• Firebird has fully featured internal language for Stored Procedures and Triggers (PSQL)
• Support for External Functions (UDFs)
• Little or no need for specialized DBAs
• Almost no configuration needed – just install and start using
• Big community and lots of places where you can get free and good support
• Optional single file embedded version – great to create CDROM catalogs, single user or evaluation versions of applications
• Firebird includes dozens of third party tools, including GUI administrative tools, replication tools, etc.
• Careful writes – fast recovery, no need for transaction logs
• Firebird has many ways to access your database: native/API, dbExpress drivers, ODBC, OLEDB, .Net provider, JDBC native type 4 driver, Python module, PHP, Perl, etc.
• Native support for all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS.
• Incremental Backups
• 64-bit builds available
• Firebird has full cursor implementation in PSQL

InterBase/Firebird Development Studio includes:

Database Designer.

ER diagrams can make the early stages of database development a breeze. Database Designer offers ER diagramming features—and much more. Database Designer encompasses complete database development, covering table structures along with stored procedures and triggers.

Database Editor.

Database Editor in InterBase/Firebird Development Studio puts you in charge of your database—create and modify database objects in your production or development database. You can work quickly with the special editor for each object type, along with advanced tools like SQL Debugger, Extract Metadata, and SQL Monitor.

Query Analyzer.

InterBase/Firebird Development Studio allows to optimize your queries with Query Analyzer. Execution statistic and visual plan analyzer provide a fast and effective way for speeding up your query.
Database Comparer.

InterBase/Firebird Development Studio allows to upgrade your database easily with Database Comparer. To perform an update you can select your production database, select your development database, and click Compare. The tool generates an SQL script containing all DDL commands required to upgrade metadata of the production database. It’s that quick.
Administrative Console.

InterBase and Firebird require almost no administration. However, occasionally you might need to back up or restore a database, check it for corruption, and manage server users. Do it all with Administration Console.

Perfomance Monitor.

Monitor your firebird or interbase database performance the right way. Interbase 7.x has special temporary tables with lots of information about your database. Firebird and prior versions of Interbase provide only general workload information. Performance Monitor extracts available information, depending on your version of Interbase/Firebird and presents the data in a variety of ways.

Maintenance Service Manager.

Interbase/Firebird Development Studio contains a system service to perform scheduled maintenance tasks. The Maintenance Service Manager manages this service locally or remotely.