Many see no difference between the OLE DB and ODBC. Consider 2 technology in more detail.

Firebird ODBC driver
ODBC Firebird provider - is the driver to access the database Interbase, Firebird, based on technology ODBC.

Firebird and Interbase OLE DB provider

A new standard Data Access Components - OLE DB.
OLE DB driver - it provider that provides a set of interfaces OLE DB.

With its help to connect to the Firebird and Interbase using Interbase and Firebird in Visual Studio, Visual Basic, C + + and others.

The advantages of standard interfaces and ODBC and OLE DB

The independence of the client application.
Easy transition between versions of the DBMS.
The possibility of the application, with several SQL servers.
The support of a large number of development environments.

Developers easier to implement a standard component, which support many databases at once with different client API.