I think you really should give DBI a try, because it's the de facto standard database interface for perl, so it's probably better supported. Also, it will be easier to switch to other databases and you can reuse more code. It's not all that different from ODBC, so it shouldn't take you too long to learn.

I'm not 100% sure that Class::DBI supports DBD::ODBC (the DBD::XXX modules are the database sepecific drivers for DBI) but in theory most of it should work. Give it a try. If it doesn't work, ask the Class::DBI mailinglist. they're a helpful bunch of people.

Cheers,
Joost.