If you're developing a DBMS I would expect that 'developing to ODBC software interface' means you're creating an ODBC driver. That driver allows applications to query your database, even if they don't know about your particular DBMS. If you like applications such as Excel to use your DBMS, provide an ODBC driver.
I suppose your DBMS could act as a "client" and use another DBMS' ODBC interface to get data or schema information, that doesn't sound like a typical DBMS feature.
The Microsoft link in the Wikipedia article is a bit clearer in my opinion, MSDN has details in you're really interested in developing a driver or a client.