PRESS RELEASE: Informix Ships New Release of Secure Database

Informix Ships New Release of Secure Database Baltimore, MD, (September 20, 1993) Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: IFMX) today announced the availability of INFORMIX-OnLine/Secure 5.0, a new version of its multilevel secure database server for secure UNIX platforms, and INFORMIX-STAR/Secure, the company's connectivity tool for secure distributed and client/server applications. The new release contains enhanced usability features that make it easier and safer than ever before to implement and maintain secure applications. It contains all the industry leading features of commercial INFORMIX-OnLine 5.0 including online transaction processing, high availability, referential integrity, stored procedures, and, with INFORMIX-STAR/Secure, complete distributed client/server capability. In addition, OnLine/Secure adds a new level of security that protects against unauthorized access of secure data by indirect methods or "covert channels." "In addition to OnLine/Secure's importance to government projects worldwide, we see increasing demand from our commercial customers who want to utilize a secure database," said Ram Varadarajan, product marketing manager. "We see it in the financial, health care, and petrochemical industries -- and really just about anywhere where a company may need to share data with one group and conceal that same data from another. "Customers are wasting precious resources if they are coding security into their applications themselves," Varadarajan added. "Customers using OnLine/Secure benefit from extensive security features already built into our product. Developers can focus on the application and rely on OnLine/Secure for security." New Security Capabilities for OnLine/Secure OnLine/Secure 5.0 adds a number of new security usability features, many of which are not offered by any other secure database vendor. They include: Protection From Covert Channel Access - Covert channel access is any communication channel that can be exploited by an indirect unauthorized attempt to violate database security. OnLine/Secure searches for covert channel communications using storage or timing mechanisms and notifies database administrators of such attempts. It also includes built-in locking mechanisms that shield classified information from low-level users. With protection from covert channel access, Informix goes beyond the B1 security level to protect secure data from being accessed either indirectly or covertly. Informix is currently the only database vendor to provide this capability. Protection From Aggregation - OnLine/Secure provides the ability to break a record into separate tables of classified and unclassified components giving application developers much more flexibility to design highly usable secure applications that are easy to administer. For example, an employee record can be broken into two tables, employee statistics and employee salary, the records in employee salary being classified. OnLine/Secure allows management of the two records as one entity, while users transparently gain access only to information that matches their level of security. Systemwide Discrete Privileges - This unique feature enables a security officer to temporarily grant authorized users and developers access to secure data in order to add flexibility and functionality to an OnLine/Secure database. Wide Range of Development Tools Available OnLine/Secure supports Informix's entire line of SQL-based application development tools. These include the fourth generation language, INFORMIX-4GL, and any of the company's embedded SQL precompilers such as INFORMIX-ESQL/C, INFORMIX-ESQL/COBOL, INFORMIX-ESQL/Ada and INFORMIX-ESQL/FORTRAN. OnLine/Secure also supports a large number of third-party tools. "Not only do we provide tools that run with OnLine/Secure, but we provide an easy migration path from INFORMIX-OnLine to OnLine/Secure so our customers don't have to recode their applications and sacrifice features and functionality when they want to add security features," Varadarajan said. Designed to Meet U.S. And European Government Specifications OnLine/Secure versions 4.1 and 5.0 are designed to meet the high security class requirements of B1, B2, B3 and C2 as defined by the US Department of Defense "Orange Book," a standard for secure operating systems, and the Trusted Database Interpretation, or "Lavender Book," a standard for secure database products. They are also designed to meet the F(B1)/E3 rating, a database specification defined in the European Information Technology Security Evaluation Criteria (ITSEC). OnLine/Secure version 4.1 is the first and only database to be rated B1 and C2 secure by the National Computer Security Center (NCSC). Through the NCSC's Rating Maintenance Phase (RAMP), the B1 and C2 rating will be maintained for version 5.0 and future versions of OnLine/Secure. OnLine/Secure 5.0 is currently undergoing evaluation at the B2 level by the NCSC and the F(B1)/E3 level by European ITSEC. Pricing, Availability OnLine/Secure is now available on hardware platforms from AT&T, Data General, Digital Equipment Corporation, Harris, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Santa Cruz Operation and Sun Microsystems. Pricing for OnLine/Secure begins at $6,250 and for INFORMIX-STAR/Secure at $830. About Informix Informix Software, Inc., provides the most complete and productive database technology to build, deploy, run and evolve applications. Informix products include powerful distributed database management systems, robust application development tools, and graphical- and character-based productivity software for delivering information to every significant desktop platform. With corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Informix has European headquarters in London, and Asia/Pacific headquarters in Singapore. ### Informix Announces Support for IBM's PowerPC and POWER2 Platforms MENLO PARK, Calif. (September 21, 1993) Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:IFMX) today announced support for its line of information management software products available on IBM's new RISCSystem/6000 models that utilize the company's new PowerPC and POWER2 microprocessors. "IBM has set ambitious goals for technical advancement with the development of the new PowerPC and POWER2 microprocessors," said Tim Shetler, vice president of product marketing at Informix Software. "We are committed to providing our products on these new platforms to help our customers get that extra edge in performance." Informix provides products for developing and implementing information management applications for open systems. Products include, INFORMIX-OnLine, an on-line transaction processing database server, and INFORMIX-4GL, a fourth-generation application development and production environment. Availability of Informix products on the POWERstation/POWERserver 250 will become available with IBM's release of the product scheduled for October 1993. The POWERserver 990, the POWERstation/POWERserver 590 and the POWERstation/POWERserver 58H deskside systems are scheduled for fourth quarter 1993 availability.