You forgot one: wuz: PRESS: Informix in the News

Christine Shannon wrote: > List of Informix related articles. > Uhmm, you forgot one.... Check this out:(http://biz.yahoo.com/finance/980224/software_i_1.html) Tuesday February 24, 11:07 pm Eastern Time Informix to focus on high-end database niches-CEO By Kourosh Karimkhany SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Informix Corp. (IFMX - news)will seek sales growth by focusing on high-end database software products, avoiding low-end products that would compete with offerings from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - news), the company's chief executive said on Tuesday. In his first extended briefing with reporters since becoming Informix CEO in August, Bob Finocchio also said he believed the database industry was still fundamentally strong, but that the companies would have to get used to brutal competition and plunging prices. He said that, while Informix is on reasonably solid financial ground with lower costs and an improving balance sheet, the company still faced a challenging year. Finocchio said his goal was to fundamentally rebuild Informix. ``I don't view what we're doing at Informix as a turnaround, because I don't want us to go back to what we were, which didn't work,'' Finocchio said. ``In fixing things, we are building a new company.'' Until 1996, Informix was one of the high flyers of the software industry. It writes database software, the computer programs big companies use to store and retrieve vital information, like customer lists and inventory tallies. It was the third-biggest database software publisher behind industry leaders Oracle Corp. (ORCL - news) and Sybase Inc. (SYBS - news) Informix got in trouble starting in 1996, however. To compete with massive rival Oracle, its sales staff pursued overly aggressive contracts with customers. These contracts would give customers access to two or three years worth of Informix products for one huge lump-sum fee. In 1996, Informix also acquired Illustra, a software company that was developing an advanced database that could store and search all kinds of data, including pictures, maps, videos and esoteric algorithms representing business functions. While analysts hailed Illustra's technology, it distracted Informix's internal development efforts and added yet another product line to the marketing department's priorities, analysts have said. In April 1997, the company's simmering troubles boiled over. Informix reported huge financial losses for the next three quarters. In August, then-chairman and CEO Phil White resigned and was replaced by Finocchio, formerly a senior executive at 3Com Corp. At the same time, an audit revealed that Informix would have to restate financial results for the previous two years to reflect more conservative accounting standards. Finocchio said most of the restructuring tasks were now finished. Informix now has to concentrate on a new strategy to win back customers and to stave off competitors. ``There is a big available market out there with companies that want to do business with database vendors that are different than Oracle,'' Finocchio said. ``I think we can fill that position.'' Finnochio said Informix will concentrate on so-called data warehousing products -- expensive computer programs that help managers find intricate patterns in reams of data. Retailers, for example, use data warehousing products to pinpoint their customers' tastes. Customers are willing to pay high prices for advanced data warehousing tools, Finocchio said. Informix also will concentrate on database products tailored to customers that have to manage Web sites. Finocchio said Informix is ahead of competitors like Oracle and International Business Machines Corp (IBM - news) in offering software that can manage massive electronic commerce sites. Informix will avoid cheap, low-end database products for personal computers, an area where Microsoft is beginning to dominate. "It's foolhardy to take on Microsoft," he said.