PRESS: Informix in the News

List of Informix related articles. Format: PUBLICATION "Article Name" Summary of Article [Date, Location in Publication, Author] Informix in the News --------------------------------- (11/04/97) COMPUTERWORLD "Informix to come clean on financials, repricing" This month, Informix is expected to make two major announcements: a restatement of its financial results from 1995 through its second-quarter this year, and a software repackaging and repricing model that will help simplify the company's product line. Informix will position its four current server offerings as one product represented by the core database engine and a menu of optional add-ons, according to this article. Users of Informix's products are positive about the predicted transition -- especially the new positioning of INFORMIX-Universal Server. "Informix needs to brag about how you can use [Universal Server] for business advantage," said Brad Jensen, vice president at AMR Corp.'s Sabre Group. Universal Server's object technology "applies beautifully to advanced transaction processing," said Janice Richardson, manger of systems and operations for the city of Aurora, Colo. (11/3/97, pg. 10, Craig Stedman) COMPUTERWORLD "Police to track suspects on GTE Internet-based system" GTE Corp. recently announced that it is entering the crime-detection business with a new product, called Bastille, based on INFORMIX-Universal Server technology. Bastille is claimed to be the first nationwide, interactive, Internet-based information-sharing service for police departments. Specifically, police hope to use the service to share tips on crime patterns and possible suspects by transmitting data -- including data, graphics and video -- on the suspects in real time. The service, available nationwide on February 1, will cost $199 per month for any police department. (11/3/97, pg. 2, Matt Hamblen) Additional coverage: NEWSBYTES NEWS NETWORK "Bastille service catches criminals via Web" (10/28/97, www.dowjones.com, Bill Pietrucha) WALL STREET AND TECHNOLOGY "Contenders on the database battlefield" This article outlines the state of the database market, highlighting the activities of Informix and Sybase over the past two years. According to the author, the challenges Informix currently faces has nothing to do with its product technology -- rather, the company miscalculated the timing of its messages by not articulating the business advantages of INFORMIX-Universal Server. Analysts predict the RDBMS market to grow at a rate of 15 to 20 percent annually, with the number of vendors that support it to diminish significantly. Although Sybase is positioned to become one of the database vendors that disappears, Informix is not, according to analysts. "Informix has good strong technology," said Betsy Burton, RDBMS analyst at the Gartner Group. "So I do not see them falling out of the leader's pack." (11/97, pg. 78, Monica Simms) COMPUTING CANADA "Wal-Mart standing by Informix" Informix received additional coverage for the second-quarter deal it signed with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Last month, Wal-Mart announced plans to install an additional 8,200 Informix servers. (10/29/97, www.dowjones.com, Thomas Watson) DISTRIBUTED OBJECT COMPUTING "From per-seat charge to processor-based pricing" This article investigates the topic of Web tools pricing to help developers make intelligent purchasing decisions. Informix is used as an example of a database vendor's server pricing model because it is one of the "leading object-relational database vendors." Informix charges $50,000 per processor for Web users -- a single processor can support 20 users. Additionally, the article recommends that Informix change its current pricing model so that both Internet usage and intranet usage are based on a processor-pricing model. (10/97, pg. 58, Kevin Dick) WEB TECHNIQUES "Internet security, the next generation" In this article on server security for Internet transactions, Informix is mentioned as the database provider for BITSource's SmartShelf Electronic Software Delivery system. The BITSource system uses an Informix database repository that can be accessed via smart cards to download the software to a workstation. The smart cards provide the highest level of security for the system, allowing only those who have cards access to the database. (11/97, pg. 43, Jonny Goldman) WEB PUBLISHER "The ghost in the machine" This article describes the current offerings of dynamic Web-site creation. Informix is listed as one of the key players in this market for its INFORMIX-Universal Server (IUS) and DataBlade modules. IUS is also mentioned in a profile on Informix customer American Greetings, a company that uses the power of the Internet and Web-site creation software to meet its customers needs and provide a new model of interactivity for the Web. Oracle's Application Web Server is also mentioned. (11/97, pg. 20, Joe Dysart) COMPUTING CANADA "Enterprise data replication a demanding process" In this contributed article by an Informix senior systems engineer, the need for Enterprise Data Replication (ER), and database technology that addresses the full range of business and application needs is described. The author suggests that database administrators choose an adaptable ER product that will extract from the source and populate targets in a timely manner, recover quickly after a failure and require minimum management. (10/27/97, www.dowjones.com, Paul Naish) DM REVIEW "Avoiding decision support bottlenecks" In an effort to satisfy the complex demands of decision support and OLTP applications, very large databases (VLDB) are growing to terabyte size and driving the search for a fundamental architecture that is open, affordable and scalable. Informix's Dynamic Scalable Architecture (DSA), uses a "parallel-everything" strategy that allows designers to link multiple SMP boxes in a expandable network, thus freeing up bottlenecks that could occur using shared clusters of disk drives (Oracle's model). DSA is touted as the most efficient approach to VLDB's demands and Informix's parallel-everything processing model delivers unmatched performance for decision support and OLTP applications. (11/97, pg. 18, J. D. Hicks) COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS ONLINE "Quarterly snapshot: third-quarter 1997" This week's COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS third-quarter company review takes a snapshot look at Informix's accounting difficulties, including its unexpected revenue shortfall and reporting errors. The highlight of the quarter for Informix was the hiring of CEO and President Robert Finocchio. Informix's challenges include fixing its accounting problems, hiring a CFO (which the company has done) and restoring marketing focus of its server line. (11/3/97, www.crn.com, staff writer)