PRESS: MAJOR FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS SELECT INFORMIX FOR DATA

MAJOR FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS SELECT INFORMIX FOR DATA WAREHOUSING First Union, Great Western, State Street, and Visa MENLO PARK, Calif. (January 14, 1996) -- Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:INFX),the leading provider of innovative database technology, today announced that four additional major financial services firms have selected Informix database technology for their data warehousing applications. The institutions includeFirst Union National Bank Corp., Great Western, State Street Bank and Trust Company, and Visa International. The new data warehouses will be used for a broad range of enterprise requirements, including customer demographic marketing and research, data mining, decision support, and portfolio management. Specifically, -- First Union will be operating an enterprise data warehouse for data mining and decision support functions on an IBM SP2 using INFORMIX(R)-OnLine Extended Parallel Server (OnLine XPS) with plans to migrate to the INFORMIX-Universal Server. -- Great Western will be operating a marketing data warehouse running OnLine Dynamic Server(TM). -- State Street will be operating a customer information delivery data warehouse in its mutual fund group using OnLine Dynamic Server. -- Visa will be using Informix technology for a variety of data warehousing applications that support the payment environment. These major financial institutions join Informix's growing list of global data warehousing customers in the financial services industry, such as Bank of America, Bay Banks, CS First Boston, First Chicago, Lehman Brothers, The Money Store, and Wells Fargo. "Large organizations are finding that the scalability of our Dynamic Scalable Architecture(TM) (DSA) enables them to deploy data warehouses on a wide range of hardware platforms and to grow these warehouses with uncompromising performance," said Steve Sommer, vice president of Industry Marketing at Informix. "Our global recognition as the leader in data warehousing solutions is a key factor in our rapid penetration of the financial services industry." According to Bruce Golden, general manager of the Data Warehouse Business Development Unit at Informix, "Corporations are vitally interested in architectural flexibility. With our Universal Server architecture, Informix is clearly setting the agenda in data warehousing." Informix Data Warehousing for Financial Services Informix is rapidly being recognized as the leading data warehouse platform for financial services for four key reasons: 1) Informix provides the highest performance, most scalable decision support databases in the world; 2) INFORMIX- Universal Server provides customers with a framework for managing any kind of business information and business analysis (e.g., time-series data, financial securities, proprietary risk management, and algorithms) within the database, thus enabling rapid innovation and easy application development; 3) Informix teams with other leading data warehouse companies to deliver best-of-breed solutions to customers; and 4) Informix delivers excellent programs and services to help its customers rapidly design, prototype, and implement their data warehouses. About Informix Informix Software, based in Menlo Park, Calif., provides innovative database technology that enables the world's leading corporations to manage and grow their business. Informix is widely recognized as the technology leader for corporate computing environments ranging from workgroups, to very large OLTP and data warehouse applications. Informix's database servers, application development tools, superior customer service, and strong partnerships enable the company to be at the forefront of many leading-edge information technology solution areas. The following are worldwide trademarks of Informix Software, Inc., Informix Corporation, or their subsidiaries, registered in the United States of America as indicated by (R) and in numerous countries worldwide: Informix(R), Dynamic Scalable Architecture(TM) and Illustra(TM). All other names or marks may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.