Re: PRESS: FIVE LEADING COMPANIES SELECT INFORMIX FOR

Christine Shannon wrote: > > FIVE LEADING COMPANIES SELECT INFORMIX FOR CYBERPUBLISHING SOLUTIONS ON THE > WEB > > MENLO PARK, Calif. (April 23,1997) =96 Informix Software, Inc. > (NASDAQ:IFMX), > the leading provider of innovative database technology, today announced that > five leading companies have selected Informix Universal Web Architecture as > the technology platform to create, manage and deploy Web-based > CyberPublishing sites. These customers include: > OK, are you ready? Strap on your seat belts, and let's go... This is just too good to pass up. > - The Associated Press - AP has created The WIRE, a real time news delivery > Web site which contains stories, photos, graphics, audio, video, stock > quotes and sport scores. Members receive a customized display of the news > stories and content they want. http://wire.ap.org. > =20 <yawn> > - ChinaByte - Produced by PDN Xinren Information Technology Co. Ltd. (PDN), > a joint venture between The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the > Chinese Government, and Rupert Murdock's Australian-based News Corporation. > The Web site provides computer and technology news from around the world to > China's largest and most computer-savvy audience. http://www.chinabyte.com. > Hmmm... now we're parading a working relationship with a country that treats their people worse than cattle. Good public relations move. Go into business with a country that treats people bad. Put business first over human rights. Good move. Build that perception in peoples' minds. This will really help our stock. "We think highly of the communist government." Ooooh... that's a great one. > - iVillage - Builds targeted communities online for live discussion amongst > its members. One of their award-winning sites, Parent Soup, is an online > community where parents share information about raising kids. A "Web Ring" > section on the site allows for members to publish their personal Web home > pages to the site for other members to access and interact with them > directly. http://www.ivillage.com.=20 > Cool. How did these companies get a copy of Universal Server? Through HP, who pays the ad on this one? > - Matthew Bender - An electronic-commerce Web site that utilizes > CyberPublishing. The site provides instant access to more than 250 > expert-authored publications and libraries that address thousands of complex > legal issues. The site, built by Informix Partner, Fort Point Partners, > allows customers to access and purchase only the pertinent law information > they require. http://www.bender.com. > Hmmm... cool. This is a wide audience. I know I'll be needing this. > - Mondadori Publishing - Publishes Time on Line, a news site that offers > real time news updates from Reuters News Service. Informix databases also > power the "Panorama" and "Donna Moderna" sites, two leading weekly magazines > in Italy. http://www.mondadori.com. > Wow. Really reaching out. > These companies rely on Informix's Universal Web Architecture to build > value-added web sites that provide up-to-date and personalized information > to their Internet, intranet and members-only site users. > What is Universal Web Architecture? I don't know anything about this. I don't have access to the inside track of elitists. I stumble onto it here? Nothing sent to me in email to tell me about this, or annoucements elsewhere in the trade magazines. No marketing. What a company. Give a trickle here and there about the product line and wonder why sales are off. > The Informix Universal Web Architecture consists of Informix database > servers and tools, strategic partnerships and special programs that allow > businesses to create intelligent Web applications for both publishing and > transaction-based environments. > Provided you pay for everything up front or are a part of the select few who've actually seen it. I'm doubting whether it actually exists. > Informix customers use Informix Universal Web Architecture to build > CyberPublishing applications. CyberPublishing saves time and costs by > exploiting the unique power of the Web to provide a publishing process that > supports the decentralized creation, layout, and distribution of documents > and media-rich information, whether you are a traditional publisher or a > corporate intranet. And a sweetheart deal must be set up between you and the vendor that probably won't ever exist outside this deal once this product is available at large. This is an arrangement for promotional purposes, to give the illusion that the product is viable for this application off the shelf. > These savings are realized in three ways: > - High Performance - Unlike other Web solutions, Informix Universal Web > Architecture allows Web site content including Web pages, images and maps to > be stored within a single integrated database for easy manageability and > performance. The power of the Informix database allows customers to create > Web applications that are extensible and scalable and provide high > performance transaction-based sites for CyberPublishing environments.=20 Provided you can afford the license. Probably won't actually see the product for a couple more years. > - Easy to Develop Of course it is. We heard this a while back on another product that went nowhere. > - Informix=92s Universal Web Architecture allows for quick > development of Web applications. Specifically with the Informix Web > DataBlade module and Informix Universal Web Connect, the company's Web > application development tools, developers can manage all the content and > application logic stored centrally in the database and collaborate on > application development. Modifications to the Web application can be > accomplished by simply changing underlying information stored in the > database, allowing organizations to update their Web applications quickly > and easily.=20 I just don't believe it. I'll have to beg borrow or steal it just to see it. > - Easy to Manage - With Universal Web Architecture customers can "remotely > author," their own content on the Web. This gives the responsibility of > maintaining information to the owners of the content. No longer does the MIS > department have to be responsible for managing the timeliness or integrity > of Web data. At the same time, MIS still maintains the centralized control > of the 'look and feel' of the site through the use of application templates. > We already have this. It's called project management, and using source code control. Why would you pay for something you already have? Netscape Enterprise Server comes with a source code control product from MKS in the event you didn't want to use something else. There's RCS, PVCS, and on and on. Site manager from Netscape can create instant web site materials. So, why would I need Universal Server? I don't know anybody who'd need it. > "Customers are constantly challenged to keep their Web site current and > compelling, while providing valuable information," said Kim Wesselman, > director of Web Marketing, Informix. "Informi