ANNOUNCE: Informix on Linux Status Report

Important Information Regarding Informix On Linux ================================================= For: General Release From: Tim Schaefer, IIUG Informix-on-Linux (IOL) Committee Chair Carlton Doe, Head of International Informix User Group Advocacy What follows is an official statement from Informix. This message was prepared by Erin Kinikin, and Tony Velcich, both of Informix Software. Please read this message completely and thoroughly before responding. Background ========== The Informix-on-Linux mailing list, sponsored by the IIUG, currently has approximately 250+ subscribers, from around the world, who are interested in seeing a port of certain Informix products to the Linux Operating System. This list was chartered to put together a business case for Informix to help them justify porting their products to Linux. On Sunday, 16 November 1997, I talked to Carlton regarding the latest Informix-on-Linux activity at Informix, and there are some extremely positive developments regarding the port. Carlton received this message from Informix, and has passed it on to me for distribution. Executive Summary ================= o Informix has released this statement, along with more information that will be shared with the Informix-on-Linux committee, and eventually the general public. Not all the details are enclosed in this statement, more information will be coming out to the general public shortly. o Informix has indicated they are ready to move forward with the port. The key to the success will rest with the Linux community interested in seeing a port of Informix products to Linux, and how they respond to the latest efforts at Informix. The Informix community who has an interest in this effort are encouraged to respond as well. o Informix have finished their own business case. A business case developed by the committee will not be required from this point forward. o Informix is preparing a port proposal that will be released to the public for a response. This will have pricing and product information. As an interested person or company, you will be asked to respond to this proposal. o Informix will be looking to the Linux community and the response they get as the final indicator whether or not to port. I am supporting Carlton fully in this effort, as well as the good people of Informix, and our Informix-on-Linux committee. It's extremely encouraging to see Informix take an interest in this effort, and their desire to satisfy the customer, and be the leader in the industry. If you are interested in this activity, and wish to respond, please contact: Mike Segel mikey@segel.com Mike is the IOL committee-designated person to send your responses to, if you are more interested as a person or company wanting Informix to port to Linux. All replies are held in strictest confidence. You can also subscribe to the IOL mailing list, simply put subscribe linux-informix in the body of an email message, no subject line necessary, and mail to majordomo@iiug.org . Thanks to everyone involved in this effort, it is indeed helping to change the face of computing, not to mention, Informix. More information will be coming, stay tuned, Tim === Tim Schaefer tschaefe@mindspring.com http://www.inxutil.com See also: http://www.inxutil.com/inx_ezine/1197/inx_linus_intv.html # # # -- Begin Message From Informix -- # # The following document summarizes the current status of the Linux project at Informix. Background: Many individuals within the Informix user community have been asking for Informix to port their products to Linux. Because of the number of requests, Informix has been doing research in this area to better understand the requirements as well as the demand so that we could develop a business case, and justify funding a project to develop a Linux port. Activity: The following summarizes the activity that has taken place in this area: 1. We've asked Platform Engineering (PE) to estimate the cost of building a Linux port. PE stated that this would be dependent on the requirements (i.e., exact product and features, frequency of maintenance releases, support requirements, etc.). PE also stated that older versions of OnLine and SE would be much easier to port than the 7.x versions of ODS. This is mainly due to the fact that the newer products rely much more on third-party products which likely do not have a Linux port. Therefore, it is likely that a Linux port of 7.x products will not include INFORMIX-Enterprise Command Center (IECC), a graphical administration utility, and the Informix Storage Manager (ISM), a backup/restore utility used in conjunction with ON-Bar. Other features that may not be available are still to be determined. 2. We developed a questionnaire to better determine customer requirements. The questionnaire was submitted to the Linux Advocacy Committee for distribution and summarization. To date, information from only 12 questionnaires has been received back. Based on the questionnaires returned, as well as other emails on this subject, we've learned the following: - The target customers for this product are small workgroups (10-20 users on average). - Small VARs have biggest interest in Linux port, but some end users have also requested the product. - Database sizes are mostly in the 1 to 5 GB range. - Performance requirements vary, but should be comparable to a SCO port. - Products most requested are OnLine Workgroup Server (OWS), ESQL/C, 4GL, and SE. - Customers would prefer to have a 7.x version with feature restrictions rather than OnLine 5.x. - Porting to just one Linux version was acceptable to most respondents (Caldera and RedHat were most requested). - Customers are very price sensitive. Ports must be comparably priced to Workgroup databases. - Support requirements varied. Most felt email support was sufficient, but some said 24x7 would ultimately be needed. - Maintenance releases are not needed as often as for other ports. One or two a year were felt to be sufficient. Interim releases were felt to be not needed. - Running Informix products developed for SCO in Linux compatibility mode was not acceptable. - From the 12 respondents, we still do not have a clear picture of the sales estimates for this product. 3. We still need a business case in order to justify funding a Linux port. In order to Add a Linux port to our list of projects something else would have to drop off, or incremental resources would need to be added. Having received only 12 completed questionnaires does not help justify a business case. Where are all the Linux users that have been so active in the email discussions and C.D.I? Our next plans are to put together a description of the proposed Linux port (product, proposed price, support plans, maintenance plans, etc.).