PRESS - INFORMIX EXTENDS WINDOWS NT PRODUCT OFFERINGS

INFORMIX EXTENDS WINDOWS NT PRODUCT OFFERINGS Informix Products on Windows NT Offer Workgroup-to Enterprise Database Management Solution MENLO PARK, Calif. -- (December 4, 1995) -- Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:IFMX), the leading provider of parallel processing database technology, extended its support for Microsoft's Windows NT operating system today by announcing the general availability next month of the next version of its flagship enterprise relational database management system, INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server version 7.11 for Microsoft Windows NT. The company also announced that its workgroup server, INFORMIX-OnLine Workgroup Server for Windows NT, is scheduled to become available during Q1, 1996. Informix's leading parallel processing architecture, Dynamic Scalable Architecture (DSA), provides the underlying technology to both database products for unequaled uniprocessor and multiprocessor performance. Combined with the price/ performance of Windows NT at the departmental or branch level, Informix's technology offers a seamless and cost-effective growth path to small workgroups on NT who want to scale to larger departments or UNIX enterprise environments without rewriting their applications. "OnLine Dynamic Server has proven to be the industry-leading parallel processing database server for UNIX, offering customers high-performance scalability for very large business-critical database applications including OLTP and data warehousing," said Phil White, president and CEO of Informix Software. "Delivering our parallel database server technology on NT allows our customers to take advantage of the excellent price/performance of Windows NT at the workgroup and departmental level, while creating a flexible computing solution that can easily grow to midrange and high-end UNIX environments." The availability of OnLine Dynamic Server on the Windows NT platform also enables Informix customers and partners to run business-critical, online transaction processing (OLTP) as well as decision support applications in an NT client/server environment, preserving their investment in PC-based front-end technology while maximizing back-end database performance on mixed UNIX/NT platforms. "Foxboro successfully embedded Informix's UNIX-based RDBMS into our own UNIX-based I/A Series open industrial system back in 1987," said Richard McAllister, vice president of Corporate Marketing at The Foxboro Company, a leading worldwide control system vendor headquartered in Foxboro, Mass. "This has provided our customers with the benefits of an advanced distributed RDBMS within the context of a fully industrial automation system. Informix's recent move to support Windows NT complements our own efforts in this area, which together, enable our customers to run applications in a mixed UNIX and Windows NT environment for enhanced system scalability." OnLine Dynamic Server for Windows NT OnLine Dynamic Server for Windows NT provides all of the functionality currently available in the UNIX version, including Informix's Parallel Data Query (PDQ) technology, data replication and advanced systems administration utilities. OnLine Dynamic Server for Windows NT features the same industry-leading performance, scalability and high availability of the UNIX version, while maximizing the capabilities of the NT operating system. Fully optimized for 32-bit processing and technologies such as pre-emptive multitasking, OnLine Dynamic Server for Windows NT delivers an enterprise database solution for midrange and high-end symmetrical processing (SMP) hardware running Windows NT. The product is also optimized for all hardware architectures from uniprocessor to multiprocessor systems. "Informix has provided consistently reliable, high-performance and state-of-the-art features in its UNIX database products," said Frank Strelau, vice president of Business Development at PeopleSoft, Inc. "By bringing the same features and functionality to the Windows NT environment, Informix is significantly broadening the platform options of our applications, which adds value to our customers' investments in hardware and software." "Participating in the beta program of Informix OnLine Dynamic Server on NT accelerated the implementation of our applications" said Patrick Lewahert, IT director at Bacob Bank, one of the leading retail banks in Belgium. "We have over 650 banking branches, all of which will require a high-performing, local database. OnLine Workgroup Server presents an excellent solution." OnLine Workgroup Server for Windows NT OnLine Workgroup Server, targeted at departmental and workgroup environments of 2 to 32 users, brings the power and proven database technology of Informix's Dynamic Scalable Architecture to the low-end workgroup environment. The product combines new ease-of-use features for installation, configuration and database administration with the high-performance and scalability found in Informix's OnLine Dynamic Server. Available initially on Windows NT, OnLine Workgroup Server will provide advanced functionality including stored procedures, triggers, and a true multithreaded architecture. A set of pre-defined alerts enable database administrators to easily identify problem areas, and pre-defined alarm resolutions ensure that problems are solved before they create a database downtime situation. Multimedia capabilities, including the storage and retrieval of data, images, audio, and video will allow users to develop and deploy next-generation applications that combine a variety of these data types. OnLine Workgroup Server brings the functionality and robustness of an enterprise database to PC users and developers who demand flexibility, interoperability, scalability and ease-of-use in a Windows environment. Users of OnLine Workgroup Server will be able to take advantage of applications from over 5,000 existing Informix VARs, or develop applications themselves with INFORMIX-NewEra; other tools such as INFORMIX-4GL, INFORMIX-ESQL, or INFORMIX-ESQL/COBOL; or a wide range of third-party tools. Third-party Support for Informix Products on Windows NT Support for Informix on Windows NT is evident in a multitude of third-party vendors, such as BMC Software and Platinum technology for distributed systems management solutions, who have committed to developing to Informix databases on Windows NT. Hardware vendors such as AT&T, Compaq, Digital, Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, NEC, and SNI are working jointly with Informix to optimize Informix databases to their respective environments. Pricing and Availability INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server is currently available on all major UNIX and Intel-based hardware platforms. The latest version of OnLine Dynamic Server for Windows NT is scheduled to be available next month, and is priced the same as the UNIX version: $1,500 per user for development and $1,125 per user for runtime, with a minimum purchase of a 5-user license. INFORMIX-OnLine Workgroup Server for Windows NT is scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 1996. Pricing will be provided at that time. Availability on UNIX and other operating systems is planned for later in 1996.@@NL