PRESS: INFORMIX HEADLINE NEWS FLASH

INFORMIX HEADLINE NEWS FLASH 9/9/96 Informix in the News c/net "Tandem licenses Informix data type technology" Today, Tandem Computers, Inc. boosted Informix's bid to establish a standard for supporting complex data types by licensing Informix's DataBlade technology. For Informix, the deal broadens the potential market for products developed by DataBlade application developers. The company hopes that a strong third-party developer market will make the company's database software and DataBlade technology more attractive to a wider base of corporate IS teams. Informix CEO Phil White said the company will attempt to sign up additional companies to license the API, but declined to provide names of potential licensees. (9/9/96, on-line, Mike Ricciuti) PC WEEK ON-LINE "Tandem licenses Informix's DataBlade technology" Informix announced that Tandem Computers, Inc. will integrate Informix's DataBlade API with its upcoming ServerWare SQL massively parallel database. The DataBlade technology will allow the Tandem product to handle non-traditional data such as audio, video and photographs. Tandem plans to integrate the DataBlade application programming interface into its NonStop SQL database engine. (9/9/96, on-line, Juan Perez) INFORMATIONWEEK "Informix joins Tandem" This week, Informix and Tandem Computers will announce a technology partnership whereby Tandem will enbed Informix's DataBlade APIs and source code into its NonStop SQL clustering relational database management system. Tandem will also resell the INFORMIX-Universal Server on its UNIX servers and offer it as an option on its NT-based servers. (9/9/96, pg. 22, staff writer) INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY "Catching a Net wave in database market" Object vendors such as Versant Object Technology Corp. are trying to capture market share from Informix, Sybase and Oracle. These companies are timing their public offerings as the next wave of the database market -- storing and managing complex data -- gains momentum and mindshare. "The word is Illustra," said Natasha Krol, industry analyst with the META Group, Inc. "A number of people in the venture capital community have been astounded by [the price of] Informix's acquisition ... . This going public is also capitalizing on momentum behind the Internet." Versant's main business is mainly in the telecommunications market, with customers such as MCI Telecommunications Corp., Sprint Corp. and Telstra Corp. (9/9/96, pg. A4, Reinhardt Krause) DECUS MAGAZINE "Document and data management" This article examines the growth of the document management business as it relates to the on-going growth of the relational database management system market -- the back-end software on which the document managers depend. One significant factor for growth in the RDBMS market is the supply of both UNIX and NT platform support. Of all the RDBMS vendors, Informix has made the most consistent and open identification with imaging and document management. In addition, Informix has a high ratio of R&D spending and has been consistently profitable in the 1990s. One example of Informix working in imaging environments is the case of Sallie Mae, the Student Loan Marketing Association. Sallie Mae uses INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server to store and manage millions of loan documents; the database is expected to grow to three hundred million records within five years. Other vendors, such as Oracle, Progress Software and Sybase, are also discussed in terms of support for document management. (Summer 1996, pg. 16, Franklyn Daily, Jr. and Morris Rosenthal) DBMS "Objects meet data" The world of objects and traditional data is converging, and numerous companies are offering products that bridge the gap. This article lists these products and forecasts the next wave of solutions: universal servers. In February, Oracle introduced its Universal Server, brought quickly to market because of Informix's early announcement to release its own Universal Server. Informix announced a three-stage release of the Universal Server, and only the first stage -- a gateway API -- is currently shipping. Sybase plans to provide a middleware layer between the user and the relational database engine that handles the object-relational translation "on the fly." Computer Associates International, Inc., IBM and Microsoft are looking to provide solutions to manage both complex and relational data. (9/96, pg. 72, David Linthicum)