PRESS: INFORMIX TO SPONSOR THE WORLD'S LEADING HEALTHCARE

INFORMIX TO SPONSOR THE WORLD'S LEADING HEALTHCARE CONSORTIUM ICMIT To Base Advanced Medical Imaging Technology On INFORMIX(R)-Universal Server and DataBlade(R) Technology SAN DIEGO, Calif. (February 16, 1997) -- Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:IFMX), the leading provider of innovative database technology, today announced, at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition, its sponsorship of the International Consortium for Medical Imaging Technology (ICMIT). The ICMIT is a leading world-wide consortium whose objective is to support medical imaging standards. As part of its sponsorship, Informix will provide INFORMIX(R)-Universal Server and DataBlade(R) technology. The technology and support from Informix will aid in the development and implementation of medical imaging technology that in turn will contribute to the improvement of patient diagnosis as well as reductions in healthcare costs. The ICMIT plans to develop a DataBlade module for the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) Standard. The DataBlade module will encompass all approved DICOM modalities (ultrasound, x-rays, angiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, computed radiography) as well as additional modalities still in draft form (nuclear medicine, pathology, and others). The DICOM Standard is a set of rules that allows medical images to be exchanged between instruments, computers, and hospitals anywhere in the world. The established common format guarantees a medical image produced on one vendor's machine will be displayable on the workstation of another vendor. "Informix is a welcome sponsor for the ICMIT because it has advanced SQL-3 technology that represents our vision of the future," stated Forbes Dewey, professor of mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-director of the ICMIT. "The ICMIT is committed to open system client-server architectures for the delivery of healthcare information. The emerging standard for SQL-3 supports data objects such as medical images. We are excited that the Informix DataBlade technology will allow us to build our support of DICOM images using SQL-3 and the other two de facto object-oriented standard programming languages: JAVA and C++. Informix's support of these three standards means we can build systems today that will be in the mainstream of database technology for the next decade," added Dewey. Based at MIT in Cambridge, Ma. and Imperial College in London, UK, the ICMIT is comprised of some of the world's leading medical universities and non-profit institutions including: The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, USA; Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne, Switzerland; Johns Hopkins University, USA; Linkoping University, Sweden; Nara Research Institute, Japan; Royal Brompton Hospital London, UK; University of California San Francisco, USA; University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; University Hospital Sao Paolo, Brazil; The Fraunhofer Biomedical Institute, Germany; and The University of Tokyo, Japan. "The use of medical images in the diagnostic process is crucial to the practice of cardiology, neurology, surgery, obstetrics, orthopedics, and pulmonary medicine," stated Prof. Richard Kitney, co-director of the ICMIT and head of the Center for Biological and Medical Systems at Imperial College. "The ICMIT is continuously creating and exploiting new advances in imaging modalities, computer hardware and software, and network technology to store, retrieve, analyze, and deliver image data to the diagnosing physician. In the future, database technology will be a determining factor in the delivery of this information to the clinical decision site." "We believe that through our partnership with ICMIT, and it's world renowned member institutions, Informix will help enable the development of the first truly integrated electronic patient record," said Michael Smith, manager of world-wide healthcare marketing at Informix. "The benefits of providing direct access to a wide range of clinical information, much of which is unmanaged today in a relational database, will provide care givers the ability to provide better care, at a much lower cost." About ICMIT The ICMIT is comprised of a limited number of members and sponsors who have agreed to share their resources to create, develop, and deploy new technology to deliver medical diagnostic information in a distributed healthcare environment. In addition to its work with the DICOM imaging standard and databases that make use of it, there are major efforts in high-speed networks and telemedicine, image compression, image analysis, and medical education systems. The ICMIT's world wide web site is http://ICMIT.mit.edu. 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. More information about Informix is available via the World Wide Web at http://www.informix.com. ### (C)1997 Informix Software, Inc.