PRESS $2.0 Billion dollar natural resources company Chooses INFORMIX-NewEra for Enterprise Application Development

$2.0 Billion dollar natural resources company Chooses INFORMIX-NewEra for Enterprise Application Development Freeport-McMoRan To Use New Informix Database Tool To Develop Core Applications For Its Divisions MENLO PARK, Calif. (February 8, 1995) -- Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:IFMX), the leader in parallel processing database technology, today announced that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FTX) a premier developer engaged in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of natural resources, has selected INFORMIX(R)-NewEra(TM) for developing database applications to support its enterprise divisions worldwide. This new deal continues a commitment to Informix database technology as the standard at Freeport-McMoRan for both relational database servers and application development tools. In early 1993, Freeport-McMoRan initially standardized on INFORMIX-OnLine database servers and INFORMIX-4GL development tool for its project to downsize database applications off their mainframe environment to UNIX. INFORMIX-NewEra, Informix's new second generation, object-oriented client/server development environment, will be used to reengineer Freeport-McMoRan's existing production applications, in the areas of finance, and materials management. Other applications such as a human resources/payroll application, currently written in INFORMIX-4GL, will be migrated over to the new graphical development environment as well. Andersen Consulting, a leading systems integrator and Informix partner, will assist in the reengineering effort through an applications outsourcing arrangement with Freeport-McMoRan. The project calls for a 1-2 year period for both development and deployment of NewEra applications for Freeport-McMoRan, located at five major sites worldwide. "We spent a considerable amount of time looking for the right application development environment for us," said Steve Bellis, director, Corporate Management Information Systems. Freeport-McMoran needed a GUI environment that was robust enough for use throughout its affiliates. "We think NewEra will give us the flexibility and scalability to scale our application environment as our business grows, while handling the complex functions and number of users we want to incorporate into our distributed system. NewEra can adapt to our changing business environment." "NewEra will provide many more advantages over Freeport-McMoRan's existing proprietary systems," said Geoff Roach, director of marketing, application development tools, Informix. "Freeport-McMoRan will be able to build graphical applications quickly and easily to distribute across their worldwide sites, without compromising performance. They will have the ability to extend the functionality of their applications to take advantage of a true object-oriented programming environment. And they can feel confident that NewEra will have the power to support their move to a distributed client/server environment." About INFORMIX-NewEra INFORMIX-NewEra is Informix's new object-oriented client/server application development environment for enterprise computing. The product features a powerful and flexible database application language, productive visual programming tools, support for team-oriented development, reusable class libraries, and flexible application deployment, all within a client/server-ready package that supports open connectivity to Informix and non-Informix relational databases. Today, a wide range of customers are using NewEra to create graphical applications for enterprisewide deployment. Some of these customers include: Kuwait Petroleum, Swedish Military Draft Board, Cray Systems, Royal Navy, US Navy, Computer 2000 in Spain, Utell in the UK, and strategic Informix Value-Added Partners, such as Concepts Dynamic, Inc., TECSYS, Inc., and Relevant Business Systems, Inc. About Freeport-McMoRan Freeport-McMoRan is one of the premier natural resource companies in the world, engaged in the exploration, development, mining, production, processing, and marketing of natural resources. Principal products include copper, gold, silver, phosphate fertilizers, phosphate rock, sulfur, and oil. Affiliates include Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX), one of the world's largest and lowest cost copper/gold producers. Freeport-McMoRan Resource Partners, Limited Partnership (NYSE:FRP), through its joint venture with IMC Fertilizer, Inc., is the largest integrated and one of the lowest cost phosphate fertilizer producers in the world. FRP also produces oil at Main Pass Block 299, offshore Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The company also recently acquired Pennzoil Company's sulphur assets in the U.S. About Informix Informix Software is the leading supplier of high performance, parallel processing database technology for open systems. The company's database servers are the number one choice of computer hardware manufacturers for publishing Transaction Processing Council (TPC) benchmarks for UNIX-based systems. Informix products also include application development tools for creating client/server production applications, decision support systems, and ad-hoc query interfaces, and connectivity software that allows information to be shared transparently from PCs to mainframes within the corporate computing environment. Informix corporate headquarters is based in Menlo Park, California. ### Informix is a registered trademark and NewEra is a trademark of Informix Software, Inc. All other companies mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturer. -- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% William Daul Advanced Support INFORMIX SOFTWARE INC. 4100 Bohannon Dr. (415) 926-6488 - wk Menlo Park, CA. 94025 uunet!infmx!billd or billd@informix.com