PRESS RELEASE: Informix Connects To DB2 With Industry's First DRDA Compliant Gateway
Informix Connects To DB2 With Industry's First DRDA Compliant Gateway Non-Proprietary Software Offers Tremendous Cost Advantage to Mainframe Sites MENLO PARK, Calif. (June 30, 1993) Informix Software, Inc., (NASDAQ: IFMX) today announced that INFORMIX-Gateway with DRDA is now available for connecting Informix-based applications to DB2 databases. Informix is the first independent software vendor to deliver support for IBM's Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA), a de facto standard that defines how distributed, client/server tools and applications can connect and gain access to heterogeneous databases. Beta testing has been completed by key Informix customers in the banking, retail and telecommunications industries. INFORMIX-Gateway with DRDA is available today on the Sun SPARC and IBM RISC/6000 platforms. A port to the HP 9000/8xx will follow within 90 days. INFORMIX-Gateway with DRDA is UNIX-based and allows interoperability to IBM SAA databases such as DB2 and SQL/400 from Microsoft DOS/Windows and UNIX clients. Applications built with Informix development tools, such as INFORMIX-4GL, and the company's embedded SQL precompilers, INFORMIX-ESQL/C, INFORMIX-ESQL/COBOL, and INFORMIX-ESQL/FORTRAN, are now able to transparently access and modify information in DRDA-compliant database management systems. INFORMIX-Gateway with DRDA is the only connectivity product for mainframe databases that does not require users to purchase high priced host- or mainframe-resident gateway products. "We are pleased to see Informix deliver on its commitment to support the DRDA specification and bring to market a product that gives our customers significantly improved interoperability and productivity in an open systems environment," said George Zagelow, manager, Architecture and Standards at IBM's Santa Teresa Laboratory. "Bellcore needs this type of technology because it is important for us to provide access to our databases through open protocols such as DRDA," said Gomer Thomas, member of technical staff at Bellcore,-an Informix beta site tester. "We are proud to be the first independent software vendor to release a product based on the DRDA specification," said Tim Shetler, vice president of Product Marketing at Informix. "Because our product is based on DRDA -an IBM standard, our product will not become obsolete like all the non-DRDA proprietary gateways pushed by other database vendors. This endurance of our solution adds tremendous value into the equation." "INFORMIX-Gateway with DRDA will provide mainframe developers an easy migration path to rightsizing their systems," Shetler continued. "With our product, developers will now be able to open up their systems to take advantage of application development tools available on UNIX and PC-based Windows environments while at the same time transparently integrating existing production databases." DRDA is IBM's published architecture that provides connectivity among Relational Database Management Systems that run in heterogeneous environments. DRDA supports Structured Query Language (SQL) as the standard interface that applications use to access distributed relational data, and provides access to remote data with the security and integrity features required by sophisticated production database applications. Pricing and Competition Informix has set an aggressive single server price of $25,000 for INFORMIX-Gateway with DRDA as compared to its competition. The price is for unlimited users and may be used with the largest of UNIX server and mainframe products. Competitors' pricing varies substantially based on number of users and platform. For unlimited number of users, customers running DB2 on an MVS platform will pay a price of up to $169,000 from Oracle and $205,000 from Sybase. About Informix Informix Software, Inc., provides the most complete and productive database technology to build, deploy, run and evolve applications. Informix products include powerful distributed database management systems, robust application development tools, and graphical- and character-based productivity software for delivering information to every significant desktop platform. With corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Informix has European headquarters in London, and Asia/Pacific headquarters in Singapore. ### -- -- -- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 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