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The Aga Khan University, my organization, is based in KARACHI, Pakistan. This University is also running a 500 bed hospital. We are, currently, using MAGIC based softwares from MEDITECH. Since the online support would be costly, we had purchased their development systems and source codes as well, in the beginning, i.e. 1985 onward. From then, onward we are customising and maintenaing these softwares on our own. We are 25 programmer working in this departmet called Information Systems Department, which in turn is controlled by Director, Information Technology. The software is running on 3 DIGITAL ALPHA machines and 1 AVIION machine. There are 250+ terminal (dumb esprit terminals) are connected to these machines thru a PACX. Also Some 200 PC's are also connecting these machine thru telnet. The software includes, ADMISIION, MEDICAL RECORDS, PATIENT REGISTERATION, PHARMACY, PHYSICIAN ORDER ENTERY, MATERIEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, EXECUTIVE INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION CHARGS, RADIOLOGY, LABORATORY, you just name a function in hospital, and we have some sort of solution for those function in MAGIC. We have more than 900,000 patients registed with us in our medical records system which is online available to all the registeration counters. We also have more than 9M visits of these patients in our database. We want to completely switch over from this platform to some OPEN platform (I want INFORMIX). We have recently bought INFORMIX OWS 7.3 and switched our PAYROLL, LIBRARY, & HUMAN RESOURCE system to this platform. We are using single CPU (intel) box with RAID, under SCO Open Server 5.0. The problem is: We are in PAKISTAN, and we donot have very good support over here. The representatives, INNOVATIVE COMPUTERS do not have much expertise as against the ORACLE people. So the inclinationis towards ORACLE. There peoples are constantly visiting us and using their marketing techniques, And I believe Art S. Kagel (kage@bloomberg.net) that we will need more DBAS for all those applications, as against informix requirements. Secondly, we have rumours, and no place to confirm, that INFORMIX is rapidly loosing market share against ORACLE and SQL server in North America. Informix will not be able to sustain pressure from MICROSOFT. The future is MICROSOFT, even in Databases. Thirdly, marketing strategy of Informix is very poor. We will not be able to get the support if in trouble?! (Remember we are in Pakistan, and local representative are not technically qualified !!!) How can you help me in preparing my papers. Thanks a lot to those also who have replied. Thanks agina, and bye. Shahid Mehmood Software Designer II Information Systems Department The Aga Khan University Karachi -----Original Message----- From: Dick Snoke [SMTP:dsnoke@informix.com] Sent: Friday, October 29, 1999 20:10 To: shahid.mehmood@aku.edu Subject: Re: Informix, Oracle and SQL Server At 09:26 AM 10/29/1999, you wrote: >My organization is using a proprietary software called MAGIC, from >MEDITECH, a US based company, specialized in Health Services softwares. We >are using this since 1985. > >Now we have decided to switch over from this CLOSED palteform to some OPEN >platform. We have three choices with us, namely INFORMIX OWS, ORACLE, 8 AND >MS-SQL server. > >I have been given a task to assess INFORMIX. Can any one of you help me, >WHY WE SHOULD SWITCH OVER TO INFORMIX OWS (any latest version)? First, I'd argue for a move to the regular Informix Dynamic Server.2000, release 9.20 rather than any other version. That's the latest release, and it is the release most comparable to Oracle8i. Comparing Oracle8i to our older releases is an unfair comparison. That would be like comparing Oracle7 to IDS.2000. Both are unfair comparisons. So first let's agree that we should be comparing the latest and best offerings from each vendor. > >BTW: I am a INFORMIX FAN, and working as INFORMIX DBA (OWS 7.3 on SCO-UNIX >OPEN SERVER 5.0) since last one and half year. All the development we have >done over here in informix is done by me or under my supervision. So >INFORMIX is my first love! > >But my boses wants me to prove to them that INFORMIX is GOOD. We need criteria. I will offer my opinion, but your boss may have other criteria. Its his choice, but without knowing the standards, its hard to make a cogent arguement. Informix is GOOD for several reasons. First, we are a long-time participant in the UNIX and NT RDBMS industry. Informix was the very first UNIX-based RDBMS, and we have a number of other "firsts" to our credit. However, Oracle also has a long history as our competitor. Second, Informix does have the best technology on the planet (at least in the RDBMS area.) This is borne out by numerous analyst reports and other evaluations. However, this is the most subjective area to discuss. One's opinion often depends on the nature of the application to be used with the RDBMS. Perhaps you can describe the application in more detail. Lastly, Informix has a large and growing customer base in the healthcare market. We do know what's needed and can supply the appropriate solutions. For more info, I'd urge you to contact your local Informix sales office. Let me know if you need help finding them. Clearly I am biased. I work for Informix. Dick > >CAN ANY ONE HELP ME! > >Shahid Mehmood >Software Designer II >Information Systems Department >The Aga Khan University >Karachi > Dick Snoke dsnoke@informix.com Partner Engineering 770-395-2308 Informix Software 5 Concourse Parkway Suite 1500 Atlanta, Georgia 30328