PRESS INFORMIX AND HEWLETT-PACKARD FORM DATA WAREHOUSING ALLIANCE

INFORMIX AND HEWLETT-PACKARD FORM DATA WAREHOUSING ALLIANCE Customer sites include DHL, GTE and Home Depot MENLO PARK, Calif., (December 6, 1994) -- Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:IFMX), the leader in parallel processing database technology, and Hewlett-Packard Company, the world's leading supplier of open client/server systems, today announced a strategic alliance to provide best-in-class, client/server-based data warehousing solutions. The Informix/HP team offers a unique combination of superior technology and strategic partnerships that provide an open environment for customers to build powerful, customized data warehouses. The HP/Informix solution incorporates Informix's high-performance parallel processing database server, INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server, and HP's market-leading UNIX(R) systems-based business servers. In addition, through successful third-party programs such as InSync from Informix and OpenWarehouse from HP, customers may select their preferred partners for addressing the data modeling, data access and system integration components of a data warehouse. The companies have also established a Competency Testing Center in New Jersey to provide customers with an environment for modeling and testing high-end custom applications such as data warehouses, and for producing on-line transaction processing (OLTP) benchmarks. The Informix/HP alliance has resulted in the implementation of data warehouses at customer sites including DHL, GTE and Home Depot. The data warehouse solutions created by the Informix/HP alliance are an integral part of HP's Mainframe Alternative (MFA) program, in which more than 1,000 companies have downsized their mainframes and applications to client/server systems based on the HP 9000 server. "The Informix/HP team offers customers an RDBMS with outstanding scalability and performance, a hardware platform that continues to be the top-selling UNIX platform, and a multitude of established partners to enable customers to work with their preferred vendors," said Phil White, chairman and CEO of Informix Software. "Our customers can attest that our competitors either don't provide the necessary scalability and/or the openness to cost-effectively and successfully implement a data warehouse." "Access to an integrated pool of business-critical information from a variety of sources is a requirement for today's enterprisewide decision-support solutions," said Carol G. Mills, general manager of HP's General Systems Division. "By teaming with Informix and other third parties, we're providing a full range of flexible data warehousing solutions tailored to meet the business needs of customers. These data warehouse solutions are providing customers such as Home Depot with reduced IT costs, easier access to critical data and accessibility from multiple points." "Informix and HP's superior products and firm commitment to open systems were unmatched by the other vendors we evaluated," said Ron Griffin, CIO of Home Depot. "Both companies demonstrated a level of determination to do it right, and that's why we're doing business with them." Data Warehousing Data warehousing has traditionally been done on a mainframe environment, where large amounts of data have been stored and manipulated. With Informix's OnLine Dynamic Server and HP's business servers, companies can move their data off the mainframe and into a more flexible, cost-effective, open systems environment -- and thereby take advantage of improved price/performance and enhanced scalability. Informix and HP's advanced parallel capabilities allow users to build data warehouses that better serve end user needs, analyze historical data to make strategic decisions, and research trends on markets and competition by consolidating data from various sources into one easy-to-use reference database. Through their respective products, service offerings and third-party programs, Informix and HP offer all of the key technologies for implementing an open systems-based data warehouse. Informix and HP recognize the following components as critical for successful data warehousing solutions: Data Modeling -- An analysis that requires selecting pertinent data from operational source databases and modeling it into a data warehouse. This analysis is often done internally by the corporation, or through consultation services. Data Extract Transformation and Maintenance Tools -- These software tools automate the process of extracting data from various sources and place it in the data warehouse database. Partners in this area include Carleton Corporation, Evolutionary Technologies and Prism Solutions. Relational Database Technology -- Informix provides the only core parallel technology that features data partitioning, parallel query, parallel loading and indexing, and dynamic system management -- all critical to a data warehouse environment. Open System Hardware Platforms -- HP is widely acknowledged by industry analysts as the leading provider of commercial UNIX system-based platforms. The HP 9000 offers customers outstanding price/performance, scalability and availability along with a comprehensive offering of third-party commercial software for decision-support and data warehousing applications. Data Access Tools -- Effective data access and application development tools for decision support are necessary to provide data warehouse interfaces and applications. Informix and HP work with many key vendors in this area including: Business Objects Inc., Information Advantage Inc., and MicroStrategy Inc. Informix also offers its own products for end user access and decision support applications such as INFORMIX-NewEra and INFORMIX-ViewPoint Pro. System Integration Consulting Services -- Informix and HP have arrangements with major systems integrators throughout the world, including companies specializing in data warehousing such as Systems House (SHL) and HP's Professional Service Organization. HP OpenWarehouse HP OpenWarehouse, a major component of HP's Mainframe Alternative initiative, is HP's overall program for delivering full open-systems data warehousing solutions to major corporations. OpenWarehouse is comprised of a framework for designing customer data warehouses based on best-of-class HP and third-party hardware/software components, and a full range of consulting methodologies and service products for designing and deploying data warehouses. HP's Intelligent Warehouse, a major component of OpenWarehouse, is made up of software, middleware and administrative tools that make large, multi-site, open enterprise data warehouses easier to manage and use. Intelligent Warehouse is fully integrated with the INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server. About HP HP is the second-largest computer supplier in the United States, with computer revenue in excess of $19.6 billion in its 1994 fiscal year. HP is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 98,400 employees and had revenue of $25 billion in its 1994 fiscal year. About Informix Inform