PRESS - INFORMIX TO ACQUIRE STANFORD TECHNOLOGY GROUP

INFORMIX TO ACQUIRE STANFORD TECHNOLOGY GROUP Informix Strengthens Leadership Position in Data Warehousing With Integration of Industry-Leading OLAP Technology MENLO PARK, Calif., (October 25, 1995) -- Informix Software Inc. (NASDAQ:IFMX), the leader in parallel processing database technology, today announced an agreement to acquire San Francisco, California-based Stanford Technology Group, Inc. (STG), the premier provider of multidimensional data access and relational on-line analytical processing (OLAP) technology. The acquisition reinforces Informix's technology leadership position in the data warehouse market by integrating an OLAP/relational solution, versus the competition's OLAP/proprietary approach. The integration of Informix's industry-leading relational database technology with STG's MetaCube(TM) multidimensional OLAP software will provide Informix customers with performance, flexibility and scalability beyond any data warehousing solution available today. OLAP technology is a critical component of a data warehouse environment since it provides a high-level, multidimensional view of the business metrics, enabling customers to gain competitive advantage through targeted informed business decisions. Informix elected to integrate OLAP technology into its relational database technology through an open, OLAP/relational approach that would allow queries to run against the relational database rather than through a separate, proprietary OLAP database. This approach provides users with scalable, flexible query capabilities within the data warehouse's core relational database, thereby leveraging a customer's investment. Conversely, the OLAP/proprietary approach requires customers to purchase, load, and maintain an additional proprietary database such as Oracle's IRI Express product. According to a July 7, 1995 report, Boston-based Aberdeen Group recommends an OLAP/relational approach as it "combines powerful, flexible query capabilities with a scalable multi-tier architecture while symbiotically depending on and leveraging the vastly improved capabilities of today's parallel-scalable relational databases." Aberdeen Group also notes that separate "multidimensional databases become less practical as database sizes approach between 20 gigabytes and 50 gigabytes -- and there are now hundreds of sites with very large databases exceeding 100 gigabytes." "This acquisition is a direct result of our customers' requests to integrate OLAP capabilities into our database in order to optimize performance and scalability for their data warehousing solutions," said Phil White, chairman and CEO, Informix. "STG offers state-of-the-art OLAP technology operating in an open environment, with an optimal architecture ideally suited for integration with our Dynamic Scalable Architecture (TM) (DSA)." "In marrying the best relational database engine and the best OLAP/relational technology, we have the opportunity to shape the data warehouse landscape," said Kirill Sheynkman, president, Stanford Technology Group. The MetaCube technology is a perfect complement to Informix's open strategy. MetaCube currently supports a variety of database servers including Oracle, Sybase, Tandem, IBM DB2, and Teradata. Also, any front-end tools that are OLE and ODBC-compliant can be used with MetaCube. In addition, Informix intends to continue its partnerships with other OLAP vendors such as MicroStrategy, Information Advantage, and Prodea. The acquisition will be accounted for as a pooling of interests, involving the issuance of approximately 570,000 newly issued Informix shares. STG's MetaCube MetaCube is the industry's leading OLAP technology providing high-performance access to very large data warehouses through its intelligent multi-tier architecture. MetaCube employs metadata to present a high-level, multidimensional view of the data warehouse that matches the way users and decision makers intuitively understand their business. For example, a user might want to view sales data by product line, by time period, or by region, and arrange the data along combinations of these business dimensions. The MetaCube technology also supports open standards such as OLE and ODBC. 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. The company's corporate headquarters is in Menlo Park, California. More information about Informix is available via the World Wide Web: http://www.informix.com. ### -- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 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