PRESS: Informix in the News -- 11/25/96

List of Informix related articles. Format: PUBLICATION "Article Name" Summary of Article [Date, Location in Publication, Author] _____________________________________________ Informix in the News -- 11/25/96 INFORMATIONWEEK "The next wave: Informix bets big" This article examines how Informix is defining itself as a leader in providing an object/relational database and why customers are eagerly awaiting delivery of the product. Informix plans to charge customers approximately $2,500 per user -- as much as $1,000 per user more than they now pay to use Informix's relational database. Informix CEO Phil White is counting on IT managers to pay a premium for Universal Server. The article names Informix's beta customers for its Universal Server: Bass Pro Shop, BT [British Telecom], GE Information Services, General Dynamics and Sabre. In its first release, INFORMIX-Universal Server will support Sun and Silicon Graphics UNIX systems. Support for other UNIX platforms and Windows NT will come in the first half of 1997. (11/25/96, cover, John Foley and Lisa Nadile) Additional coverage: INFORMATIONWEEK ON-LINE (on-line version) "Informix bets big" (11/25/96, on-line, John Foley) COMPUTERWORLD "Informix gets object-enabled jump on Oracle" Informix plans to introduce its relational/object database next week, giving the company a jump on Oracle in providing users with one platform for building multimedia Internet applications. Analysts note that Illustra's user base and DataBlade deals with third-party vendors will give Informix's Universal Server a big advantage over IBM's DB2. Informix customer CitySearch, Inc., which chose Illustra over Oracle, plans to migrate to Informix's Universal Server early next year. "Oracle is going to provide the same functionality, but we can't afford to wait, and Informix is here first," states Jeffrey Brewer, vice president of technology at CitySearch. Oracle supports multimedia data in its own Universal Server, a package of separate database engines that is "more of a name, than a reality," according to Dan Kusnetzky, and analyst with International Data Corp. (11/25/96, pg. 8, Craig Stedman) INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY "Does Informix database actually leapfrog Oracle?" Next month, Informix will roll out its new database server -- INFORMIX-Universal Server. Informix CEO Phil White says the new database gives his company an 18-month lead over Oracle. Analysts agree that Informix has the lead, but Informix must overcome some obstacles including lack luster financials and weak marketing. "The bottom line is they're out first and that counts for a lot," said Stan Dolberg from Forrester Research. Industry analysts also like Informix's DataBlade technology, software that plugs into the database to add special features. "The DataBlade concept is very clever because it releases Informix from the burden of having to develop everything," said Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst with International Data Corp. (11/21/96, pg. A10, Michele Hostetler) INFORMATIONWEEK "A news twist on groupware" Intranets are more cost-effective than conventional groupware products; they use a Web browser interface that makes it easier to use and share information, and they offer an open environment. BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp., a $1.7 billion Yellow Pages publisher, has more than 50 major projects in the works at any given time. BellSouth has decided to develop its own intranet groupware application to examine the status of projects across the entire company, allowing executives to drill down and manage those projects. Users will be able to automatically route issues. BellSouth's executive information system will use INFORMIX-OnLine Workgroup Server with a Netscape browser. Phase two, which will offer a more robust interface, is scheduled for completion at the end of the second quarter 1997. At that time, the company will shift from OnLine Workgroup Server to INFORMIX-Universal Server. (11/18/96, pg. 75, Richard Adhikari) INFORMATIONWEEK ON-LINE "Informix Universal Server to debut Dec. 3" Informix will launch its next-generation Universal Server database, bringing to customers simplified access to new types of data, including images, sound and video. "I think that people are just now beginning to understand that [multimedia] content can make their jobs easier," said Informix CEO Phil White. Analysts say Informix's Universal Server is likely to give Informix's sales a boost, but White says the product is "not critical to our success in the next six to nine months" because Informix's other businesses are doing well. (11/18/96, on-line, Jeff Moad) PC WEEK ON-LINE "Informix Universal Server on track for year-end release" INFORMIX-Universal Server is on schedule to ship by year's end, shipping initially for Solaris and Irix, and will support AIX, HP-UX and Windows NT by mid-1997. By January, Informix expects about 25 third-party DataBlades will be shipping, and expects that number to grow to about 200 by the end of 1997. (11/25/96, pg. 3, staff writer) INFOWORLD "Informix" Informix will announce its Universal Server relational database management system next week, with shipment planned for late December. (11/25/96, pg. 3, staff writer) INFOWORLD "Mastering universal servers" As corporate IS managers put more demands on their Web sites, they are finding that standard file systems can't handle the stresses of new Web-centric computing. IBM, Informix, Oracle and Sybase are racing to implement Universal Server technology to handle complex data types. Both Informix and IBM are building object intelligence into their respective relational engines. Oracle and Sybase opted for a more partitioned architecture, adding object-handling functions externally and relying on middleware to connect to the core database. "We say if you have the right product you don't need middleware,"said Malcolm Colton from Informix. "You can collapse the middleware and mid-tier server layer into our Universal Server." (11/25/96, cover, Mark Leon) PC WEEK ON-LINE "More DataBlades apps on tap for Informix Universal Server" By year's end, Excalibur Technologies Corp. plans to distribute three new DataBlade modules -- FaceRecognition, SceneChange and Real-Time Profiling that aid in search and retrieval for Informix's Universal Server. Excalibur's FaceRecognition DataBlade will let users develop an index based on pictures of faces and then search for images that match a target face. SceneChange lets users detect changes in video streams based on user-defined thresholds, and Real-Time Profiling allows users to define, develop and store profiles and queries that automatically monitor documents. (11/21/96, on-line, Margaret Kane) INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY "Database future in smart cards, telecommuting" In this Q&A article, Phil White discusses database industry trends. White explains that Informix wants to be the storage mechanism that makes electronic commerce a reality. He predicts that electronic commerce will heat-