IIUG Alert (Issue #15)
January 25, 2002

Other Issues

Welcome to the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Alert! It contains time-sensitive material for the IBM Informix community. You are receiving it because you are an IIUG member or a local Informix user group leader. Please provide feedback via e-mail to ug@iiug.org.

In the January 11 version of this alert, we asked you to participate in a survey about the last user conference. The survey also solicited your ideas for FUTURE conferences. Time is limited, so please help! Details: http://www.iiug.org/cgi-bin/fglcl.cgi?iicsurvey

CONTENTS:

1. Informix User Conference(IUC): September 9-13, 2002 -- Anaheim, California
2. IUC Call for Papers, Call for Ideas
3. Winning Database Configurations: An IBM Informix Database Survey
4. Informix-4GL Roundtable Discussion: Options for Access to DB2
5. Local User Group (LUG) Corner: Speaker Support for LUGs, Chicago Group
6. Useful Links
7. Closing and Credits

Informix User Conference(IUC): September 9-13, 2002 -- Anaheim, California

Mark your calendar! The next Informix User Conference (IUC) will be held during the week of September 9-13, 2002, in Anaheim, California, USA. IUC 2002 will be an integral part of the overall IBM Data Management Technical Conference and will run in parallel with the DB2 & Business Intelligence conference. (Informix products are part of the Data Management group at IBM, along with DB2 and other data-related products.)

By bringing these two conferences together into one event, the Informix community will be able to network and learn about all of the Data Management solutions, products, and services. IBM Informix customers will continue to have the option of attending a 3-day event (similar to previous conferences) or a new 4.5-day event.

The new 4.5-day conference will repeat popular sessions during the last 1.5 days of the conference. This expanded schedule will allow attendees to pack in all the sessions they need! Plus, the 10 Informix tracks and 17 DB2/BI tracks will be available to all attendees throughout the conference no matter how many days you choose to attend. We hope to see you there!

Look for registration to begin in March. Early-bird and IIUG member discounts will be available. So, mark your calendar and plan to attend IUC 2002 in Anaheim!! We will keep you up-to-date with the latest information on the IUC 2002 conference as it becomes available -- watch this Alert and www.iiug.org.

IUC Call for Papers, Call for Ideas

The IUC planning committee needs your input to make the IUC 2002 conference another great conference!

How can you help? IBM and the IIUG are currently in the process of defining the content for this annual conference. Tell us what you would like to see for the breakout sessions and tutorials. Are you interested in technology and solution-oriented product presentations, success stories, roadmaps, panel discussions with experts in a specific area, introduction to other IBM products, or a discussion on WAP, Web, OLTP, Business Intelligence, Connectivity, Tools, DataMart and Data Warehousing technologies?? Please help us decide.

Your time is valuable so make the most of it by getting what you want at IUC 2002! IBM wants to make sure that the User Conference meets your needs and that they address the issues you need to know about. Tell us what you want and we will try to integrate your requests when planning your Informix User Conference. Also remember the "REMINDER" at the beginning of this ALERT that urges you to complete the conference survey at:

http://www.iiug.org/cgi-bin/fglcl.cgi?iicsurvey

To submit your name and abstract for a presentation for this year's conference, go to:

http://www.iiug.org/call4papers.html

You can also use our site to submit ideas for what you would like to see presented by fellow users,IBM Business Partners,IBM architects, developers, or marketing personnel. Submit your ideas at:

http://www.iiug.org/iictopics.html

Winning Database Configurations: An IBM Informix Database Survey

Marty Lurie has published the results of a survey that was assisted and promoted by the IIUG. It is truly a "must read" for our readership. Don't miss this great opportunity to gain valuable insight for the price of a couple mouse clicks.

This article answers such questions as "How are database servers used and configured?" and "How much hardware does it take to process a large amount of data?" The article states: "The answers often lie with the database administrators (DBAs), who, through many hard-earned lessons, have found configurations that work well." Are you intrigued? This article gives great insight into these tough questions as it presents the results of a survey on more than 60 IBM Informix servers deployed at over 40 organizations.

The article is currently the main feature article at the Informix Developer Zone web page at:

http://www.ibm.com/software/data/developer/informix

Click on the featured title to get the full version of this extremely useful and informative article!

Marty graciously credits the IIUG for being "very helpful in promoting and encouraging participation in the survey." As with any survey, without a minimal level of participation, the results are not meaningful so he would like to thank the IIUG for their support.

About the Author:

Marty Lurie started his computer career generating chads while attempting to write Fortran on an IBM 1130. His day-job is in Systems Engineering for IBM's Informix organization, but if pressed he will admit he mostly plays with computers. His favorite program is the one he wrote to connect his Nordic Track to his laptop (the laptop lost two pounds, and lowered its cholesterol by 20%). Marty is an IBM-certified DB2 DBA, IBM- certified Business Intelligence Solutions Professional, and an Informix- certified Professional. He can be reached at lurie@us.ibm.com.

Don't miss this great article!

Informix-4GL Roundtable Discussion: Options for Access to DB2

Register by January 29th by emailing the following information to Meg Hilbert at megh@us.ibm.com: - Name, Company Name, Title, Address, Phone, and Email.

After your registration is processed you will receive a phone number and password that will allow you to participate in a session. The number of participants will be limited for each call, but the group will hold several calls throughout the day, depending on your timezone. We hope that you can participate!

Local User Group (LUG) Corner: Meeting Schedules, Speaker Support for LUGs, Chicago User Groups

* Continued Support.. Dawn Shannon, User Group Program Manager, recently informed the IIUG that LUGs will receive continued speaker support this year from IBM. Paul Rivot, Director of DM Product Management, has graciously agreed to approve travel of his Product Managers to present at local user group meetings. The current request process will remain in place, so there will be no disruptions to LUG speaker support! Contact the IIUG's program manager for more information (ug@iiug.org).

* Great Lakes Informix User Group (GLIUG, Chicago) Coming Back.. Via the efforts of Ron Flannery, James Edmiston, the IIUG, and IBM, we are going to bring back the GLIUG meetings! The first meeting is scheduled in March. For more information please subscribe to the GLIUG E-newsletter or see the GLIUG's Web site at: http://www.iiug.org/gliug

* Recent and Upcoming Meetings.. USA LUG events were recently held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and St. Louis, Missouri with upcoming events slated for the Informix User Group of Northern California (IUGNC) at Menlo Park, California and a German User Group Workshop. Also, the Mexico City Users Group will hold their inaugural event February 27.

* Events and Upcoming Meetings... Contact information may be obtained by visiting the events calendar at http://www.iiug.org/calendar/events.html

Useful Links

See the 2001 IIC Recap Photo Feature Now!
http://www.iiug.org/calendar/iic/IICrecap.html

Upcoming IBM US Conferences
http://www-3.ibm.com/services/learning/conf/index.php

Informix Page within IBM PartnerWorld for Developers
http://www.developer.ibm.com/data/informindex.php

IBM Informix Homepage
http://www-4.ibm.com/software/data/informix/

Recent Data Management Product Announcements
http://www-4.ibm.com/software/data/launch/

Informix News from IBM Data Management
http://www-4.ibm.com/software/data/news/informix.html

Closing and Credits

The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an international organization designed to enhance communications between IBM Informix and its worldwide user community. IIUG is now approaching 13,000 members and enjoys major support from IBM's Data Management division. We also help local user groups get started and promoted.

If you do not wish to receive future editions of the IIUG Alert, click on the link below or paste it in your browser and use it to log in. Click on the Membership button and scroll to the bottom of the form and uncheck the box for IIUG Alerts. You must click on the Update button to record the change.

Sources: IIUG Board of Directors
Editors: David Smith and Ron Flannery, IIUG Board of Directors
For comments, please send an email to ug@iiug.org