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IIUG Insider (Issue #46)
01 April 2004

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Highlights: Gary profiled, CopperEye, Forum 2004, IBM announcements & More...

Welcome to the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Insider! Designed for IIUG members and Informix user group leaders, this publication contains timely and relevant information for the IBM Informix community.

Contents:

  1. Gary Ben-Israel Profiled
  2. FAQ about CDI and Informix List
  3. WAIUG Forum 2004
  4. CopperEye Datablade for IDS
  5. Red Brick Gold Analytic Offering Announced
  6. Complimentary IBM Informix Professional Certification Exam Preparation Document
  7. Download the IDS Problem Determination Self-Study Series for Free
  8. Check Out the Courses Offered by Education Centers for IBM Software
  9. Get Up to 40% Off Some DB2 Information Management Books
  10. New DB2 Information Management Professional Certification Roadmaps
  11. Useful Links
  12. Closing and Credits

Gary Ben-Israel Profiled

Q: How do you use Informix in your "real" job (DBA, Consultant, Developer, etc.)?
A: Officially I am the CIO of my company. But I am deeply involved in database design and administration and software development.
 
Q: How long have you been using Informix products?
A: I started in 1993 with Informix 5 and moved on to IDS 7 and IDS 9.
 
Q: What is your role on the IIUG Board?
A: I will be helping out with the Insider.
 
Q: Why did you volunteer to be on the Board?
A: I have received great help from the IIUG for over 10 years I feel it is my turn to contribute.
 
Q: What do you want to accomplish this year on the Board?
A: I would like to address regional problems and to enhance relationships between local user groups and the IIUG.
 
Q: Where are you from?
A: I am from Jerusalem, Israel.
 
Q: Best Informix story?
A: IDS 7 to IDS 9: We just took the machine down on 7 and up on 9. There was no need for Export/Import nor recompiling of 1.5 Million lines of 4GL code.
 
Q: Worst Informix nightmare?
A: None. With Informix I sleep well at night.
 
Q: Can you tell us about your family and hobbies outside of IIUG?
A: I am married and have three children. My hobbies are reading, hiking and Tai Chi.

FAQ about CDI and Informix List

"The informix-list@iiug.org mailing list is a bi-directional gateway to the comp.databases.informix (c.d.i) UseNet news group..." Thanks to Jonathan Leffler: he put out a very comprehensive FAQ about CDI, which you can find on the IIUG web site at: http://www.iiug.org/resources/cdifaq.html.


WAIUG Forum 2004

If you plan to attend only one event this year, this one must be it: great content, great people, great day...

Wednesday, April 21, 2004
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Northern Virginia Community College
8333 Little River Turnpike
Annandale, VA

For more information, visit: http://www.iiug.org/waiug/present/Forum2004/forum2004.html.

IIUG President, Stuart Litel will be there to answer all your questions regarding IIUG. Current, and past, board members will be there too, come and meet Lester Knutsen, Cindy Lichtenauer (our current Lug nut), Hal Maner, Jean Georges Perrin...


CopperEye Datablade for IDS

IIUG offers room for software vendors to express themselves in the Insider. This month, we will discover CopperEye, with its revolutionary Datablade for IDS.

"The first new Datablade since IBM's acquisition of Informix has been developed by CopperEye, Ltd., a software firm based in Bath, U.K. The CopperEye Datablade provides a high-performance replacement for the standard Informix B-Tree index. It is unique from other Datablades in that it is a general-purpose solution suitable for all types of scalar data, rather than being targeted at specific types of information such as time-series or geospatial.

The CopperEye Datablade replaces the standard Informix B-Tree index with CopperEye's own patented indexing approach that exhibits significantly improved maintenance performance. In benchmarks conducted jointly with IBM, performance improvements of up to 6X were seen in both concurrent scenarios and scenarios with multiple indexes and multiple fragments.

The CopperEye Datablade can have the greatest impact for Informix customers dealing with very large data volumes where they are running up against batch window limitations as the volume of data has grown. Becoming disk-bound for index inserts is the typical bottleneck in these situations, which is exactly the area CopperEye addresses by dramatically reducing the disk I/O associated with maintaining the index. The significant performance improvement possible with CopperEye can have a dramatic operational impact without costly hardware investments that may not eliminate the performance bottleneck.

The CopperEye Datablade is currently in Beta. Companies using Informix who are interested in more information or to be considered for participation in the Beta program can contact CopperEye at datablade@coppereye.com or visit http://www.coppereye.com."


Red Brick Gold Analytic Offering Announced

IBM extends data federation to Red Brick users by including DB2 Information Integrator in the Red Brick Gold Analytic offering and delivers Informix Dynamic Server Workgroup Edition Unlimited license.

More info

(PDF Version available at: http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/4/897/ENUS204-054/ENUS204-054.PDF)


Complimentary IBM Informix Professional Certification Exam Preparation Document

The DB2 Information Management Professional Certification team has recently updated the Informix exam preparation document. This document for exam 915 (formerly 660-612) can help you better prepare to become an IBM Certified Solutions Expert. This document covers role description, requirements, objectives and preparation suggestions. For more information or to download please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/education/certprep.html.


Download the IDS Problem Determination Self-Study Series for Free

Now you can download the Informix Dynamic Server Problem Determination Self-Study Series for Free. This complimentary series of eight tutorials is designed to assist anyone supporting or developing in an IDS environment. Candidates will learn to quickly identify problems or errors encountered therefore accelerating the total time to problem resolution and reducing dependence on IBM customer support. Get started today and check out the tutorials: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/support/pdm/idstutorials.html.


Check Out the Courses Offered by Education Centers for IBM Software

To ensure that you have access to the best possible training options to fulfill your diverse training needs, we have built a worldwide network of selected training partners. These partners are authorized Education Centers for IBM Software (ECIS) to offer you consistent, quality training on the complete DB2 Information Management Software portfolio around the world. For more info please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/education.


Get Up to 40% Off Some DB2 Information Management Books

Get up to 40% off many of the latest releases through the DB2 Information Management Books Web site! IBM has developed a specialized books Web site for DB2 information management publications. This site features the latest titles on certification as well as books to help you get started and advanced titles to help you take your skills to the next level. Simply click on the title (s) of your choice and you will be quickly linked to the discount web site where you can purchase books using your major credit card. http://www.ibm.com/software/data/education/bookstore.

For Informix-specific books, please visit Click here


New DB2 Information Management Professional Certification Roadmaps

To help you begin and prepare for professional certification, we have created a series of certification roadmaps to help you define and map out your certification path. We offer a variety of job-related certifications for our DB2 information management software products. Our roadmaps are designed to provide a comprehensive, concise view of all the exams and roles available as well as provide you with the most efficient path to achieve the various levels of certification. To view please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/education/cert/roadmaps.html.


Useful Links

In response to your input, we have created a new page on the IIUG web site containing all the links we used to include. Please find it at: http://www.iiug.org/quicklinks.html

Please visit the IBM Redbooks web site at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/mail for more details and up-to-the-minute technical information.


Closing and Credits

The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between its worldwide user community and IBM. IIUG's membership database now exceeds 18,000 entries and enjoys the support and commitment of IBM's Data Management division. Key programs include local user groups and special interest groups, which we promote and assist from launch through growth.

Sources:IIUG Board of Directors
IBM Corp.
Editors: Jean Georges Perrin
Fred Hubbard
Ron Flannery
Sam Gentsch
Gary Ben-Israel
For comments, please send an email to enews@iiug.org.