Other Issues

Highlights: Special 50th Issue, Cloudscape now Open Source, Informix Connection, Great Product News, new Developer Corner & 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. Editorial...
2. Hot News - Cloudscape goes Open Source!
3. Hot News - DB2 Magazine Launches Informix Connection
4. Hot News - Announcing ICON, the Informix Connection Program
5. IIUG - Forum News
6. Event - RedBrick User Group to Meet in Milan, Italy (Sept. 27 & 28)
7. Event - Free Workshop on WebSphere and IDS (Waltham, MA, USA, Aug. 24th to 26th)
8. Event - Querix workshop during Oktoberfest (Munich, Germany, Sept. 27)
9. Product News - Querix Hydra 4.1 now Available
10. Product News - Awoma Launches DB Studio Version 2.2.0
11. Product News - XPS 8.5 Announced
12. Product News - XPS 8.5 in Gold Bundle
13. Service Offerings - Upgrading from SE and OnLine
14. Tech Experience - Configuring Page Cleaning
15. Developer Corner - Calling for EGL Volunteers
16. Developer Corner - IIUG to Host First Ever e-forum on EGL
17. Developer Corner - EGL FAQ cont'ed
18. Useful Links
19. Closing and Credits

Editorial...

What an issue!

This is our 50th issue of the Insider. Our first issue was back in 17 May 2002. The headlines were "IBM Informix SE 7.25 Now Available for Free Download", "IBM Informix Product Portfolio White Paper v.3 - Get It Now!" (I have heard of rumors regarding a V5...), "IBM Steals the Database Crown from Oracle"... Our history of electronic publication comes from May 2000... Could we say "billions" served? Certainly not, but subscription is going up, and that's wonderful.

When it comes to finding some content for the Insider, it can be tough, and sometimes, we need to "recycle" old news. This is certainly not the case of the August 2004 issue. We have nearly 20 subjects, ranging from new events to product news. We even have a full user experience using IDS 9.40; I really want to thank Andrew Watson for that. Finally, we have debuted a Developer Corner, which will focus on EGL (in this issue, more topics to come).

The Insider is evolving, covering more topics, a wider range of subjects and is still highly concentrated on the Informix world.

Please, do not hesitate to send us feedback: enews@iiug.org, we love hearing from you!

Jean Georges Perrin Editor

Hot News - Cloudscape goes Open Source!

Here it goes: "Aug. 3, 2004 -- IBM and the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) today announced that IBM is contributing more than half-million lines of relational database code to the ASF." And we all recall that "Informix paid $85m for the database in 1999".

Nothing is available, yet from the apache.org web site, but we guess everything will be posted in: http://db.apache.org/.

Stay tuned for more information or subscribe to the IIUG Cloudscape forum!

Technical information from IBM developerWorks: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/zones/cloudscape/

More information:

Press release: IBM Contributes Database Software to the Apache Software Foundation

Hot News - DB2 Magazine Launches Informix Connection

This month, more than 10,000 Informix customers will receive a special edition of DB2 Magazine containing Informix-specific articles. Called Informix Connection: The Big Leagues, the insert covers the head-turning new release of IDS 9.4 and features an article by consultant and author Joe Lumbley on how Informix technology is carving out its own niche in the IBM realm. A note from Janet Perna, General Manager of IBM Information Solutions, sheds light on Informix's future at IBM. A second edition of Informix Connection is planned for Quarter 4.

Register to read INFORMIX CONNECTION: THE BIG LEAGUES in a portable e-book format. http://www.db2mag.com/informixcon

INFORMIX CONNECTION: HITTING THE BIG LEAGUES

With a head-turning new release (backed by the full power of IBM's software portfolio), Informix technology blazes onto center field. In this special e-book, you'll find out:

• Innovative ways businesses are using the new release of Informix Dynamic Server
• How Informix technology is finding its niche in the IBM world
• Which integrated tools can help even non-Java programmers develop Informix applications
• What IBM's Janet Perna says about the future of Informix technology
• Details on IBM's donation of Cloudscape code to the Apache Software Foundation

Hot News - Announcing ICON, the Informix Connection Program

IBM has started a new program, dedicated to the Informix community. Here is the letter they requested us to share.

Keeping you connected to IBM and to the latest Informix-related News

Dear IIUG Member:

IBM has just created the Informix Connection Program, or "ICON" for short, and you're invited to join! ICON is designed to keep you informed about the latest Informix news and to help you get the very most from your Informix investment.

ICON membership will connect you with personalized information based upon your specific product and technology interests. You'll be connected with:

• The latest updates on IBM Informix products
• Ongoing opportunities to provide feedback directly to the IBM Informix product team
• Easy access to important white papers, articles, documentation and technical guides about the Informix products
• Questions and Answers - you asked; we answered
• Upcoming events of interest to IBM Informix product users
• Featured member success stories

Enrolling in ICON will take just a few minutes - we'll verify your contact information and your product environment, share some Informix product news, and provide links to information that may be of use to you. All of this will help us to send follow-up communications tailored to your specific needs and interests.

Click here to enroll in ICON today! http://ibm.ronin.com/icon/

Note: Please feel free to forward this link to others who might benefit from the ICON program.

IIUG - Forum News

IIUG is proud to announce that it is hosting the first electronic forum on WebSphere EGL. To join, simply go to the membership area, login, click on the on "Subscribe to E-Mail lists", choose the lists you wish to subscribe to and click "Subscribe".

New lists are: EGL Development Forum (dev-egl@iiug.org)
This forum is entirely dedicated to WebSphere EGL (Enterprise Generation Language) and development using WebSphere EGL.

Java Development Forum (dev-java@iiug.org)
This forum is entirely dedicated to Java: development using Java and the Informix engines, Java in the server, UDR, etc.

As you now all know that Cloudscape is open source, do not hesitate to subscribe to the Cloudscape forum and send e-mails to cloudscape@iiug.org. Check out http://www.iiug.org/forums/ for a complete list of all the IIUG forums and SIGs.

Event - RedBrick User Group to Meet in Milan, Italy (Sept. 27 & 28)

This agenda has been compiled by Cindy Fung, RedBrick Development Manager and it takes into account IIUG feedback given at the last meeting. Here is what IBM has asked us to say:

Cindy will present much of the material and will be present during the entire meeting, so this is a good opportunity to meet her.

You will see that we have two slots for Customer Presentations. This is your opportunity to hear how other businesses use RedBrick, so I need some volunteers from you to explain your usage. As many as possible please, this is usually the best part of a User Group meeting!!!

In addition we were thinking of trying to answer your specific questions/problems during the meeting. If you have any subjects you would like to see answered during the meeting, please send them to me and I will ensure Cindy sees them and prepares an answer.

Look forward to receiving, as soon as possible, your mail to let me know you plan to attend.

Day 1

Day 2

For more information, contact: Gill Dawson, e-mail: Gill_Dawson@uk.ibm.com.

Event - Free Workshop on WebSphere and IDS (Waltham, MA, USA, Aug. 24th to 26th)

IBM Informix Business Partners: Enroll Now for a Free Training Workshop in Waltham, MA - Using WebSphere With Your IBM Database.

Are you designing and developing applications running in WebSphere Application Server and have Informix Dynamic Server or DB2 Universal Database on UNIX(r) or Windows(r) as your database engine? Do you want an introduction to all aspects of integrating WebSphere with Informix or DB2 Universal Database? If so, this 3-day workshop will provide you with the information you need.

There is no charge to attend this workshop; but time is running fast, so enroll now for Aug 24 - 26 at https://www.developer.ibm.com/en_US/spc/events/ws_ibmdb.html!

Event - Querix workshop during Oktoberfest (Munich, Germany, Sept. 27)

Querix is organizing a 4GL Training and Workshop, based on Hydra 4.1 and the upcoming V5 P-Code Release on September 27th, in Munich, Germany. A wonderful occasion to visit the city!

For more details on Querix' planning, visit: http://www.querix.com/news/index.php?id=84.

Product News - Querix Hydra 4.1 now Available

Hydra 4.1 with support for 18 platforms & all Informix RDBMS (4.1-9.4) available for download on the 30th August

The new Release for Hydra 4.1 with support for 18 platforms and all Informix RDBMS systems (from 4.1 to the latest 9.4) is available for download http://www.querix.com/download from 30th August. IIUG members can download a free 2-user License including 3 months technical support.

Product News - Awoma Launches DB Studio Version 2.2.0

Led by a team of Informix experts, Awoma provides a suite of development and database manipulation tools perfectly suited for IBM-Informix users. Awoma tools will enable users to adopt current IBM technology, such as WebSphere, DB2 or J2EE, while leveraging existing assets.

Awoma tools include ThinStructure, DevWorkshop, SysTools and DB Studio.

DB Studio 2.2.0 has just been released. It is the ultimate database manipulation tool. Integrated smoothly into Awoma's graphical IDE (based on Eclipse), DB Studio provides the following:

Easy connection:

• Connect to any database via a wizard menu, in less than 10 seconds.
• All the drivers are included.
• All major databases are supported (Informix OnLine 5, IDS 7.x, IDS 9.x, IBM DB2 and others).
• Intuitive Graphical interface.

Main features:

• Connect to as many databases as you want. Concurrently. Any supported type.
• View structure of database elements, such as the database structure, tables, view, system tables, columns, indexes, primary and foreign keys, constraints...
• Query your database through an easy and efficient SQL editor.
• Create batches of SQL statements.
• Add, delete or modify your data efficiently.
• Export you SQL results to text, CSV, HTML, or even unload to Informix format.

DB Studio is available as a stand-alone product, or as plug-in of IBM WebSphere Studio, Awoma DevWorkshop 2.2.0, Awoma ThinStructure 2.2.0 and Eclipse 2.1.x.

For more information, visit http://www.awoma.com.

Product News - XPS 8.5 Announced

IBM Announces Informix XPS V8.5 - Demonstrating Continued Informix Commitment!

IBM announced the release of IBM Informix Extended Parallel Server (XPS), V8.5 on July 27, 2004. This new software release will be available for electronic delivery on August 10, 2004 and media and documentation will available from August 27, 2004.

XPS V8.50 is designed for the largest, most demanding, and most complex data warehouse applications. By including comprehensive data warehousing features and using a sophisticated shared-nothing underlying architecture, XPS achieves industry-leading performance and flexibility. This enables you to make more profitable decisions from complex, query-intensive, analytical applications.

The following major new functionality is included in XPS V8.50.

New application development features

• ISTAR/Distributed Query Coordinator
• INT8/SERIAL8
• MERGE (UPSERT)

New DBA features

• Table-level Point in Time Restore
• Scrubbed Tables
• Immutable Session Variables
• Current and Client Time zone
• ONSTAT Query Start Time
• Mixed Restore

New ease of use features

• DBAccess History
• Roles Improvements

New performance features

• Improved Fragmentation Elimination on Datetime Columns
• Improved Optimization for Groupby with Expressions Using Implicit PDQ
• Indexes on Non-logging Tables
• OR Predicates Performance Improvement
• OnBAR Thread Safe Library Support
• Read-only Dbspaces

Detailed feature and ordering information

Please contact your IBM Sales Representative to acquire the latest XPS V8.50. If you need further information regarding XPS V8.50 or IBM's Business Intelligence / Data warehousing Strategy, please contact:

XPS Development Manager - James Troisi at a href="mailto:troisi@us.ibm.com">troisi@us.ibm.com XPS Product Manager - Omkar Nimbalkar at omkarn@us.ibm.com

Product News - XPS 8.5 in Gold Bundle

New IBM Informix Extended Parallel Server and updated IBM Data Management Business Intelligence Gold Bundle offer Informix customers greater value and flexibility

IBM Informix Extended Parallel Server (XPS) V8.50 is designed for the largest, most demanding, and most complex data warehouse applications. By including comprehensive data warehousing features and using a sophisticated shared-nothing underlying architecture, XPS achieves industry-leading performance and flexibility. This enables you to make more profitable decisions from complex, query-intensive, analytical applications.

Announcement Letter - EMEA

Announcement Letter - Canada

Announcement Letter - USA

Service Offerings - Upgrading from SE and OnLine

IBM Informix Standard Engine (SE) and OnLine Extended Edition Passport Advantage trade up part numbers to IBM Informix Dynamic Server Workgroup Edition V9.x (IDS WG) and IBM Informix C-ISAM for Linux on eServer zSeries now available.

Customers upgrading to IDS WG have the ability to leverage their investment through integrated, cost effective and competitively-based offerings with other IBM Software Group products, leverage 4GL skills in a modern application development environment by using EGL and IBM WebSphere Studio going forward, and more.

IBM also announced additional Linux on zSeries platform support for C-ISAM (5724-C41) in order to take advantage of using C-ISAM with applications running in that environment. No new part numbers are needed. C-ISAM for Linux on zSeries is included on the current C-ISAM CD.

Partner Campaigns are also available such as:

One Point Solutions, a U.S. Informix-specialized partner, offering service packages to supplement your company's efforts to migrate your database to IDS V9 from Informix SE, OnLine or IDS V7. Access: http://choices.onepointsol.com.

EMEA co-marketing partner offers are also available, contact Nicole Pelletier, EMEA SWG Sales Manager, DM SMB Channel at npelletier@fr.ibm.com for more information.

Access the following for the entire announcement letter: http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/OIX.wss
Access the following for additional Informix Product information: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix

Tech Experience - Configuring Page Cleaning

Real-world experiences of IDS 9.40 - Configuring Page Cleaning, by Andrew Watson of Ardenta Limited, UK:

Page cleaning is the process of updating index keys following changes to the underlying data to which the index refers to ensure the index remains an efficient representation of the actual data. When a row is deleted to improve the user response time the index item has its delete flag set to act as a marker that it needs to be cleaned.

Prior to IDS 9.40 a single threaded process called the Btcleaner handled page cleaning. A number of issues with the method used by this process led to the development of the more flexible and configurable Btscanner as its replacement. This enables the administrator to dynamically set the Btscanner's priority, the number of threads and the way in which it identifies the pages to be cleaned.

Through testing and experience on client sites migrated to IDS 9.40 the default setting of one, low priority Btscanner thread does not always appear to be optimal. This has proved to have a significant impact on key resource intensive processes and maintenance tasks such as data purging. Therefore during and after critical periods the resources allocated to the Btscanner are adjusted.

More detail on the differences between the Btcleaner and Btscanner; examples of settings and administration commands to configure and monitor the Btscanner can be found at: http://www.informix.co.uk/btscanner.htm.

Developer Corner - Calling for EGL Volunteers

The EGL momentum is growing. IIUG is looking for volunteers to animate the new forums, the download section on EGL, the FAQ, a web site...

Are you interested in doing so? Do not hesitate to contact the e-news team at enews@iiug.org.

Developer Corner - IIUG to Host First Ever e-forum on EGL

IIUG is proud to announce that it is hosting the first electronic forum on EGL. To join, simply go to the membership area, login, click on the on "Subscribe to E-Mail lists", choose the lists you wish to subscribe to and click "Subscribe".

EGL Development Forum (dev-egl@iiug.org)
This forum is entirely dedicated to EGL (Enterprise Generation Language) and development using EGL.

Once you are subscribed, send e-mails to dev-egl@iiug.org.

Developer Corner - EGL FAQ cont'ed

Answers are coming from IBM. IIUG should not be liable for inaccuracy.

You have an EGL question? Send a mail to enews@iiug.org, subject EGL.

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 Ardenta Limited Awoma IBM Corp. Querix VNU Reuters The Register
Editors:	Jean Georges Perrin Fred Hubbard Stuart Litel Ron Flannery Sam Gentsch
For comments, please send an email to enews@iiug.org.