Other Issues

Highlights: Good Bye Glenn Jacobson, Scranton at IIUG.org, IDS 9.4 Ready for Download, and 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. Glenn Jacobson, IIUG & Linux Leader - Obituary
2. IIUG to Host Mark Scranton's Web Site
3. Informix Local User Group's Upcoming Events
4. IDS 9.4 Ready for IIUG Member Download
5. Replaying IBM's IDS 9.4 Customer Webcast
6. IBM Software Symposium 2003 Coming to Munich, Germany
7. Using the IBM Informix XSLT and Web DataBlades
8. Useful Links
9. Closing and Credits

Glenn Jacobson, IIUG & Linux Leader - Obituary

The IIUG Board would like to express its most sincere sympathy to the family of former IIUG Board member, Glenn Jacobson, who passed away on March 26, 2003. During his tenure with the Board, Glenn applied the same enthusiasm, energy, and true commitment that made him a world-renowned advocate and speaker for the Open Source and Linux efforts. He will truly be missed.

This link to the family's local notice is provided for those who knew Glenn:

Obituary - Toledoblade.com

IIUG to Host Mark Scranton's Web Site

The man who stands up...

A recent survey indicated that one of the most appreciated items provided by the IIUG to you is our web services. In order to enhance your experience, we have invited Mark Scranton to share some of his knowledge directly on our web site at http://www.iiug.org/markscranton/. The site is currently under construction and should be available after this weekend.

Mark joined Informix back in 1995 and has focused exclusively on IDS and XPS engines, specializing in IDS internals, architecture, configuration, and performance tuning. He is the man to talk to when you need good advice!

Here is how Mark describes his site:

"The I*Teach website was developed to communicate IDS technical information to the client base. Initially, it was a vehicle to allow further communication from myself to the clients that I had in training classes. I felt that once I had a client in class, there was no method to get them important technical changes, new features, or educational concepts unless they came to another class. The website has since been expanded with more than just training info - white papers, presentations on all topics IDS, XPS, and DB2, scripts, tips, tricks, glossary of terms, etc... - but overall, it's main purpose is educational. It has been very effective in building a strong technical communication "thread" between myself and the client base. I have also expanded it's usage to point to helpful resources such as IBM website pages, and partner sites."

The IIUG is proud to assist with the preservation of this useful resource.

Informix Local User Group's Upcoming Events

IIUG Board Director Hal Maner reported on a successful Informix local user group (LUG) meeting held recently in Charlotte, North Carolina, with 32 customers attending to hear Hal and Mark Scranton deliver talks on performance tuning and internals as well as highlights of the IDS 9.40 release. Recent LUG meeting were also held in Phoenix, Arizona (in conjunction with the InfoBahn road show) and Chicago, Illinois.

Looking ahead in April, there seems to have been a flurry of Informix LUG meetings and InfoBahn activities worldwide scheduled. For possible meetings scheduled near you, check the IIUG events calendar at: http://www.iiug.org/calendar/events.html#April2003. World stops for the InfoBahn include Canada, Ireland, Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom in addition to several in the US.

Coming up next week, we see a meeting scheduled for the Washington Area Informix Users Group as well as the Tidewater Virginia Informix Users Group. If you are fortunate to have a LUG meeting in your area, it is especially important to support their continued growth and vitality through regular attendance. They are a great networking opportunity for professionals and a source of valuable technical know-how.

IDS 9.4 Ready for IIUG Member Download

Ok, so some of you have already discovered the secret. More than 250 happy IIUG members have found IDS 9.4 ready for download in the IIUG Member Area at http://www.iiug.org/members. It's here! Come and get it! (You can use your member link at the end of this issue to facilitate access.)

If you need to learn more about IDS 9.4, please visit:

www.ibm.com/informix/ids94.

According to IBM, IDS 9.4 offers significant improvements in the following four areas:

• Performance: IDS 9.4 exceeds all previous IDS on-line transaction processing (OLTP) performance records.
• Reliability: Interoperable High-Availability Data Replication & Enterprise Replication.
• Scalability: IDS 9.4 removes previous scaling restrictions (how big is 128 petabytes?).
• Manageability: Spend more time preventing problems, rather than fixing them.

Several IDS 9.4 success stories are already available at:

http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/ids94/cust-quotes.html and http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/ids94/bus-quotes.html.

Replaying IBM's IDS 9.4 Customer Webcast

If you missed IBM's IDS 9.4 launch webcast, you can now replay it. Here's how:

Please go to: http://www.placewareforum.com/eseminars and log in using your PlaceWare Login Name and Password. If you have not registered for IBM's PlaceWare service, you will need to do so in a quick and simple process. Once in...

• Click on "Customer Events" text above the picture on the lower left side of the screen.
• Then click the "e-Seminar Archive" at the bottom of the screen.
• There will be a number of web conference replays available.
• Double click on the event titled "Announcing IBM Informix Dynamic Server V9.4 and More!" event posted for the date and time you had planned to attend, and your appropriate geography (AP, EMEA, Americas).
  • You may need to download media player software to view the replay.
  • Note that voice and data will come over your web connection, there is no call-in information for this replay.

If you would like to view the event again, it will be available within the next 72 hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the next 90 days.

For more information on IBM Informix Dynamic Server v9.4, visit: http://www.ibm.com/informix/ids94

IBM Software Symposium 2003 Coming to Munich, Germany

IBM is holding the 2003 Software Symposium in Munich from 19th to 23rd May 2003. Featuring an opening address from former US ambassador Henry Kissinger, the Symposium has more than 300 sessions featuring IBM's DB2 Information Management (with Informix products), Lotus, Tivoli, WebSphere, and Rational Software.

The IIUG has negotiated a 5% registration discount for the Symposium for its members. IIUG will have a presence at the Solution Showcase - the exhibition associated with the event, and we hope that the German Informix User Group will decide to hold a meeting there to - details to follow.

Please visit http://www.iiug.org/calendar/conferenindex.php#sym fordetails of the Symposium and other IBM events at which the IIUG will be spreading the word about Informix.

Using the IBM Informix XSLT and Web DataBlades

Kathy Zeidenstein, Managing Editor, IBM DB2 Developer Domain, communicated to IIUG ENews that a new article on Informix XML capabilities has been posted. Her note follows:

IBM Informix can generate, transform and consume XML. Generating XML from database tables is a feature of the Web DataBlade. Transforming incoming XML to XML, HTML or other text formats is made possible through the use of the XSLT DataBlade. In this article, author Susan Cline provides examples that show how to use these two DataBlades to achieve generation and transformation of XML. In another example, she shows the Informix ability to consume XML by using XML data as input to insert data into database tables.

To access the entire posting, please visit:

http://www7b.software.ibm.com/dmdd/zones/informix/library/techarticle/0303cline/0303cline.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.

Closing and Credits

The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between IBM and its worldwide user community. IIUG's membership database now exceeds 17,000 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
Editors:	David Smith, IIUG Board of Directors Jean Georges Perrin, IIUG Board of Directors, and Fred Hubbard, IIUG General Manager
For comments, please send an email to ug@iiug.org.