IIUG Insider (Issue #40)
14 November 2003
Other Issues
Highlights: Board Elections, Informix & Other IBM Products, Survey & 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:
- Update on Elections for the 2004 IIUG Board of Directors
- IBM Informix & Software Group Compatibility Guide
- Informix Storage Management & Monitoring Survey
- More Impressions of the Recent IBM Data Management Tech Conference
- IBM/IIUG Webcast: Red Brick Warehouse Roadmap & New Release Features
- IBM/IIUG Webcast: Java and IDS Development
- New IBM Redbooks: Install IDS v9.4 & WebSphere v5 on Linux
- IBM Informix Training News
- Useful Links
- Closing and Credits
Update on Elections for the 2004 IIUG Board of Directors
The nominating committee has now completed the nominations process for the upcoming IIUG Board elections. We thank the nominees for taking this step in their careers to help the Informix user community.
At this time we are working towards final preparations for the elections, which will be administrated electronically, through the IIUG web site [www.iiug.org]. Our target date for the elections to start is 24 November 2003 and we plan to leave the polls open through 12 December 2003. This will then allow for the new Board to start as of 1 January 2004.
If you have any questions or feedback about the elections, feel free to e-mail us at nominating-committee@iiug.org.
IBM Informix & Software Group Compatibility Guide
Acting on a suggestion of IIUG, IBM recognized the need and produced a guide to IBM software products and how they integrate with Informix products. This document's v1 is now available at the IIUG Member Area in Adobe Acrobat format.
We encourage you to download it and share it with your management and colleagues as it shows how deeply Informix databases have been integrated with other IBM software products, creating a rich middleware ecosystem anchored on the databases you use today.
IIUG would like to thank IBM DB2 Information Management Solutions for providing this guide and especially Omkar Nimbalkar, Christine Normile, and Paul Rivot for their hard work bringing it to fruition.
To access the IIUG Member Area, please visit http://www.iiug.org/members or use the personalized member link provided at the end of this e-mailed Insider.
Informix Storage Management & Monitoring Survey
IIUG has been running the Informix-Tivoli survey for a few weeks now, but unfortunately we have not seen as many responses as we would like. Therefore, we are extending the survey for one more week, until 21 Nov 2003.
If you have not taken the survey, we encourage you to please do so at your earliest opportunity. The information we will collect will greatly benefit us users and IBM so they may build the best software solutions for storage management and database monitoring.
The survey is available at http://www.iiug.org/cgi-bin/survey_tivoli.cgi
More Impressions of the Recent IBM Data Management Tech Conference
Neil Truby, IIUG Board member and Director of UK-based Ardenta Limited, offered the following feedback on the Las Vegas event:
- A decent amount of Informix content, relatively well scheduled. Unlike last year's conference the Informix content was well integrated into the overall conference.
- I would say, from the Informix sessions I attended, that there was little new, i.e. little that could not have been said last year. This is of course a reflection of the relatively dormant state of Informix product set development: the engines are being enhanced but there is little IBM activity around the associated development toolsets; nor is there (as debated ad nauseam reviously) any direct advertising or much promotion of the Informix product set.
- Having said that, there was one session on IDS 9.40 success stories, and a number of sessions on the integration of Informix with other IBM products.
- There seems to be a general acceptance now that the battle for the promotion and advertising of Informix as a separate product set is lost, and that the IIUG needs to concentrate on advocacy with IBM on making the lot of the remaining users as comfortable as possible.
There were a couple of interesting workgroups, covered by confidentiality agreements unfortunately, concerning the integration of I4GL into EGL; and the impressions that Informix users and partners have on IBM's efforts to make DB2 UDB more appealing to Informix customers.
The Meet the Executives session was fairly lively, although with little of the acrimony of last year, with IBM execs talking about the quality of Informix support, marketing of Informix (!) and other topics.
Finally, the IIUG AGM was held on Tuesday evening. President Jerry Hamilton spoke about the IIUG achievements during his year-and-a-bit of office, and President-elect Stuart Litel talked about his view of the challenges and opportunities for the future. The IIUG Directors Award, presented to individuals who have worked on behalf of IIUG beyond the call of duty, was this year awarded to former Informix User Group Programme Manager Christine Shannon, and current IBM US employee and Informix evangelist Mark Scranton.
A full account of the IUGLC, IIUG AGM, and other people's impressions of the conference can be found in the prior issue of the IIUG Insider, available also on the IIUG website at http://www.iiug.org/news/insider/insider_31oct03.html.
IBM/IIUG Webcast: Red Brick Warehouse Roadmap & New Release Features
Join the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) for 90 minutes to hear about the proposed Roadmap details for IBM Red Brick Warehouse Server. Mohan Natraj, IIUG Board of Directors, will host the webcast, while Fred Ho, Senior Development Manager of the Red Brick Development Group, and Cindy Fung, Development Manager, will present material that will include an update on the Red Brick product roadmap and new features currently planned for the next release.
The intended audience consists of users and business partners of the IBM Red Brick Warehouse Server.
Audio will be available as follows:
US and Canada please phone toll free: 888-649-6509
Other countries please phone: +1-630-395-0025
Passcode: IIUG
Mark your calendars! The much anticipated Java and IDS Development webcast is now scheduled for 3 December 2003. Join Arlan Finestead and Shawn Moe in a web cast designed to provide you information on developing Java applications for the IBM Informix Dynamic Server environment.
Keep an eye on www.iiug.org for more details as the date approaches.
The following new IBM Redbooks issue is immediately available: "Installing Informix Dynamic Server V9.4 and WebSphere V5 on Red Hat Linux V8.0"
IBM Informix Dynamic Server Advanced Performance Tuning
Would you like to become and IBM Informix Dynamic Server Performance Tuning Master? Now is your chance to learn from our IBM Informix experts with the 5-day intensive masters workshop, IBM Informix Dynamic Server Advanced Performance Tuning (MW-729). Have you taken all of the relevant foundation and intermediate courses for IDS administration and tuning? Are you even certified as an IBM Informix administrator? Then this is the perfect workshop for you! For more information or to enroll, in the US and Canada, please click here or visit the equivalent IBM site for your geography: http://www.ibm.com/.
New: IBM Problem Determination Mastery Self-Study Series
DB2 Information Management Software now offers a new level of database skill development validation. The Problem Determination Mastery Self-Study Series is designed for those supporting or developing in a database environment. Through complimentary tutorials and the industry's first problem determination mastery exam, candidates learn to quickly identify, isolate and resolve product issues, accelerating the total time to problem resolution and reducing dependence on IBM customer support. For more information please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/support/pdm/.
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:
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.
