Highlights: IIUG Conference - Recap 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:
The conference is over, but the IIUG board is still at the Overland Park Marriott in Kansas for our first 2009 meeting. We have a new board member, Miguel Carbone from Brazil. He is replacing Norma Jean Sebastian, who decided not to continue on the board. Thanks Norma Jean for your wonderful work and company. We are confident that Miguel will do a great job as well. Once again we have 4 non-US board members and once again one of them is from the other side of the Equator. After a very busy week helping, speaking, and attending the conference and in the middle of our board meeting I had less time than usual for this issue of the Insider. The same goes for my regular content suppliers, therefore it will be a shorter issue. I hope you will still find it useful and entertaining. Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Conference - Recap The IIUG Informix Conference 2009 was a fabulous event. I must admit that after last year's conference I thought it will be impossible to match. But we managed to top it. 5 tracks with 85 sessions (83 distinct and two repeats), 14 tutorials (2 full day and 12 half day) and 4 keynotes. In addition to the sessions, there were many offerings, demos, contests and raffles at the exhibition hall. We had a lot of fun too in our 3 great parties. Not seen in the numbers above was the unique opportunity to meet with other Informix users and with IBM executives and developers. Above all we have experienced once more the warm feeling of a family reunion. The Informix users are often referred to as Informix fans. We are indeed Informix fans, but in my opinion we are before everything else the Informix family. Reaching the international community is one of the conference goals. I was especially pleased with the growth of non-US attendance. For me, this is a sign that even adding the airfare the conference still offers good value for its price. I would like to thank Cindy, Walt, James, Tammy, Tom, Kernoal, Bruce, David, June and Darryl our Conference Planning committee. The success of this conference was due to their hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and skill. I hope to see all of you and many more next year. Gary Ben-Israel
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New in DeveloperWorks Informix Dynamic Server data compression and storage optimization 27 Apr 2009 Get started with Informix Warehouse Feature, Part 1: Model your data warehouse using Design Studio 27 Apr 2009 Integrate Informix ODBC applications on Mac OS X with Informix Dynamic Server, Part 1: Installing and registering the ODBC bundle driver graphically 16 Apr 2009 Integrate Informix ODBC applications on Mac OS X with Informix Dynamic Server, Part 2: FileMaker Pro and OpenOffice.org walkthroughs 16 Apr 2009 Get started using IBM Data Studio Developer with Informix Dynamic Server 9 Apr 2009 For more information go to DeveloperWorks — Informix: http://www.iiug.org/url/dw_informix.html
IBM Academic Initiative Educational Outreach - Update The IIUG has been working closely with IBM to help make Informix more visible and available to university professors and students. As part of this initiative IBM and the IIUG invited department heads and professors from colleges in the Kansas/Missouri area to attend the IIUG Informix Conference in Overland Park for 1 day at no cost. 12 professors from Missouri State University, University of Missouri, Kansas City, Wichita State University, Baker University, Kansas State University and the University of Kansas attended the one day event which included an invitation to Tuesday's Keynote, a morning round table discussion with IBM over the Informix architecture and IBM's Academic Initiative, Lunch, and admission to the Expo Hall to view Informix demos. To finish the day, the professors were encouraged to attend the afternoon Technical Sessions. During the round table discussion IBM explained their efforts to make Informix a top choice for students and professors when deciding which database engine to use for projects. In addition to providing free Enterprise editions of IDS for education and research, a Virtual Machine with IDS installed and configured to make it easy for students to start using Informix, and Informix lectures and slides for the professors to use in their curriculum IBM will give students who use IDS for their projects a special IBM IDS Certification that can be placed on their resume A special thanks to Norma Jean Sebastian from the IIUG, to Amit Dandekar, Cathy Elliot, Judy Burkhart from IBM and to everyone else who volunteered their time to make this event a huge success. Andrew Ford Informix on Campus: great success at IIUG Conference As you may recall (if you were there), at the IIUG conference in 2008, during the Executive Q&A, I stood (or maybe I sat, I don't recall) and questioned IBM about their efforts or lack thereof regarding getting the Informix products into academic curriculums and into student hands. Since that time, Cathy Elliott, Andrew Ford, and I have been meeting quietly at IOD and month-by-month on conference calls. Amit Dandekar joined the effort in the last few months before the IIUG conference. Andrew and I have provided encouragement and support, but the real work has all been IBM. And what an excellent job they are doing! The IBM Informix Academic Team is recruiting Informix Ambassadors, building Informix specific coursework and certification. See IIUG Insider Issue #105 (March 2009): http://www.iiug.org/Insider/insider_mar09.php#6.2 The success of the Informix Tech Day in Strasbourg held January 17 led to the development of a 3-day Informix specific course to be held June 8-10 for 4th year students and faculty. Rumor has it Jacques Roy has been instrumental in building the coursework. For information on the Tech Day held Jan 17, see IIUG Insider Issue #103 (January 2009): http://www.iiug.org/Insider/insider_jan09.php#7.1 Last, but certainly not least, the Informix Academic team tried something new. Invites were sent to local professors and department chairs in the Kansas/Missouri area - to enjoy a free 1 day pass to the IIUG conference to meet with IBM execs and enjoy an afternoon of conference sessions. We had a great response; we need a bigger room next year! See Andrew's article in this issue for a bit more detail. The professors/department chairs were excited about the possibility of giving their students options in the classroom. They were also excited about the proximity to the IBM Informix team and IBM's willingness to work with the universities. Our monthly conference calls will continue, and we are already brewing more ideas for next year. Special thanks to VendorRate. They were at the conference and raffled off their big screen TV. A professor won! We are on the road to success. Thank you to IBM, the IIUG community, the IIUG board, and the IIUG Conference Planning Committee (CPC) for their efforts. Norma Jean Sebastian
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Informix blogs and things
In response to your input, we have created a page on the IIUG web site containing all the links we used to include. Please find it at: http://www.iiug.org/quicklinks.html
The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between its worldwide user community and IBM. The IIUG's membership database now exceeds 25,000 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.
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org. |