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Highlights: Registration to the IIUG Informix conference is open, IIUG Board elections announced, get your OATs for free etc., etc... Read on down! 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:
Now. Turn the page... hit the 'pg dn' key... click down the page... whatever nibbles your nostril but read this issue of the IIUG Insider and then write me a note (david@iiug.org). Do it NOW. :) :) :)
For those of us who are fortunate to live in the Southern Hemisphere, this is a time of sun and warmth and outdoor activities. It is the "holidays". And as I sit here, on the eve of 2008, in shorts and jandels, I reflect on how 2007 became a bumper year for Informix. As I have said many times, IBM not only produced a superb new edition of IDS but, in a stroke of pure genius, actually promoted it. To IBM I say... "well done". 2007 was also the year that the IIUG rediscovered some old connections. For me it was India. I had, in the course of my real job, a good fortune to meet one of the India Informix gurus. Great guy, very enthusiastic. I am definitely looking forward to watch the emergence of Informix in India as well as Malaysia, China, Korea and Japan and the rest of Asia. Informix is there and being used by many people and organizations. My prediction, dangerous as the futurology sport is, is that Asia will become home to the bulk of the Informix IDS developers over the next twenty years. And the developers and DBAs will be young, enthusiastic and pushing IBM to maintain leadership of IDS over all it's rivals. I would also like to salute my colleagues on the IIUG Board. The IIUG is a great organization. It has survived the harrowing IBM slurp, when it acquired Informix. It was responsive to and changed rapidly, when it found that IBM was not of the same culture as Informix Inc. It survived IBM budget cuts, personnel changes and strategy realignments. Now the IIUG has now emerged as a vibrant, strong and well connected organization which operates well in all facets of its charter. The new Informix Conference, which will be a cracker, is just another example of the emergence and stability of the IIUG. To my fellow Board members... I salute you. You work hard and do a fantastic job. In this job you end up talking to a number of fine people from all over the world. Two of my favorites are Norm and Trev. These two have simple views on database life. To them it is all about very low administration, 24 x 7 availability and incredible speed. IDS gives them all that. But here the two differ. Norm, because Informix is just so easy to manage, has learnt DB2, Orrable, SAP, 4gl, Unix scripting and so on and so forth. Trev, on the other hand, just hangs around, plays a bit of poker. I guess that is just a matter of personal preference but the point is this. Informix IDS gives you opportunity to either broaden your reach or deepen your experience. IDS is a very cool product and is now a very sexy addition to your CV. You, dear users, are the lucky ones. So read on in this here rag. It is just a shortie. There is information on the next round of elections for the IIUG Board, the early bird special for the conference and some other bits and pieces. Great reading... as usual. :). And I wish you all a very prosperous and happy 2008. David Fraser Happy New Year from the President 2007 has, in my opinion, been one of the best years in over a decade for Informix - from the new release of IDS 11 to the planning for the upcoming 2008 IIUG Informix Conference next April in Overland Park (Kansas City), Kansas. We started the year on a slow note, but in June, the birth of Informix Dynamic Server (AKA Cheetah) was announced. IDS continues to be the fastest and most reliable database on the market. I hear stories all the time from fellow users who have not rebooted their server in YEARS, to users who actually did not know they were running Informix because the system required no attention from users, to the continued double digit growth in sales for IBM. IDS 11 is by far the best ever and the development group from IBM has seriously outdone themselves. I have said for years that I have never met a customer who has left using Informix for technical reasons and that Informix would not loose any fair benchmark, internal technical tests due to technical reasons. So why do non-believers not use Informix? My latest reason goes to the story of Watergate or the movie All the Presidents Men... "Follow the Money". What do I mean by this? Many times users select their database product based on consulting organizations. These consulting organizations want the most business possible, so they pick the database that will get the job done, but not do it too efficiently, hence more dollars for the consulting company. Another reason is companies just don't know any better. A very good friend of mine married a girl who was born in Russia and one day I was talking to her father asking him what it was like growing up there. To make a long story short, basically he said to me "We did not know any better". Well that is the case with those that do not select Informix - they simply do not know any better. Enough on my stories. Let's look at the the year in review... Early in the 2007 year the IIUG Board of Directors decided to go it alone and produce its own full conference event. We had had enough of the major fancy conferences, and wanted a purely technical event, and we are producing just that. The first-ever IIUG Informix Conference will take place April 27 - 30, 2008 at the Marriott Hotel in Overland Park (Kansas City / Lenexa), Kansas, USA. The event will feature over 60 technical sessions over three full days and have at least eight tutorial sessions on the Sunday prior to the event. Registration is now open and we are ahead of plan on attendee registration. In fact we are almost sold out of booth / exhibit hall space. The exhibit hall will have 15 Informix vendors and as of this writing we have 11 vendors committed and the Gold Sponsorship is SOLD OUT. The hotel can only hold around 300 attendees so make sure you register early as my fear is that we will run out of hotel room availability. More information and registration is available at http://www.iiug.org/conf. I need now to thank many individuals for the past year in no special order. From IBM I need to thank General Manager Ambuj Goyal, Vice President of Data Servers Arvind Krischna, Director of Development Jerry Keesee (ok who does not know Jerry!), Director of Marketing Bernie Spang, Marketing Manager Bruce Weed, IDS Product Manager Cindy Fung, and Marketing people Gary Proctor and Cathy Elliot. Each of these people has been a tremendous help to the IIUG over the past year. Opps I forgot one special person to me. Terri Gerber - a new member of the special Informix team as a Business Unit Executive. Terri, thank you for taking the job of watching over me. You have the hardest job in IBM! Some other IBMers I need to thank for a great year are Carlton Doe, Scott Pickett and Jacques Roy for their worldwide travels spreading the gospel of IDS and Informix. Al Martin and Mark Drake for their support of the IIUG especially with the year to come with the IIUG conference in your back door. Gayathri Srinivasan for making sure the IIUG has gotten our IDS 11 downloads and so much more. You are the true GO TO Person! Of course there is Mark Jamison, a man who has decide to take the job of coordinating the new Informix Developers Newsletter. Although we have had only two issues, Mark has done an amazing job in coordinating this new effort. If you have not seen any of the issues, check them out at http://www.iiug.org/devnews. Also out of the Lenexa area, I need to thank Christy Maver for her great articles and press releases and Trish Stewart for her all around general help! And of course we all must thank the Queen of Chat with the Labs for her outstanding selection of topics, Linda Spina. Now the list would not be complete to the most important people in the Informix community. The Developers!!! The group headed by what I will call the gang of five (yes there was a new member this year) of Kevin Brown, John Miller III, Scott Lashley, Jonathan Leffler and Madison Pruet. These guys are truly worth talking to and when in a room with all five, they can make your brain explode on the with all the technical information flying thru the air. But finally, thank you to each and every Informix developer throughout the world. I wish I could name all of you , many of whom I have met over the past few years from Lenexa, to Portland, Oregon, to Menlo Park, and to other areas in the world. Thanks to each and every one of you! You are the most important group in this entire thank you list for you make the lives of all of us very sane and easy. Finally Thank You to the rest of the IIUG Board: Cindy Lichtenauer, June Hunt, Kate Tomchik (of course ladies first), Gary Ben-Israel, Sergio Ferreira, Andrew Ford, David Fraser, Jean-Georges Perrin, Kernoal Stephens and Bruce Weed for just doing an amazing job all year and making me look good! And sorry I almost forgot the IIUG Server team of Tom Beebe, Walt Hultgren, Lester Knutsen and Pete Perez for making IIUG.ORG have ZERO, yes ZERO downtime in 2007!! And the IIUG Conference team of James Edmiston, Walt Hultgren, Tammy Frankforter, Bruce Simms, David Link, Tom Beebe and board members Cindy Lichtenauer and Kernoal Stephens. See you at the IIUG Informix Conference! Stuart Litel
Early Bird special for the Conference is about to expire... Be quick! 
This is not the time for dilly dally. You need to register for the 2008 IIUG Informix Conference now to take advantage of the early bird special. This is a conference that you just must attend if you touch Informix. Held in the heart of the Informix Lab territory, you are going to have access to everybody that knows anything about the Informix world. I haven't got the official count but there are a good number of people who have already signed up. And you can't afford to delay on your decision. Registrations will close once 400 people have signed up... Kansas has only so many beds. So register now at http://www.iiug.org/conf. And remember &mdash this is not an "American" event. This conference has been priced and targeted to make it affordable for users from around the world. My warning is simple; delay and you won't get in. The early bird special closes on the 15th January 2008. Do it NOW! Starting January 16, 2008 the price will go up, so lock in now! The Conference will feature over 60 Informix technical sessions from user and IBM technical experts, including presentations from 15 leading Informix vendors. Scheduled Keynote speakers include Dr. Arvind Krishna, WorldWide Vice President of IBM Data Servers, IBM Information Management, Jerry Keesee, Director of WorldWide Development IBM Informix, and Bernie Spang, Director of WorldWide Marketing for IBM Data Servers. The early bird special is $499, with a further $50 discount for all IIUG members. This fee will include a full conference pass, which includes admittance to all the Technical sessions from Monday April 28 &mdash Wednesday April 30, a Sunday night cocktail party in the Exhibit Hall, Monday night party with the Informix developers and support staff from the Lenexa Labs and a Tuesday night party. Also on Sunday April 27, at least eight half-day tutorials will be offered (four morning and four afternoon) for $125 for one or $200 for both sessions. Actual tutorial titles will be announced in early January, but registration for them is currently available. For more information and registration visit the conference website - http://www.iiug.org/conf. Oh... and you want to sleep too? Well a limited number of rooms have been blocked at the Marriott Overland Park for a special conference fee of $129 (plus tax) per night and may be booked at the time of registration for the conference. Again, take my word for it... register now to avoid disappointment. Also check out the Conference Corner, further on down the page for more great information about the conference including some of the speakers and their topics. See you there! Cindy Lichtenauer Just a reminder that the IDS 11 developer edition is available from the IIUG web site. All you need to be is a IIUG member (which is free) and it is yours. This is essentially the enterprise version so that means you can start to try out enterprise type apps using this edition. It is very cool. So this is what you need to do...
Did you get the NEW Informix developers newsletter? Did you get the first and second editions? If not... Go here... http://www.iiug.org/devnews. Do you live within 200 miles of Beaverton Oregon?If so, please save the dates of Wednesday, February 20 and Thursday, February 21, 2008 for the FREE Informix Tech Fair at the IBM Offices in Beaverton, Oregon. There will be more details to follow soon but... the Informix Tech Fair will be a great opportunity for you to meet other Informix professionals and learn about Informix's latest technology. Some of the highlights:
Thanks, John F Miller III IIUG Board electionsThe IIUG Board elections are now upon us. Here is a overview of the timeline.
Notes to the above.
IDS 11 races toward success in 2008 IDS 11, formerly known as "Cheetah", has gained ground in 2007, picking up speed and stamina since its uncaging on June 12. IDS 11 marked the second major release for Informix in the past two years, displaying IBM's commitment to the data server, and to devoted users and fans. With attractive new features including performance enhancements, customized high availability, security enhancements, hands-free administration and extended application integration, IDS 11 has proved to be an important release for the Informix brand. And IDS 11 isn't slowing down just yet. Even now, at the close of 2007, the excitement that surrounded the launch is still going strong, as noted in the testimonies of IDS's impressed customers. ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion, a German-based television company, was able to increase response time, decrease DBA workload and move its infrastructure to primetime with the help of IDS 11. "The new features of IDS 11 will further improve manageability of our information infrastructure and reduce DBA workload by up to 20 percent," said Markus Holzbauer, senior database administrator for ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion, "As a result, we can continue to manage our environment with just three DBAs, even as our company grows." IMPIRE AG, a provider of 3D graphics and sports statistics in Germany, was able to make goals and score big with IDS's high availability, reliability and top-notch performance. "As a high-availability data server that delivers real-time data streaming, IBM IDS enables us to replicate data instantaneously across multiple servers and meets our requirements for live broadcasting of sports replays and analyses," said Knuth Hartlieb, head of IT development for IMPIRE AG. WorldWinner, a leader in the online gaming industry, was able to get in the game with an IDS solution that increased the number of concurrent games and players that the company was able to host per day by 100 percent. "With IDS Cheetah, it's almost as if Informix built a new release just for me. Informix has given us a path toward better response time, and a low-cost means of growth," said Joe Bai, chief information officer for WorldWinner. Using IDS also makes for award-winning solutions. NetworkIP, a telecommunications services provider, took home an IOD Innovation Award for their Integrated Connections Solution (ICS) at IBM's Information on Demand Conference in October. "IDS is the best-in-class database solution, and has allowed our software application to scale beyond our wildest imagination," said Brian Kirk, director of systems engineering for NetworkIP. IDS 11 has sprinted through 2007. And its momentum doesn't stop there. Informix fans can certainly expect IDS to continue its reign as "King of the Jungle" in 2008. Christy Maver IIUG Gold Sponsor Four Js Software is looking for a consultant to help them with a project for a Humanitarian organization. Informix 4GL experience is a must but the ideal candidate will also be proficient with Genero. The goal of the project is to deliver a project management application. The start date for this three month project is January 7th, 2008. The proposed compensation is $10,000 per month. The consultants responsibilities will include:
Interested parties, please email or fax a resume to the contact information below. Laurent GALAIS Guardium Recognized as "A Leader Across the Board" in Enterprise Database Auditing and Real-Time Protection by Independent Research Firm Guardium, the database security company, has been recognized as "a Leader across the board" in Forrester's October 2007 report entitled The Forrester WaveTM: Enterprise Database Auditing And Real-Time Protection, Q4 2007. Guardium earned the #1 scores for Current Offering, Product Strategy, and Corporate Strategy in this comprehensive assessment conducted by Forrester analyst Noel Yuhanna, who evaluated 14 large and small vendors across 116 separate criteria. Guardium supports Informix as well as Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase and DB2 on both distributed systems and mainframes. According to Forrester, Guardium "has dominance and momentum on its side." The company's position as a leader is "a result of the broad range of features and functionality built into the product and the company's strong product and corporate strategy and growing market presence." Guardium "continues to be the most aggressive vendor, with innovation and strong marketing initiatives" and Forrester expects Guardium to "maintain its leadership in supporting large heterogeneous environments, delivering high performance and scalability, simplifying administration, and performing real-time database protection." Guardium provides the most widely-deployed, enterprise security platform for preventing information leaks from the data center and ensuring the integrity of corporate information. The company's real-time monitoring technology uses both policy-based controls and anomaly detection to prevent unauthorized activities by potential hackers, privileged insiders, and end-users of enterprise applications such as Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, and SAP. By continuously tracking all DBMS traffic at both the network level and on database servers themselves - across all major DBMS platforms, OS platforms, and applications - the company's solution provides 100% visibility into all database activities without impacting the performance of business-critical applications and databases. To view the complete Forrester Wave graphic and download a complimentary copy of the independent report, please visit http://www.Guardium.com/ForresterWave. Get your OATs in 2008Remember that you can download the IDS 11 Open Access Tool (OAT) from the IIUG website (if you are a IIUG member). :) The Open Adminsitration Tool is the browser based graphic administration tool that is a must get accessory to IDS 11 (and some earlier versions I believe). It is free. Log into the member area of the IIUG and get it. Go to http://www.iiug.org log in and go to the software download section. We have also set up a new Forum for those of you who are interested in using the new Open Admin Tool. Just go to http://www.iiug.org/forums/oat. Barn it baby. :)
2008 IIUG Informix Conference The IIUG Conference Planning Committee is excited and pleased to be able to give you a taste of some of the great technical presentations that will be given at the Conference in April. Here is a sample of some of the presentations that were selected and will appear on the conference schedule:
Go sign up NOW! http://www.iiug.org/conf Oh... You want reasons to come to Kansas City &mdash besides a Great Informix Technical Conference As part of the IIUG Conference Planning Committee AND a Kansas City resident, I decided that I would pick a interesting place to visit each month and highlight it in the Insider each issue leading up to the conference. This month's highlighted venue is: The National World War One Museum The ONLY World War One Museum in the United States of America. On December 2, 2006, the National World War I Museum opened the window to an extraordinary emotional and intellectual experience. Envisioned by the people of Kansas City, designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, and designated by Congress as the nation's official WWI Museum, the new state of the art complex at Liberty Memorial uses highly-interactive technology to bring history to life, and to foster timely discussions of ethics, values, decision making and conflict resolution. http://www.libertymemorialmuseum.org/ And... right near the World War One Museum is the historic Union Station. Union Station Built in 1914, Union Station encompasses 850,000 square feet and originally featured 900 rooms. In its prime as a working train station, accommodated tens of thousands of passengers every year. At its peak during WWII, an estimated one million travelers passed through the Station. The North Waiting Room (now the Sprint Festival Plaza) could hold 10,000 people and the complex included restaurants, a cigar store, barber shop, railroad offices, the nation's largest Railway Express Building (used for shipping freight and mail) as well as a powerhouse providing steam and power. Closed in the 1980s, the Station sat empty and neglected, escaping demolition on several occasions. In 1996, a historic bi-state initiative was passed to fund the Station's renovation, which was completed in 1999. Stay tuned for next month's Insider with more exciting reasons to come to KC! Cindy Lichtenauer
IDS training from Advanced DataTools Advanced DataTools is excited to announce the following Informix Dynamic Server training classes that have been scheduled for 2008 at the Annandale, Virginia Office. (Washington DC Area) The classes have been updated to include new features in IDS 11. These Informix courses were developed and are taught by Advanced DataTools founder, Lester Knutsen, who is an Informix Certified Professional and a Certified Technical Trainer. Lester is an experienced consultant with a reputation for providing excellent training based on his extensive and up-to-date working knowledge of Informix. As these classes fill up, more will be added to the schedule. And, as always, Advanced DataTools can develop custom courses and can teach onsite if requested. February 2008 May 2008 July 2008 October 2008 For more information, visit http://www.advancedatatools.com.
Informix Blogs and things Get the real oil on Informix from:
Board elections are coming up soon. If you have read this far then you should have seen the announcement.
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. 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, ideas, information, more ideas, gossip, lies and general dudette type chatter, please send an email to david@iiug.org. |
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