IIUG Insider (Issue #102) December 2008 Other Issues

Highlights: IIUG Board elections

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:

• Editorial
• Highlights
  • IIUG Board elections
• Conference corner
  • 2009 IIUG Informix Conference, The Power Conference for Informix Professionals
• Education
  • Experience ILO for Free!
  • Map out your future training with Information Management Training Paths
  • New Informix ILO Select Course
  • Instructor-Led Online: now greener and more versatile
  • HealthCheck service for Informix Dynamic Server
  • Take an inside look at the IBM Data Server Consultants!
• Developer corner
  • New in DeveloperWorks
• Informix news
• IIUG Events
  • Informix Tech Day: A pan-European event in Strasbourg, France on Jan 16th 2009
  • Latin America User Group meetings
  • KCIUG meeting
  • Washington Area IBM Informix Database User Group next meeting
  • New England Informix Users Group
• Informix survey
  • 2008 survey Says...
• Informix resources
  • Informix blogs and things
• Calendar of events
• Useful links
• Closing and credits

Happy New Year to all IIUG members!

2008 was a great year.

First of all for Informix. The highlight was the announcement of IDS 11.5, code named Cheetah 2, a huge step forward. Investing and promoting a major release was just one of many actions taken by IBM to position Informix as its prime OLTP database. In 2008 these actions were made visible through the press and in the IOD conference in Las Vegas (IOD standing for Information on Demand). More than 7500 people attended this conference. The result was the continuous two digit growth in new Informix licenses; a growth far superior to the database market's growth.

In 2008 we had our first IIUG Informix International conference. As you all know it was a great success. I cannot wrap up the year without thanking the group of volunteers who served on the Conference Planning Committee and the IIUG Board of Directors for making it happen.

At work, I had a wonderful year as well. We participated in the IDS 11.5 Beta program, which was a great experience. We have moved all our production and development systems to IDS 11.5 FC3. From what I have learned so far, Cheetah 2 is going to be a huge success. We are half way through migrating our 4GL code to Java EE. Java and Informix are a perfect match and we are able to get the same performance we had in our 4GL programs.

I wish 2009 to be better then ever for IBM and Informix. More Informix users, more IIUG members, a bigger and better conference, more content for the IIUG Insider, an interesting and profitable year to you all at work and a happy and peaceful year all together.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
gary@iiug.org

Feliz Año Nuevo a todos los miembros de IIUG!

2008 fue un gran año.

Sobretodo todo para Informix. Lo mas destacado fue el anuncio de IDS11.5, bautizado como código Cheetah 2, un enorme paso adelante. Invertir y promover un lanzamiento tan importante fue solo uno de los muchos actos hechos por IBM para colocar a Informix como su principal base de datos OLTP. Durante el 2008, estos actos fueron presentados y destacados a través de la prensa y durante la conferencia IOD en Las Vegas (IOD : Information on Demand - información a demanda). Más de 7,500 personas participaron en esta Conferencia. Algunas de estos actos fueron simbólicos, como cambiar la marca DB2 por IBM Information Management. Otros actos fueron más significantes. El resultado fue un crecimiento de dos dígitos en el numero de licencias nuevas de Informix; un crecimiento muy superior al crecimiento del mercado general de bases de datos.

Durante el año 2008 tuvimos nuestra primer Conferencia Internacional Informix en Kansas. Como todos sabemos esta Conferencia tuvo un gran éxito. Yo no puedo finalizar el año sin antes agradecer enormemente al grupo de voluntarios que actuaron en el Comite de Planeamiento de la Conferencia in en la Junta Directiva del IIUG por hacer que todo esto suceda.

En el trabajo, tuve un año maravilloso también. Estamos participando en el programa IDS 11.5 Beta, lo cual es una gran experiencia. Transferimos todos nuestros sistemas de produccion y desarrollo a IDS 11.5 FC3. Segun lo que he visto hasta ahora Cheetah va a ser un gran éxito.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
gary@iiug.org

Bonne année à tous les membres d'IIUG...

Comme chaque année, Gary demande à quelques volontaires, triés sur le volet, de lui traduire son édito de fin d'année... Et comme chaque année, je suis obligé d'améliorer son texte... Enfin, n'y voyez pas une sorte de censure, simplement un processus itératif d'amélioration...

2008 a été une grande année!

Tout d'abord pour Infomix! Le grand événement a été IDS 11.5, dont le code name est "cheetah 2" un immense pas en avant! D'ailleurs, une des fonctionnalités phare de Cheetah 2, Mach 11, où la réplication atteint une nouvelle étape, fera l'objet de plusieurs démonstrations pendant l'InformixTechDay qui aura lieu à Strasbourg le 16 janvier 2009. Investir et promouvoir dans cette version majeure n'a été que quelques-unes des nombreuses actions qu'IBM a réalisées pour positionner Informix comme sa principale base de données OLTP. En 2008, ces actions ont été visible dans la presse et à la conférence IOD à Las Vegas (IOD voulant dire "Informix over DB2" comme chacun sait). Plus de 7500 personnes ont été à la conférence. Le résultat a été une croissance continue à 2 chiffres des ventes de nouvelles licences Informix ; une croissance bien supérieure au marché des bases de données.

En 2008, nous avons eu notre première conférence internationale IIUG. Comme vous le savez déjà, cela a été un réel succès. Je ne peux terminer cet édito sans remercier, encore une fois, le groupe de volontaire qui ont permis cet événement. En parlant de conférence : la conférence InformixTechDay le 16 janvier à Strasbourg...

Au travail, Gary a eu une super année. Ils ont participé au programme Beta de la 11.5 qui a été un grand moment. Nous avons migré tous nos systèmes de développements et de production sur la 11.5 FC3. De ce qu'il a appris jusqu'à présent, cela va être un grand succès. Nous en sommes à mi chemin de notre migration 4GL vers Java EE. Java et Informix forment un beau couple et nous atteignons le même niveau de performance qu'avec nos programmes 4GL.

De mon côté, je dirige GreenIvory, une start-up technologique, spécialiste de Web 2.0. Web 2.0 est une ombrelle, nous nous spécialisons dans tout ce qui est e-réputation, mashup et réseaux sociaux. Nous faisons partis du club très fermés des start-ups qui font de l'argent ;-). Le rapport avec Informix? Autant Gary trouve que Java et Informix se marrient bien, je trouve que le Web (et particulièrement 2.0) et Informix sont un couple idéal (cf. mon article dans Informix Database Magazine, oops, IBM Database Magazine). Nos avons vendus notre première licence Informix Enterprise Edition à une PME, complètement white-space pour IBM. Un grand moment! Nous organisons également une mini-conférence gratuite à Strasbourg sur Informix le 16 janvier 2009.

Gary et mois souhaitons que 2009 sera la meilleure année pour IBM et Informix, mais aussi plus d'utilisateurs Informix, plus de membres d'IIUG, une conférence plus grande et encore meilleure, plus de contenu pour l'Insider, une année professionnelle intéressante et profitable à vous tous et une bonne et pleine de paix.

Gary & JGP (qui vous invite à Strasbourg le 16 janvier)

Ich wünsche allen IIUG Mitgliedern ein frohes neues Jahr!

2008 war ein fantastisches Jahr.

Vor allem für Informix. Der Höhepunkt war die Freigabe von IDS 11.5 - Codename "Cheetah 2" -, ein grosser Schritt nach vorne. Der Invest in dieses Major Release und seine Vermarktung waren nur ein Teil der vielen IBM-Aktivitäten, die IDS als IBM's primäre OLTP-Datenbank positionieren. In 2008 wurden diese Aktivitäten durch Pressemitteilungen und die IOD-Konferenz - "Information On Demand" - in Las Vegas publik gemacht. Mehr als 7.500 Menschen nahmen an dieser Konferenz teil. Das Resultat dieser Aktivitäten ist ein fortlaufendes Umsatzwachstum im (höheren) zweistelligen Prozentbereich in Bezug auf neue Informix-Lizenzen. Das ist weit höher als als die durschnittliche Wachstumsrate im Datenbank-Markt.

In 2008 fand auch die erste internationale IIUG-Konferenz statt. Wie ein Großteil von Euch weiß, war es ein grosser Erfolg. Ich möchte diese Jahr nicht abschliessen ohne sowohl den Freiwilligen, die Teil des Konferenz-Planungs-Teams waren, als auch den den IIUG Vorstands-Mitgliedern zu danken, die dies ermöglicht haben.

Im Job hatte ich auch ein wundervolles Jahr. Wir nahmen am IDS 11.5 Beta-Programm teil, was eine grossartige Erfahrung war. Alle unsere Produktions-und Testsysteme wurden bereits auf IDS 11.5 umgestellt. Basierend auf meinen bisherigen Erfahrungen kann ich nur sagen: "Cheetah 2" wird ein grosser Erfolg. Die Migration unserer 4GL-Programme zu Java EE ist zur Hälfte abgeschlossen. Java und Informix ergänzen sich hervorragend und wir konnten die gleiche Performance erzielen, als mit unseren 4GL-Programmen.

Ich wünsche mir, dass 2009 erfolgreicher denn je wird für IBM und Informix. Mehr Informix Nutzer, mehr IIUG Mitglieder, eine noch grössere und bessere Konferenz, mehr Inhalte für den IIUG-Insider-Newsletter, ein interessantes und erfolgreiches Jahr für Euch alle aus geschäftlicher Sicht sowie ein glückliches und friedvolles Jahr für alle Menschen.

(Thanks to Eric Herber for the German translation)

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
gary@iiug.org

Feliz ano novo a todos os membros do IIUG!

2008 foi um grande ano.

Antes de mais nada para a Informix. O destaque deste ano foi o anúncio de IDS 11.5, batizado como código Cheetah 2, uma etapa significante. Investir em e promover um novo produto foi apenas uma das muitas ações tomadas pela IBM para posicionar a Informix como sua principal base de dados de OLTP. Em 2008 estas ações tornaram-se visíveis tanto na imprensa quanto na conferência de IOD em Las Vegas (IOD: Information on Demand). Mais de 7500 pessoas participaram desta conferência. Algumas destas ações foram puramente simbólicas como a mudança do nome de DB2 para IBM Information Management. Outras já foram mais profundas. O resultado - um crescimento de dois dígitos em novas licenças de Informix; muito superior ao crescimento geral do mercado de base de dados.

No trabalho, tive um excelente ano também. Participamos do programa Beta de IDS 11.5, o que foi uma grande experiência. Transferimos todos os nossos sistemas de produção e desenvolvimento para IDS 11.5 FC3. E pelo que ouço sobre o Cheetah 2, tudo indica que vai tornar-se um enorme sucesso. Estamos em plena migração de nosso código 4GL para Java EE. Java e Informix formam uma dupla perfeita e conseguimos manter o mesmo desempenho que tinhamos em nossos programas 4GL. Temos um longo e fascinante caminho pela frente e é tranquilizante saber que podemos contar com a Informix.

Vão aí meus votos para que 2009 seja melhor do que nunca para a IBM e Informix. Mais usuários de Informix, mais membros no IIUG, uma maior e melhor conferencia, mais conteúdo para o IIUG Insider; que seja um ano próspero e interessante com muita paz e felicidade a todos.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
gary@iiug.org

The IIUG Board elections are now upon us. Here is an overview of the timeline.

Notes to the above.

1. Nominations must be made by email to the Election Commissioner at the email address election2009@iiug.org. The email must state the following:
   • Applicant's name.
   • Applicant's parent organization and role in that organization.
   • Applicant's IIUG membership number.
   • A brief description about why the applicant would be a good candidate for the role on the IIUG Board.
   • A brief description about the attributes that the applicant has and can apply to the work of the IIUG Board.
   • A statement acknowledging that the applicant has the time commitment to devote to the work of the IIUG Board that will include, amongst other things, a daily commitment to email correspondence, a monthly commitment to conference calls and at least two Board meetings (normally 3 days plus travel) and attendance and assistance to the IIUG Informix conference in North America (normally 5 days plus travel). For all the events, attendance is compulsory.
   • The IIUG Board may, at its discretion, reject any nomination for any reason without disclosing such reason.
   • Nominations received after 5pm US Eastern Standard Time on the 28th January will not be eligible.
   • You may nominate yourself. If nomination another person, that person must acknowledge their acceptance of the nomination in a separate email to the Election Commissioner at election2009@iiug.org.
2. An election will only occur if there are more nominations than Board positions.
3. The election will run over a 2 week period.
4. Following the election, the successful nominees will be required to confirm their availability. This will be by way of written correspondence with the Election Commissioner.
5. The election result will be officially declared by the Election Commissioner on the 29th March 2009 and announced via the Insider, IIUG web site or email blast to members.
6. The new IIUG Board will take up their responsibilities from the close of the IIUG Informix Conference in Kansas. There is no specific requirement that new Board members attend the Kansas conference.

Come to the 2009 IIUG Informix Conference, The Power Conference for Informix Professionals. Here you will see why Informix has done so well at the VendorRate website. Informix scored "exceptional" in all the categories. At the conference you can attend sessions that will show you how Informix achieves such high ratings in categories such as Reliability. You will also be able to see why Informix is so Effective at solving problems for various users.

Join us on April 26th — 29th, 2009, to network with other Informix users and see for yourself why Informix does so well in satisfying the needs of the business world. See how others are using the product to solve their business problems.

The Early Bird discount is ending on January 15th. So your chance to attend this conference for a mere $549.00 is ending soon. If you are a registered IIUG member you will get an additional savings of $50. With 88 sessions scheduled over 3 days, plus pre-conference tutorials and evening events, you'll definitely find this conference to be worth every penny. For more details and to register, go to:

http://www.iiug.org/conf/2009/iiug/

David Link
IIUG Conference Planning Committee

Take advantage of one of our new Instructor-Led Online (ILO) offerings, ILO Select! For a limited time, the Basics of Data Studio Environment classes (3E060) will be offered free of charge on December 16th, 2008. This half day ILO Select course will instruct you on the acquisition, installation and navigation of IBM Data Studio. You will also learn to query some data structures in DB2 or Informix. Experience firsthand how ILO delivers top quality IBM training, and saves you time and money.

Register today, spaces are limited!

http://www.iiug.org/url/ilo_3E060.html

The detailed and informative Information Management Training Paths provide you with the step-by-step instructions on how to advance in your training, and help you attain the skills needed to productively work in your environment while minimizing your training time. There are Training Paths for all Information Management brands. Read them today and see how they can provide you with the fast track to skills and career advancement!

Read today!

http://www.ibm.com/software/data/education/roadmaps.html?ca=deciiug

A new Instructor-Led Online (ILO) Select course is now available! Managing Informix DS Using the SQL Admin API and Scheduler (3S301) has just been released and classes have been scheduled for 2009. Get to the heart of the topic with this jam-packed, half-day intermediate level course. You will learn about the features of Informix SQL Administration Application Programming Interface (API), learn how to write SQL statements to perform a variety of system administration tasks, and much more. The first offering is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2009, and you can attend the class from the comfort of your home or office through the convenience of ILO.

Sign up today!

http://www.iiug.org/url/ilo_3S301.html

Experience the new trend in training with Instructor-Led Online (ILO). ILO helps you save the environment by reducing travel and carbon emissions. ILO is now available in more scheduling options to suit your schedule. Need to update your skills on a certain topic but faced with time and budget constraints? ILO Select provides targeted information in a packed lecture of three hours or less, at a much lower price than full training courses. ILO Flex Time offerings enable you to experience the full scope of ILO from anywhere in the world over several days so that you can balance both work and education. These two new ILO options give you the ability to enhance your skills when and where it is convenient for you.

Sign up today!

http://www.ibm.com/software/data/education/ilo.html?ca=deciiug

Engage IBM Software Services to ensure that your IBM Informix Dynamic Server is running optimally in 2009 to maximize your business productivity with the IDS HealthCheck Service. Rely on the industry's leading experts in IDS to provide you with the best advice on maintaining IDS V10/XPS V8.5 in your current environment. Our consultants will also work closely with your staff to assist in conducting a comprehensive review of your database health using proven IBM database best practices and make detailed recommendations for improvement.

Learn more!

http://www.ibm.com/software/data/services/database.html?ca=deciiug

Do you want to know how IBM expert Glenn McGeoch established migration standards at a multi-national investment company? What about how IBM UniVerse expert Mark Baldridge greatly cut processing time at a multi-level marketing firm through upgrading to UniVerse? Meet the minds behind Data Server Services and benefit from their experience!

Read their stories

http://www.ibm.com/software/data/services/consultants.html

Using common connections with Data Studio Developer

Creating database connections requires users to provide specific information including the database vendor, version and URL information. Data Studio Developer 2.1 introduces a simple and efficient way to manage database connections, allowing users to easily store and retrieve connection parameters for multiple databases.

http://www.iiug.org/url/db_connections.html

For more information go to DeveloperWorks — Informix:

http://www.iiug.org/url/dw_informix.html

VendorRate Announces ChemSW, Informix, Salesforce.com and Intel Are Top Rated IT Vendors for Customer Satisfaction in 2008

http://www.iiug.org/url/top_IT_2008.html

Published: December 10, 2008

Notice of government intent to award a sole source contract to IBM Informix for the procurment of proprietary legacy software licenses.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2074070/

Published: December 9, 2008

Multicarta Implements SteelEye LifeKeeper for Linux

Multicarta, a Russian credit card authorization processor, has implemented SteelEye LifeKeeper for Linux to ensure that downtime of its transaction processing system is limited to less than fifteen minutes per year.

...

The key IT elements at Multicarta's processing centre are the server and storage hardware and the database of credit card holders and their details. Two HP ProLiant DL580 G3 servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4 and an IBM Informix database access an HP EVA 6000 shared storage array.

Published: December 9, 2008

Dear Informix user,

Let me take the opportunity to wish you a great end of the year! We are very pleased to announce the first pan-European InformixTechDay! This is going to be a one-day technical training event. Classes will have both beginner level and more advanced levels. Speakers will cover theory (database theory, architecture) and real field experience.

We hope to have French, English and German speakers and hope to have 3 tracks (one in each language).

We will hold this event with the University of Strasbourg (and in the University), on January 16th. Sponsors are IIUG, GreenIvory, VMark, the University of Strasbourg and IBM. The university already committed to sending students (4th and 5th year of IT engineering, college is 5 years in France).

For more information on InformixTechDay, visit http://www.developerforum.eu. Please forward the invitation, write it on your blog and share the information! We welcome sessions, however, here is the list of the current sessions:

• Hibernate & JPA avec Informix
• Discussions autour de bonnes pratiques / Chats about good practices
• Utilisation de ServerStudio sur Macintosh
• Sentinel: sécurisez proactivement votre moteur
• Sentinel: secure proactively your engine
• Diveloppement de Web Services avec Data Studio 1.2
• Diveloppement de Plugin pour OAT
• Introduction au base de données basée sur Informix
• Introduction à Informix (architecture, historique, installation)

See you there,

Jean Georges Perrin
DeveloperForum Coordinator
Member IIUG Board of Directors

Latin America is atwitter with Informix activity once again. With increased investment from IBM and renewed interest from users, there are plans for more users group activities around the region. In October, 60 users got together in Sao Paulo, Brasil to hear an update on the latest innovations in IDS v11 from Carlton Doe, as well as a discussion on best practices with IDS Application Development from Brasilian native Vlaunir da Silva.

The interest comes at a time with IBM is investing in the Software Support and Development organization from its Latin America base in Brasil. Bringing on experienced Informix DBAs, training new graduates in the Dynamic Scalable Architecture (DSA) of IDS and building core skills in speciality areas like Enterprise Replication and Performance Tuning has amounted to a flurry of new life in the Informix "ecosystem" throughout the region.

In Mexico, IDS once enjoyed a vast majority market share. While dis-information from other database vendors and some marketing missteps from IBM have hindered the Informix stronghold, a strong core of highly dedicated developers, DBAs, Business Partners and System Administrators remain dedicated to what they gave always felt is the strongest technology ever introduced to the relational database field. Some of Mexico's largest companies in telecommunications, utilities, the public sector, and energy production rely on IDS to run their core business. They have quietly continued to lead strong development and programming efforts to utilize the scalability and reliability of IDS in complex, multiprocessor OLTP environments as well as large, multi-terabyte data warehouses.

This January, Jerry Keesee will deliver a talk about the recent enhancements to IDS, the continued growth of the IDS Development Organization around the world, and give some idea on the future direction of the IDS code-line. Jerry last spoke at the Mexico City-centered users group in 2002, for an audience of over 100 users and integration partners. This time, he will be joined by special envoy Patricia Rubio, who recently joined Jerry's IDS Development organization after spending over 10 years in Informix Customer Support for Latin America out of Miami, FL. Patricia will give an interesting presentation based on her years in Support of how to avoid some common pitfalls and ensure speedy recovery for down systems.

The continued investment from IBM here follows an update to the support structure that brings Client Support Reps in-country across Latin America, in their Portuguese for Brasil and Spanish for the rest of the LA Market. This move is intended to strengthen and expedite the progression of Problem Management Reports (PMRs) though IBM Customer Support, and also to build local Advanced Support and Development Skills in the region.

Continued efforts in Latin America include a new SAIUG meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with an inaugural meeting in March, as well as a follow-up meeting in Brasil. Later in 2009, meetings in Columbia, Venezuela and Chile are in the works.

- Latin America Informix Users Groups' Steering Committee

Mark your calendars for the upcoming KCIUG meeting to be held at the IBM Facility in Lenexa, Kansas.

MEETING:

Thursday January 22, 2009 8:30 AM - 4:15 PM IBM Facility 16011 College Blvd Lenexa, Kansas

AGENDA:

• Registration, Continental Breakfast and Socializing
• Informix Roadmap
• Cheetah 2 - "What's the Roar About"
• Continuous Availability Feature - A Hands on Approach and a Developers View into Connection Manager Functionality
• Virtual Appliance - A look into this new environment
• Upgrade to 11.5 - A&A
• OAT - What's new

More details to follow soon.

Please RSVP with your name and names of any guests to Cindy Lichtenauer, KCIUG Board Member at cindy@iiug.org.

What's New in Informix

Please note the location of this meeting, in downtown Washington, DC near the McPherson Square Metro station.

See website for directions. http://www.iiug.org/waiug/

The meeting is open to all but registration is required. Please register so we can provide IBM building security with a list of attendees. Click here to register for the user group meeting: http://www.iiug.org/waiug/

Informix Enterprise Replication Hands-On Lab by Carlton Doe, IBM

Sign up now for the full-day, hands-on, in-depth, Proof of Concept Lab on Enterprise Replication. This class will be held the next day at the same location. Ever wondered how to set up update anywhere? How about hierarchical push-down or consolidate up? What about selective round-robin? You'll do it all plus break it and put it back together. Your guide will be Carlton Doe, from IBM. Reserve your seat now by January 12. Class limit 15 people. Class registration required. First come, first served.

Save the Date - Wednesday Feb 4, 2009 for a meeting of the New England Informix Users Group.

As of this writing the list of presenters and topics are still being worked on, but the meeting will take place at the IBM facility in Lexington, MA. Seating will be limited so watch this publication and the IIUG web site at http://www.iiug.org/events/events.php#February2009. More details which will be available just after the first of the year. Topics include "What's new in IDS 11.5" and "Informix RoadMap from IBM", with additional technical topics coming.

What vendors would you like to see support Informix?

I hope everyone enjoyed last month's Insider article on survey results of new features to add to a future version of Informix. In addition to that information, there were a few other questions with open box answers that I will be discussing over the next couple of Insiders. One of them was "What vendors would you like to see support Informix?" There were 87 Survey takers that responded to this question. The number one answer was fairly predictable. I have heard a number of people complain about SAP and their lack of support for Informix 11.5 with their newer releases. The surprise came with the second vendor. It turned out to be the same vendor that requested this question on the survey — IBM!

Yes, IBM continues to buy a number of smaller companies and products, yet these products are not immediately converted to Informix. Products identified included Portal, Filenet, Tivoli, and Rational. Realize that IBM is a business and therefore does not want to spend money where it doesn't need to, but IIUG community has spoken and we want all IBM products on Informix!

Here is one of the comments:

All of them but especially IBM. There are too many IBM products that do not support Informix and when speaking with that area of IBM they want us to justify the port to Informix. This in turn sends out the message that IBM does not care about Informix which makes companies not want to continue using it and third parties to not want to port their products to Informix.

These are the products recommended by more than one person for conversion. If a product and a vendor are both listed, I may not have realized this connection and therefore gave them two entries. Sorry in advance about that. The number in the first column is the number of survey takers that wrote that vendor as their response:

Other products getting one vote were Zmanda, Vocollect, LoanWare(FICS), Kronos, Manhattan, Sterling, Accorde, Fourth Elephant, SCO, MS LINQ, Hyperion, Triple Point Technology, Documentum, CentOS, Mad Props, HP Openview, Solix, SAS, EMC, JDEdwards, Cognos, Rockwell, Pavillion, SPSS, and weblogic.

Additional survey comments:

Most Vendors e.g. SAP, BAAN, PeopleSoft; no longer certify new apps on Informix and/or do benchmarks, these are crucial to advertise Informix.

Most business customers to not port to Informix. If they did, Informix would sure have more of our business.

I was able to contact Jerry Keesee, World Wide Director Informix, Data Management Software at IBM. He made this comment on the results:

I appreciate the Informix community taking the time to complete this survey. We are committed to continue to add more and more support for Informix across Information Management as well as the rest of Software Group. We added support for many new products in 2008 including Solid DB and Change Data Capture. Data Studio continues to add more and more support for Informix with each new release. There are literally hundreds of products across the brands.

Many key products support Informix today. For Rational, the Rational Application Developer, Web Developer, and Data Architect all support Informix. The Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) and Tivoli Monitoring for Database using the OPAL agent are examples from Tivoli. Websphere RFID Information Center embeds Informix exclusively. We're adding support from other key products from Tivoli, Websphere, and Cognos in 2009.

The decision which database (or all) to certify is driven by the business requirements. We will never certify Informix with all products. Surveys like this one help us to understand specifically which products our customers desire from each business unit which helps us to narrow our focus. A more detailed survey may be required to help us prioritize our investments in order to deliver those solutions most important to you.

The good news is that IBM requested this information and therefore will be taking this list seriously. They will work to actively convince these vendors what we at IIUG already know — Informix is the best engine and using it will help sell applications. Future surveys will have better questions that will make our next set of survey results clearer as to what products are desired from each vendor.

Look to next month's Insider to get more 2008 survey results.

Kate Tomchik
Member IIUG Board of Directors

• The IIUG forums at http://www.iiug.org/forums/technical.php **** these are very good****
• Blogs, Videos, News and more at http://planetids.com
• IDS Experts at http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/idsteam
• Guy Bowerman at http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/gbowerman
• Madison Pruitt at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/roundrep
• Jacques Roy at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/jacquesroy
• Informix blogs at http://www.ibmdatabasemag.com/blog/main/archives/informix/index.html
• Kate Dawson at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/katedawson
• Fernando Nunes at http://informix-technology.blogspot.com/
• Virtual Worlds, MMOGs, Serious data - Informix Technology for Persistent Worlds http://informix4virtual.wordpress.com/
• IBM DATABASE MAGAZINE at http://www.ibmdatabasemag.com
• The Informix Zone at http://www.informix-zone.com
• The Informix mag at http://www.informixmag.com/
• IIUG developers Desktop http://www.iiug.org/devnews/Vol_1_Iss_4/Home.html
• There is now an Informix group on LinkedIn. The group is called "Informix Supporter", so anyone loving Informix can join, from current IBM employees, former Informix employees to users can join. It will also be a good occasion to get in touch with others or long-time-no-seen friends. If you fancy showing the Informix logo on your profile, join. To join, simply go to: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/25049/5E4B2048E558

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.