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Insider

IIUG Insider (Issue #116)
February 2010

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Highlights: Elections for IIUG Board of Directors 2010

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 Back to top

The IIUG Board of Directors met at the IBM Palisades Conference Center 26-27 of February. We had a good meeting, and we are sure you will see big improvements in the services we are offering our membership. Stay tuned for announcements in the IIUG Corner of the Insider.

On Friday we met Robert Thomas, Vice president, Business Development, IBM Software Group, Information Management. Rob presented to the board IBM's three-year plan for Informix. In the following issue Rob will lay out the plan in detail.

All I can reveal at the moment are the 4 key imperatives that will drive the Informix revitalization:

  • Delight the install base: Enhance the Informix client relationship and improve client loyalty
  • Build Strategic Differentiation: Fix the messaging and enhance the overall Informix value proposition to the market
  • Create Proactive Sales Culture: Develop a proactive, high-touch culture, with expansion into growth areas (embedded, etc.)
  • Build New, Profitable Revenue Streams: Build new revenue streams that capitalize on the strong and growing footprint of Informix

For the first time since the IBM acquisition, we were presented with a comprehensive plan for Informix. We can take the easy way and wait to see how this plan goes, doing nothing in the meantime. But the IIUG community has an important role in the success of this plan. Both our feedback and our support are valuable.

For me, this represents a dramatic change. This is the reason for my new attitude. I could save face and stay quiet, but those of you who know me know that this is not my way. I am writing this editorial because I believe in this plan. I am not naive. I know there is a big difference between planning and executing. But I am convinced this is a sincere effort. No, I am not writing these lines to please IBM. I do not report to IBM. I report to you. I am writing these lines because it is my duty as the IIUG Insider editor to inform you and give you the opportunity to participate.

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

Highlights Back to top
Elections for IIUG Board of Directors 2010

The elections for the IIUG Board of Directors 2010 are about to begin. Your participation in these elections is very important. It gives you members of the IIUG an opportunity to influence the direction of the IIUG and it gives the Board of Directors the recognition and power to lead the way.

Election milestones:

  • The elections will be officially announced on March 8
  • Elections will start on March 22 and end on April 5
  • The results will be announced on April 19

The new board will start its term right after the IIUG Informix Conference on April 29.

Conference corner Back to top
2010 IIUG Informix Conference — Register before March 16th and save $150

The 2010 IIUG Conference is less than two months away. This year's conference will be better than ever! Register today if you haven't already.

The IIUG Conference Planning Committee is always striving to make each conference better than the last. This year is no exception. This year's conference will continue to offer the same top quality sessions as in the past with the introduction of six hands-on labs. These labs offer a variety of topics presented by top speakers in the Informix community.

  • IDS in Cognos Express — Tosin Ajayi
    Tosin has worked extensively on installation and deployment of IDS and is currently a Software Engineer with the IBM IDS Server Development Team. Tosin will discuss the aspects of IDS embeddabilty as well as the challenges faced using Cognos Express and how those challenges are overcome.
  • Up Close and Personal IDS 11.50 Features — Sanjit Chakraborty
    Sanjit has over 16 years of IT experience and is currently a member of the Informix Advanced Support group. Sanjit's lab will highlight several features from IDS 11.50 including: data compression, MERGE SQL statement, external tables, dynamic listener threads and several other exciting features.
  • Using Optim Test Data Management Solution with IDS — Adam Hattrell
    Adam has over 10 years of Informix experience and is currently a Software Support Specialist for the UK. Adam's lab provides an overview of Optim Test Data Management and how it is used for regression testing, performance testing and masking sensitive data.
  • Administrating IDS HA and Replication Environment — Prasad Mujumdar
    Prasad is an Advisory Software Engineer and is currently a senior developer working on the Informix High Availability component. Prasad will guide you through the full process of building, breaking and rebuilding the IDS CAF/Mach 11 cluster, as well as using Enterprise Replication.
  • Everything You Wanted to Know About... CAF, Connection Manager and Failover — Ron Privett
    Ron is an Advance Support Engineer for IBM and has been with Informix/IBM for 13 years. Ron's current responsibilities include working on Informix down systems and specializing in replication issues. Ron will cover the basics of CAF, Connection Manager and Failover. He will also go in depth to cover various configuration and connection scenarios as well as failover strategies.
  • IDS in a Cloud — Yunming Wang
    Yunming is an Advance Support Engineer and has been working at IBM since 1998. Yunming is currently involved with the IDS virtual appliance project dealing in virtualization and cloud computing. Yunming will help users get started in the cloud computing arena by guiding participants in how to launch cloud instances, connect cloud instances with SSH and VNC, create web services and set up Informix Connection Manager.

For additional information about the hands-on labs visit http://www.iiug.org/conf/2010/iiug/labs.php. Our hands-on labs have a lot to offer, but if you don't see a hands-on lab that piques your interest you will still have the full slate of sessions to complete your IIUG Conference experience. All sessions are offered by experienced professionals in the Informix community.

For additional information on the sessions visit http://www.iiug.org/conf/2010/iiug/sessions.php.

So join us at the conference and increase your knowledge and skills to maximize your investment in Informix. Register at http://www.iiug.org/conf/2010/iiug/register.php.

NOTE: The $699 price has been extended through March 15. After that, the price will be raised to $849.

Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Conference Planning Committee

Make Plans Now to Attend IOD EMEA

Take advantage of the unparalleled free certification testing, pre-assessment exam and even more education opportunities available at the Information On Demand EMEA Conference 19-21 May in Rome, Italy. Get certifications in Rome that will keep you at the top of your game and provide return on your current IT investments. Network with the most talented IBM experts and developers and get first-hand hints & tips by participating in the popular Usability and Hands-on Labs.

Register today! Visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/uk/data/conf/

You can follow us on twitter visit: http://www.twitter.com/IOD2010

Education Back to top
IBM

Get Your Free Copy of the New Informix E-book
Do more with less. Discover hassle-free Data Management with IBM Informix Dynamic Server. With data volumes increasing and IT budgets under pressure, it is critical that your database is a powerful engine that can drive your business. Learn more about how Informix can help you control costs by increasing efficiency. Download the e-book today:

http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/discover-informix/

Register for the March 3 Data in Action: Making the Planet Smarter Web Cast
At the Data in Action Virtual Conference, you will hear from technology leaders, clients and business partners on today's enterprise data management challenges and how leveraging IBM's data management portfolio can deliver better business outcomes, at lower cost, while providing capabilities that scale across enterprise applications, databases and platforms. Attend the featured web casts, visit the solution pavilion, get questions answered, download collateral and round out your experience by joining the live chat with experts. To learn more about the Web cast and to register, go to the web cast home page:

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

See you there!

Advanced DataTools

Informix Data Warehouse Webcast Topics by Advanced DataTools:

Business Intelligence dropped from the #1 Technology Priority in 2007-2009 to the #5 Priority in 2010 Gartner CIO survey. Does this mean that BI and Data Warehouses are no longer relevant to business? Or, as one blog that did follow-up surveys said "They (CIO's) stated BI was consistently burning them and burning them bad. They have gone into a wait and see hibernation."

How do you prevent from getting burned? See our keys to success to building the Informix Data Warehouses correctly in our next webcasts.

Successfully Transform and Load Your DataWarehouse - Using the Informix Data Warehouse Feature

  • Date: Tuesday March 30, 2010
  • Time: 2:00pm EST

Key to Enterprise Data Warehouse Development - Data Marts are Building Blocks to the Enterprise

  • Date: Tuesday April 20, 2010
  • Time: 2:00pm EST

To Register or Replay a past Webcast go to:

http://www.advancedatatools.com/Solutions/DataWarehouseWebcast.html

Informix DBA Training at Advanced DataTools

Do you want to learn how to be the FASTEST Informix DBA? This is the course our Fastest Informix DBA contest was developed from and will increase your database performance tuning skills.

http://www.advancedatatools.com/Training/InformixTraining.html

Developer corner Back to top
Informix Chat with the Lab

Informix Chat with the Lab

What's New in Informix Dynamic Server 11.50xc6?
 
Speaker:    Simon David, IBM Consulting IT Specialist
 
Date:    Tuesday, 23 March 2010
 
Time:    GMT-06:00
8:30 AM Pacific
10:30 AM Central
11:30 AM Eastern
4:30 PM London
5:30 PM Paris

For more information about the March Chat and to register, go to the program's Web page:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/ifmxchatwithlab/Home

Audio replay for Feb 24 Informix chat with lab available now!

In case you were not able to attend the session or would like to share with someone...

Audio replay for topic Top 10 reasons to consider IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ for IDS servers is available on the Chat with the Lab website:

http://www.ibm.com/informix/labchats

New in DeveloperWorks

Automatically extend dbspaces in Informix Dynamic Server 11.50
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/techarticle/dm-1002autoextenddbspaces/
As productive databases containing important information systems rapidly grow larger and larger, automated space management becomes more and more important. This article shows you how to avoid out-of-space situations by using existing features of Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) to implement space management functionality. IDS 11.50 delivers a system database called SYSADMIN that includes administrative stored procedures and an integrated DB scheduler. Together, the stored procedures and scheduler enable the database server to execute database functions and procedures at predefined times. You can use the scheduler to continuously monitor all Informix dbspaces, and to extend space when necessary. The article features a sample program that demonstrates how you can implement this function.
25 Feb 2010

Information Management and XML technology
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/zones/xml/
Support for XML in IBM Information Management products fosters the dynamic representation of data in a format that can be easily shared across databases and across platforms. developerWorks is the technical resource center for using XML technology with DB2, Informix, U2, and all the IBM Information Management products.
25 Feb 2010

DBA Central
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/zones/dba/
developerWorks DBA Central page is the technical resource center for the IBM Information Management database administrator and includes technical articles, tutorials, downloads, tools, code samples, and more.
25 Feb 2010

IBM Informix
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/products/informix/
IBM Informix software delivers superior database performance for transaction intensive environments. developerWorks is the technical resource center for IBM Informix software, including technical articles, documentation, downloads, and support information.
11 Feb 2010

Data warehousing
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/products/datawarehousing/
IBM's warehousing solutions provide you with all of the capabilities necessary to glean maximum return from your information.
04 Feb 2010

For more information go to DeveloperWorks - Informix:
http://www.iiug.org/url/devworks.html

IIUG corner Back to top
2009 Survey Results

The IIUG Annual Feature Request Survey has been compiled. We had an enthusiastic response from our membership giving us some great information for future directions of the Informix product. This is the first of a series of articles of the results of last year's survey. Thank-you to everyone who responded.

Results

So who actually took the survey this year? The first section of the survey was to get the demographics of our voting community. We once again had a higher voting percentage from people who identified themselves from EMEA than we did from North America — which verifies how critical it is to recognize our user group as truly International rather than just a USA user group. If you are from EMEA, you should be considering going to the IBM Information On-Demand EMEA conference in Rome, Italy this May. You can get more information on the IBM IOD EMEA event registration at https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/iodemea/iodemea10.nsf/enrollcode. Of course, our own IIUG Informix Conference is coming up in April, and many Europeans have told me that with the current exchange rates it is pretty affordable to fly to Kansas as well. Here is the link for that:

http://www.iiug.org/conf/2010/iiug/register.php.

1. Where are you physically located?

Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)36.60%
North America33.30%
Indian sub-continent, Asia, Pacific20.40%
Mexico/Central America/South America9.70%

Job functions of our surveyors varied, but the top two were as expected:

2. What is your primary job function?

Database Administrator48.00%
Software Engineer25.80%
IT Strategist or IT Architect11.00%
Executive/Manager with Direct IS reports7.70%
Other4.70%
Sales and Marketing2.40%
Executive/Manager without IS Reports0.20%
Student0.20%

Other Questions about the Surveyors:

3. How many employees are in your organization?

1 - 99.20%
9 - 9918.10%
100 - 99928.20%
1000 - 499915.90%
5000 or more18.50%
I work for IBM10.10%

4. How many end users do your Informix instances support?

less than 10020.40%
100 - 99933.50%
1000 - 9,99922.80%
10,000 - 99,9996.90%
100,000 to 999,9994.10%
1,000,000 or more2.60%
I do not know9.70%

This year we decided to get more information about the range of products of our user community. Notice that in the next question you could check more than one choice, so the total will not add up to 100%.

5. Which database technologies are currently used in your organization?

Informix98.50%
Red Brick1.70%
DB2 z/OS12.30%
DB2 LUW21.60%
Oracle46.40%
Mysql34.80%
SQLServer54.60%
Postgres/PostgresSQL11.70%
Progress2.40%
Sybase9.90%
Access20.70%
Other (please specify)5.20%

6. Which Business Integration (BI) tools to you currently use in your organization?

Cognos23.40%
Business Objects19.10%
Crystal Reports30.80%
Microstrategy7.20%
Open Source (i.e. BIRT)7.60%
DataQuant0.70%
None30.80%
Other (please specify)12.90%

7. Which versions of Informix are you currently running in your organization?

Standard Engine (SE)8.60%
5.x5.00%
7.x24.30%
9.x33.80%
10.x44.50%
11.x64.00%
Red Brick1.30%
XPS 8.x3.30%
Other1.10%

The top five features wanted by our surveyors. (The ranking numbers were compiled automatically by survey monkey).

Please rank the following potential IBM Informix Dynamic Server enhancements by importance to you.

Add the ability to perform a database level restore (current options are instance, dbspace or table)3.04
Parallelize the dbexport and dbimport operations2.89
Add a message to the online.log when the max number of extents for a table is about to be reached2.86
Add non locking oncheck options for -cd and -cD2.69
Add an option to High Performance Loader (HPL) to load or unload an entire database2.67

What about the other end? What features are not that desirable by our survey takers? Here were the two least wanted features:

Release a 4GL version for Windows 1.58
Update and improve Informix Standard Engine (SE) 1.13

In the next couple Insiders I will continue to give you more results from the survey. Next month the article will be about the 4gl usages of our IIUG community. If you have any questions about this survey or content for the our 2010 survey, please contact Kate Tomchik (kate@iiug.org) or Andrew Ford (andrew@iiug.org).

Kate Tomchik

IBM Corner Back to top
Discover the New Face of Informix in New York City March 16

This complimentary Discover Informix event scheduled for March 16 at 3:00 PM in New York City offers a unique opportunity for you to learn how IBM Informix can be instrumental in transforming your business — improving service levels across the enterprise with hassle-free data management. Arvind Krishna, IBM Software Group, Information Management General Manager and other IBM executives will lead this event addressing the issues faced by IT managers of current and prospective IBM clients and by business partners. Register now:

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

Message from the Director

This year is off to an exciting start. It's only February and there are already some special events planned that may be of interest to the Informix Community. I hope you can join us next week for a virtual conference where the keynote will address how innovations in data management help make the planet smarter. I will also have the opportunity to talk about Informix in a later session, where I'll get to show how Informix is "hassle free" — one of the reasons we have such loyal clients. This virtual event offers much more, so please take a moment to review the complete agenda and details that follow.

I'm also excited about an event we have planned in New York City later in March. This is the year where we want people to discover Informix, or re-discover Informix! As most of our loyal clients know, Informix offers world-class functionality at a great value, and we continue to invest. We plan to spread the word, and hope you can join us if you're anywhere near New York on March 16. I'll be there, together with Arvind Krishna, General Manager of IBM Information Management, and Rob Thomas, Vice President, Worldwide Business Development, IBM Information Management. Please see all the details attached.

We're also planning our first quarter Informix newsletter, so look out for it soon. In the meantime, I wanted to spread the word about these upcoming events. I hope you can join us!

Regards,

Jerry

Business Partners: Sign Up for the Informix Dynamic Server 11.5 Bootcamp Scheduled for a City Near You

Join us in a city near you for our three-day training on IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 11.5 in a classroom setting. You'll learn from detailed presentations and hands-on labs. Other related technologies, products, and offerings such as IBM Data Studio and IBM solidDB Universal Cache will be covered. Check the latest schedule and register today:

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

Last Call to Submit Nominations to Participate in the Early Access Program for the Next Release of Informix Dynamic Server

IBM is seeking Business Partners and Clients from a variety of industries to participate in the Early Access Program for Informix Dynamic Server. Be sure your voice is heard to help guide the development of the next release. Submit your nomination today!

http://www.ibm.com/informix/beta

An education session will be scheduled in early March in preparation for the first early drop.

Informix news Back to top
IBM Joins Enterprise Desktop Alliance

MarketWatch
February 10
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb 10, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA) today announced that IBM has joined the collaborative of software developers that help further the deployment and management of Macs in the enterprise. By joining the EDA, IBM has broadened the categories of cross-platform integration which the EDA represents to include collaborative and social software from Lotus, software delivery automation capabilities from Rational, and database software from Informix.

http://www.iiug.org/url/marketwatch_10feb2010.html

IBM Expands College Outreach

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WSJ Blogs
February 10
International Business Machines is expanding an initiative to win over students and professors on its products. How do they lure the college crowd? Free software. The Armonk, N.Y., company said it will offer its portfolio via the Web so professors can use database and business-intelligence programs like IBM Rational, WebSphere and Informix in classes. IBM plans to add Cognos, Lotus and Tivoli to the cloud over time.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/02/10/ibm-expands-college-outreach/

Informix resources Back to top
Informix Blogs and things  
   
Calendar of events Back to top
March - 2010
Date Event Location Contact
2-4 2010 IDS 11.5 Bootcamp Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3 Data in Action: Making the Planet Smarter Webcast  
16 Discover the New Face of Informix Event IBM New York City
17-19 2010 IDS 11.5 Bootcamp Buenos Aires, Argentina
16-18 2010 IDS 11.5 Bootcamp Shanghai, China
22-24 2010 IDS 11.5 Bootcamp Taipei, Taiwan
22-24 2010 IDS 11.5 Bootcamp Caracas, Venezuela
April - 2010
Date Event Location Contact
25-28 2010 IIUG Informix Conference Lenexa, Kansas
May - 2010
Date Event Location Contact
19-21 IBM Information on Demand EMEA Conference 2010 Rome,Italy Nancy van Broekhoven
nancyvanbroekhoven@nl.ibm.com
 
Useful links Back to top

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

Closing and credits Back to top

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.

Sources:  IIUG Board of Directors
IBM Corp.
Editors:  Gary Ben-Israel
Tammy Frankforter

For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org.