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Informix is a family of relational database management system (RDBMS) products by IBM. A Relational database management system (RDBMS is a Database management system (DBMS that is based on the Relational model as introduced by E International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology It is positioned as IBM's flagship data server for online transaction processing (OLTP) as well as integrated solutions. Online transaction processing, or OLTP, refers to a class of systems that facilitate and manage transaction-oriented applications typically for data entry and retrieval IBM acquired the Informix technology in 2001 from Informix Software.

Contents

History

1980: Early history

Roger Sippl and Laura King worked at Cromemco, an early S-100/CP/M company, where they developed a small relational database based on ISAM techniques, as a part of a report-writer software package. Cromemco was a Mountain View California Microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80 -based S-100 bus computers in the early days of the The S-100 bus, IEEE696 -1983 (withdrawn, was an early Computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800, generally considered today CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers is an Operating system originally created for Intel 8080 / 85 based Microcomputers by Gary Kildall A relational database is a Database that groups data using common attributes found in the data set ISAM stands for Indexed Sequential Access Method, a method for indexing data for fast retrieval

Sippl and King left Cromemco to found Relational Database Systems (RDS) in 1980. Their first product, Marathon, was essentially a 16-bit version of their earlier ISAM work, released on the Onyx operating system, a version of Unix for early ZiLOG microprocessors. Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX, sometimes also written as Unix with Small caps) is a computer Zilog Inc, often seen as ZiLOG (the official company denotation in 1998 through Jun 2007 is a manufacturer of 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a Central processing unit (CPU on a single Integrated

At RDS, they turned their attention to the emerging RDBMS market and released their own product as Informix (INFORMation on unIX) in 1981. A Relational database management system (RDBMS is a Database management system (DBMS that is based on the Relational model as introduced by E It included their own Informer language. It featured the ACE report writer, used to extract data from the database and present it to users for easy reading. It also featured the PERFORM screen form tool, which allowed a user to interactively query and edit the data in the database. The final release of this product was version 3. 30 in early 1986.

In 1985, they introduced a new SQL-based query engine as part of INFORMIX-SQL (or ISQL) version 1. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) 10 (version 1. 00 was never released). This product also included SQL variants of ACE and PERFORM. The most significant difference between ISQL and the previous Informix product was the separation of the database access code into an engine process (sqlexec), rather than embedding it directly in the client — thus setting the stage for client-server computing with the database running on a separate machine from the user's machine. The underlying ISAM-based file storage engine was known as C-ISAM. IBM Informix C-ISAM (also C-ISAM or cisam is an X/Open standards-compliant API Indexed Sequential Access Method or ISAM.

Through the early 1980s Informix remained a small player, but as Unix and SQL grew in popularity during the mid-1980s, their fortunes changed. By 1986 they had become large enough to float a successful IPO, and changed the company name to Informix Software. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) Initial public offering (IPO, also referred to simply as a "public offering" is when a company issues Common stock or shares to the public for the first The products included INFORMIX-SQL version 2. 00 and INFORMIX-4GL 1. 00, both of which included the database engine as well as development tools (I4GL for programmers, ISQL for non-programmers).

A series of releases followed, including a new query engine, initially known as INFORMIX-Turbo. Turbo used the new RSAM, with great multi-user performance benefits over C-ISAM. With the release of the version 4. 00 products in 1989, Turbo was renamed INFORMIX-OnLine (in part because it permitted coherent database backups while the server was online and users were modifying the data), and the original server based on C-ISAM was separated from the tools (ISQL and I4GL) and named INFORMIX-SE (Standard Engine). Version 5. 00 of Informix OnLine was released at the very end of 1990, and included full distributed transaction support with two-phase commit and stored procedures. A stored procedure is a Subroutine available to applications accessing a relational database system. Version 5. 01 was released with support for triggers too.

1988: Innovative Software acquisition

In 1988, Informix purchased Innovative Software, makers of a DOS and Unix-based office system called SmartWare and WingZ, an innovative spreadsheet program for the Apple Macintosh. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) Wingz was a Spreadsheet program sold by Informix in the late 1980s and early 1990s A spreadsheet is a Computer application that simulates a paper worksheet Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc

WingZ provided a highly graphical user interface, supported very large spreadsheets, and offered programming in a HyperCard-like language known as HyperScript. Wingz was a Spreadsheet program sold by Informix in the late 1980s and early 1990s HyperCard was an Application program created by Bill Atkinson for Apple Computer Inc The original release proved very successful, becoming the #2 spreadsheet, behind Microsoft Excel, although many WingZ users found it to be a superior product. In Computing, Microsoft Excel (full name Microsoft Office Excel) consists of a proprietary Spreadsheet -application written and distributed In 1990, WingZ ports started appearing for a number of other platforms, mostly Unix variants. Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX, sometimes also written as Unix with Small caps) is a computer During this period, many financial institutions began investing in Unix workstations as a route to increasing the desktop "grunt" required to run large financial models. For a brief period, Wingz was successfully marketed into this niche. However it suffered from a lack of development and marketing resources, possibly due to a general misunderstanding of the non-server software market. By the early 1990s WingZ had become uncompetitive, and Informix eventually sold it in 1995. Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Informix also sold a license to Claris, who combined it with a rather updated GUI as Claris Resolve. Claris was a Computer software company formed as a spin-off from Apple Computer (now Apple Inc Claris Resolve was a Spreadsheet Software program for the Apple

1994: Dynamic Scalable Architecture

With its failure in office automation products, Informix refocused on the growing database server market. In 1994, as part of a collaboration with Sequent Computer Systems, Informix released its version 6. Sequent Computer Systems, or Sequent, was a computer company that designed and manufactured Multiprocessing Computer systems They were among the pioneers 00 database server, which featured its new Dynamic Scalable Architecture, DSA.

DSA involved a major rework of the core engine of the product, supporting both horizontal parallelism and vertical parallelism, and based on a multi-threaded core well suited towards the symmetric multiprocessing systems that Sequent pioneered and that major vendors like Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard would eventually follow up on. A thread in Computer science is short for a thread of execution. In Computing, symmetric multiprocessing or SMP involves a Multiprocessor computer-architecture where two or more identical processors can connect to a single Sun Microsystems Inc ( is a multinational vendor of Computers computer components Computer software, and Information technology services The two forms of parallelism made the product capable of market-leading levels of scalability, both for OLTP and data warehousing. Online transaction processing, or OLTP, refers to a class of systems that facilitate and manage transaction-oriented applications typically for data entry and retrieval A data warehouse is a Repository of an organization's electronically stored data

Now known as Informix Dynamic Server (after briefly entertaining the name Obsidian and then being named Informix OnLine Dynamic Server), Version 7 hit the market in 1994, just when SMP systems were becoming popular and Unix in general had started to become the server operating system of choice. Version 7 was essentially a generation ahead of the competition, and consistently won performance benchmarks. As a result of its success Informix vaulted to the #2 position in the database world by 1997, pushing Sybase out of that spot with surprising ease.

Building on the success of Version 7, Informix split its core database development investment into two efforts. One effort, first known as XMP (for eXtended Multi-Processing), became the Version 8 product line, also known as XPS (for eXtended Parallel Server). This effort focused on enhancements in data warehousing and parallelism in high-end platforms, including shared-nothing platforms such as IBM's RS-6000/SP. A data warehouse is a Repository of an organization's electronically stored data A shared nothing architecture (SN is a Distributed computing architecture in which each node is independent and self-sufficient and there is no Single point of contention

1995: Illustra acquisition

The second focus, which followed the late 1995 purchase of Illustra, concentrated on object-relational database (O-R) technology. Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Illustra was a commercialized version of the Postgres object-relational database management system ( DBMS) sold by Illustra Information Technologies a company formed An object-relational database ( ORD) or object-relational database management system ( ORDBMS) is a Database management system (DBMS similar Illustra, written by ex-Postgres team members and led by database pioneer Michael Stonebraker, included various features that allowed it to return fully-formed objects directly from the database, a feature that can significantly reduce programming time in many projects. Illustra was a commercialized version of the Postgres object-relational database management system ( DBMS) sold by Illustra Information Technologies a company formed PostgreSQL is an Object-relational database management system (ORDBMS Michael Stonebraker is a Computer scientist specializing in database research and development Object-oriented programming (OOP is a Programming paradigm that uses " objects " and their interactions to design applications and computer programs Illustra also included a feature known as DataBlades that allowed new data types and features to be included in the basic server as options. These included solutions to a number of thorny SQL problems, namely time series, spatial and multimedia data. Informix integrated Illustra's O-R mapping and DataBlades into the 7. Object-relational mapping (aka ORM, O/RM, and O/R mapping) is a programming technique for converting data between incompatible Type systems x OnLine product, resulting in Informix Universal Server (IUS), or more generally, Version 9.

Both new versions, V8 (XPS) and V9 (IUS), appeared on the market in 1996, making Informix the first of the "big three" database companies (the others being Oracle and Sybase) to offer built-in O-R support. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Oracle Corporation ( specializes in developing and marketing Enterprise software products — particularly Database management systems In 2007 Oracle ranked Commentators paid particular attention to the DataBlades, which soon became very popular: dozens appeared within a year, ported to the new architecture after partnerships with Illustra. This left other vendors scrambling, with Oracle introducing a "grafted on" package for time-series support in 1997, and Sybase turning to a third party for an external package which remains an unconvincing solution.

1996 and 1997: Internal Problems

Although Informix took a technological lead in the database software market, product releases began to fall behind schedule by late 1996. Plagued with technical and marketing problems, a new application development product, Informix-NewEra, was soon overshadowed by the emerging Java programming language. Michael Stonebraker had promised that the Illustra technology would be integrated within a year after the late 1995 acquisition, but as Gartner Group had predicted, the integration required more than 2 years. Michael Stonebraker is a Computer scientist specializing in database research and development Illustra was a commercialized version of the Postgres object-relational database management system ( DBMS) sold by Illustra Information Technologies a company formed Gartner, Inc ( is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Unhappy with the new direction of the company, XPS lead architect Gary Kelley suddenly resigned and joined arch-rival Oracle Corporation in early 1997, taking 11 of his developers with him. Oracle Corporation ( specializes in developing and marketing Enterprise software products — particularly Database management systems In 2007 Oracle ranked [1] Informix ultimately sued Oracle to prevent loss of trade secrets. Informix is a family of Relational database management system (RDBMS products by IBM.

1997: Misgovernance

Failures in marketing and an unfortunate leadership in corporate misgovernance overshadowed Informix's technical successes. On April 1, 1997, Informix announced that first quarter revenues fell short of expectations by $100 million. Events 527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne CEO Phillip White blamed the shortfall on a loss of focus on the core database business while devoting too many resources to object-relational technology. A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator [2] Huge operating losses and job cuts followed. Informix re-stated earnings from 1994 through 1996. A significant amount of revenue from the mid-1990's involved software license sales to partners who did not sell through to an end-user customer; this and other irregularies led to overstating revenue by over $200 million. Even after White's departure in July, 1997, the company continued to struggle with accounting practices, re-stating earnings again in early 1998. [3]

Repercussions from misgovernance

Although allegations of misgovernance continued to haunt Informix, the capabilities of Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) began to strengthen. New leadership began to emerge as well. An excerpt from the September 22, 1998 issue of PC Magazine's article on the top 100 companies that are changing the way you compute:

. . . Informix is battling rival Oracle in the object/relational arena by extending its flagship Informix Dynamic Server with a Universal Data Option. After a turbulent year that included a problematic audit, Robert Finnocchio was appointed as the new CEO of the Menlo Park, Calfiornia company. With 1997 revenues of $662. 3 million, Informix has begun to strengthen its position in the database market.

In November 2002, Phillip White, the former CEO of Informix ousted in 1997, was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with eight counts of securities, wire, and mail fraud. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. In the Common law, a grand jury is a type of Jury which determines whether there is enough evidence for a trial. In a plea bargain thirteen months later, he pleaded guilty to a single count of filing a false registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (commonly known as the SEC) is an independent agency of the United States government which holds primary responsibility

In May 2004, the Department of Justice announced White was sentenced to two months in federal prison for securities fraud, a fine of $10,000, along with a two-year period of supervised release and 300 hours of community service. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " For animal rights group see Justice Department (JD The United States Department of Justice ( DOJ) is a Cabinet department The announcement noted that the amount of loss to shareholders from the violation, could not reasonably be estimated under the facts of the case [1]. White's earlier plea agreement had limited prison time to no more than 12 months.

German citizen and resident Walter Königseder, the company's Vice-President in charge of European operations, was also indicted by a federal grand jury but the United States has been unable to secure his extradition. Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal

In November of 2005, a book detailing the rise and fall of Informix Software and CEO Phil White was published. Written by a long time Informix Employee, The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive team [2]. provides an insider's account of the company showing a detailed chronology of the company's initial success, ultimate failure, and how CEO Phil White ended up in jail.

2001: Other acquisitions

Starting in the year 2000, the major events in Informix's history no longer centered on its technical innovations. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. That year, in March, Informix acquired Ardent Software, a company that had a history of mergers and acquisitions of its own. That acquisition added multi-dimensional engines UniVerse and UniData (known collectively as U2) to its already-numerous list of database engines at the time, which included not only the Informix heritage products, but a datawarehouse-oriented SQL engine from Red Brick and the 100% Java version of SQL, Cloudscape (which was later bundled with the reference implementation of J2EE). UniVerse is an example of a Dimensional database also known as a multi-value database system which runs on Windows and most major Unix and Linux releases UniData is a multivalue database management system and operating environment that runs on the major Unix servers and Windows NT / 2000. Java Platform Enterprise Edition or Java EE is a widely used platform for server programming in the Java programming language

Prior to its purchase, Informix's product lineup included:

IBM's takeover of Informix

In July 2000, the former CEO of Ardent, Peter Gyenes, became the CEO of Informix, and soon re-organized Informix to make it more attractive as an acquisition target. UniVerse is an example of a Dimensional database also known as a multi-value database system which runs on Windows and most major Unix and Linux releases UniData is a multivalue database management system and operating environment that runs on the major Unix servers and Windows NT / 2000. Multidimensional databases are variously (depending on the context data Aggregators which combine data from a multitude of data sources Databases which offer networks The major step taken was to separate out all of the database engine technologies from the applications and tools.

In April 2001, IBM took advantage of this reorganization and, prompted by a suggestion from Wal-Mart (Informix's largest customer),[4] bought from Informix the database technology, the brand, the plans for future development (an internal project codenamed "Arrowhead"), and the over 100,000-customer base associated with these. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (or Walmart as written in its new logo is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large discount department stores [5] The remaining application and tools company renamed itself Ascential Software. In May 2005, IBM bought Ascential, reuniting Informix's assets under IBM's Information Management Software portfolio. May 2005 was the fifth month of that year It began on a Sunday and ended after 31 days on a Tuesday. Information Management Software is one of the brands within IBM 's Software Group division

Current Plans

IBM has long-term plans for both Informix and DB2, with both databases sharing technology with each other. DB2 is one of IBM 's families of Relational database management system (RDBMS (or as IBM now calls it data server software products within IBM's broader Information In early 2005, IBM released version 10 of Informix Dynamic Server (IDS). Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Informix Dynamic Server also known as IDS is an extensible Relational Database Management System originally developed by Informix Software Inc The newest release is IDS 11 (v11. 10, codenamed "Cheetah") which has been generally available since July 6, 2007. The announcement was made in Lenexa, KS on June 12, 2007.

Training and Certification

IBM Training includes a complete set of core Data Servers Training courses that apply to Informix. These courses delve into many essential Informix concepts, from fundamentals to advanced SQL topics.

See also

References

  1. ^ A database divorce - Informix Software suing Oracle over potential theft of trade secrets - Company Business and Marketing | Software Magazine | Find Articles at BNET.com
  2. ^ informix Content at ZDNet UK
  3. ^ Informix Restates Earnings
  4. ^ HP's Secret Software Weapon. See DBMS for a shorter list of “typical” representative database management systems The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of Relational database management systems Please see the individual products' articles for further information Archived from the original on 2005-07-19. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. Retrieved on 2006-11-24. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 380 - Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal
  5. ^ Rob Wright (April 24, 2001). IBM Acquires Informix. VARBusiness. CMP Technology. United Business Media Limited provides business information services principally to the technology healthcare media automotive and financial services industries Retrieved on 2007-07-28. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1540 - Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of Treason.

External links

International Informix Users Group (IIUG is a not-for-profit organization whose goals are to provide support and education for users of Informix products and technology
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