Informix Software is gearing up for the release of its next-generation database later this year, a plan that remains on track despite the recent announcement that IBM is set to buy the database company.
That`s the word from Rob Baird, executive director for EMEA customer services at Informix, who says IBM`s acquisition of Informix for $1 billion in cash will create a new powerhouse with nearly a quarter of the database market.
According to the most recent market share figures from Dataquest, released in 1999, IBM has a 12% share of the database market while Informix holds around 10%.
Barbara Stanley, software manager for Northern Europe at Informix, says IBM bought Informix for three main reasons: its technology, the skills of its people, and the size of its installed base.
By purchasing Informix, IBM is effectively recruiting 2 500 people worldwide in one fell swoop, says Stanley. Informix also offers IBM more than 100 000 customers around the world, including 3 500 in SA.
IBM`s acquisition of the Informix database business will give the giant computer company a boost in the Unix and Windows NT market. While IBM has dominated the mainframe database market, it has lagged competitors such as Microsoft and Oracle in the open systems world.
The deal also increases IBM`s share of the lower tier of the database market. In SA alone, Informix has around 2 000 customers at the lower end of the market, as well as a highly developed ISV and reseller channel focused on this segment.
"This deal narrows the database market down to two main contenders: IBM and Oracle," says Stanley.
Baird says the final details of the product plans for the merged IBM/Informix operation have yet to be ironed out. However, IBM has pledged continued support and work on the existing Informix product-range, although DB2 Universal Database will become the company`s strategic platform over time.
The new Informix database - code-named "Arrowhead" - is in beta testing and on schedule to be released in the third quarter of the year, says Baird.
Arrowhead is a next-generation database combining object relational features, with high-end analytics and a massively parallel architecture. In addition, IBM is weighing up the incorporation of several key Informix technologies into DB2. These include the DataBlade technology. These are modules that handle specialised technology such as spatial and time series data, and data analysis technologies from Red Brick. IBM and Informix have similar approaches to distributed databases, which is likely to ease the transition of their respective product ranges into a unified offering over the next two or three years.
The first step of "Blue Arrowhead", the plan to merge IBM and Informix technologies into a single database offering, will be completed by the middle of next year.
Baird says that for now, it is business as usual for Informix in SA. However, once regulatory obstacles have been cleared and the acquisition is finalised, the local Informix operation will be integrated with IBM South Africa`s Software Group in line with the global strategy. South African Informix customers stand to benefit from access to IBM`s vast resources and infrastructure, says Baird.
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