IIUG Insider (Issue #35) 5 September 2003

Highlights: Informix FAQ, 2004 IIUG Board, Querix Gift and More…

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.

Editor’s Note: We’ve Gone HTML

To those of you who opted to receive this e-newsletter in the glossy glory of HTML, here you go! We look forward to your comments. Let us know if you like it and how you think we could continue to improve it by writing to enews@iiug.org.

If you forgot to select HTML, you still have a chance. Just click the following URL and presto!

/cgi-bin/fglcl.cgi?htmltext

IIUG Asks and IBM Answers – A Brand New Informix FAQ

Upon a suggestion by IBM’s Sharon Thompson, IIUG compiled a list of questions frequently asked (FAQ) by IIUG members. We submitted them to IBM and they have provided the corresponding answers and a promise to work with us to continue improving the resulting document over time and based on feedback received from the IIUG membership.

This FAQ document is now available for download at /resources/IBM_Informix_FAQ in both “8.5×11” and “A4” formats.

The questions included are:

Where can I learn how IBM is handling Informix and U2 products from a sales, marketing and engineering perspective? Is there an executive summary statement that I can present to my management?
Why aren’t Informix and U2 being marketed aggressively to new customers? Why aren’t these product families being advertised?
What is the Gold Bundle and where can I find more information about it?
What is Passport Advantage? How do IBM’s business partners work with Passport Advantage? Where do I learn about Passport Advantage from an IBM business partner perspective?
Where can I find the pricing of Informix products, including support? Is there CPU-based and user-based product pricing? Who decides which I can use? What is the difference? Is IBM’s pricing for Informix products competitive?
How can I justify the upgrade costs for IDS 7.x to IDS 9.x when 9.x’s improvements don’t seem functionally relevant to me?
What are my options going forward if I use 4GL?
What other IBM products work with my Informix databases and what do they do (i.e.; WebSphere, Tivoli, Lotus, Rational)? What is the future plan for expanded Informix database support by IBM Software Group products?
What are the current technical support program options? Are Assurance and OpenLine still offered? Have they gone up in price significantly?
What are the Informix technical support telephone numbers around the world? Also what are the telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for IBM Informix sales around the world?
Where do I find a list of Informix and U2 product releases for the last two years and planned for the next three years?
Why are so many products in the Informix product portfolio flagged for “End of Service” at http://www.ibm.com/services/sl/swm? What will replace them? Will I still be able to purchase technical support for them after the end-of-service date?
When will IBM’s Ed Card program be fully inclusive of Informix products?

We want to especially thank Denise Dunn and Glenda Albertson, both of IBM worldwide marketing, for all their work collecting IBM’s responses.

Please note that IIUG does not implicitly or explicitly endorse IBM’s responses. In fact, we urge you to send us your comments to ibmfaq@iiug.org. These will be compiled and passed on to IBM. As stated above, it is our intent to revise this FAQ on a regular basis to incrementally improve it and make it more useful.

A Few Good Leaders Needed for the IIUG Board of 2004

The current IIUG Board will complete its term at the end of this calendar year and in preparation for the upcoming elections of the 2004 IIUG Board, an IIUG Nominating Committee, chaired by outgoing IIUG President Jerry Hamilton, has been established.

The committee is currently seeking candidates to run for the 2004 IIUG Board. If you have a passionate interest in Informix products, and the drive, vision, and commitment to lead and represent the most influential community of Informix users, please give your potential nomination serious thought.

Nominations will be entertained through the end of September and elections will take place during the month of October.

For additional info, visit: /iiug/committee.html

If you would like to nominate yourself or a colleague, please contact the IIUG Nominating Committee by writing to Nominating-Committee@IIUG.org.

IBM Data Management Tech Conference – Sessions Highlighted

Plan on being in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 27-31 October, for the IBM Data Management Technical Conference (DMTC). As an International Informix Users Group – IIUG – member you are entitled to a special $150 IIUG discount until the day before the conference, which cannot be used in conjunction with the “Early Bird” or any other discount.

For more information on the conference or to register, please visit http://ibm.com/training/conf/us/dm. Please choose Attendee Type: “Informix IIUG” to secure your $150 discount.

If you would like to see the conference mailer online, please download it at /news/articles/IBM_DM_Conf.pdf.

A complete list of conference sessions and abstracts is available at http://www.ibm.com/services/learning/conf/us/dm/schedule.pdf. Informix specific conference tracks and sample sessions are:

Informix Database Design:
- DBA Survival Guide
- Improving Query Processing Performance in IBM Red Brick Warehouse
- Using the Red Brick Query Performance Monitor
- Improving the Performance of Star and Snowflake Queries with XPS
- “Where did I put that onconfig file*.?” Maintainability and High Availability with Informix
Informix Applications:
- IDS Extensibility for Business Advantage
- Developing multi-lingual applications using Unicode
- Your Windows Applications CAN Run Faster: Maximizing IDS Perf in a Windows Environment
- Proposed Informix-4GL Language Extensions for Generating HTML and XML
- IBM Informix IDS and XML Support
Informix Roadmaps:
- DB2 Information Management Software and Informix as Part of It
- The Informix IDS Roadmap for the Future
- Red Brick Roadmap discussion & Ask the Experts
- XPS Roadmap discussion & Ask the Experts
- 4GL Roadmap and Ask The Experts
- Ask The Experts technical Q&A session: Informix Dynamic Server (IDS), ISA, and DataBlades
Informix Integrated Solutions:
- Using DB2 & Informix Together: Shotgun Wedding or Connubial Bliss?
- DB2 – Informix: A brief comparison of architecture and terminology
- Informix in the Brave New Linux World
- Informix Interoperability: How IBM Software Products Integrate with Informix Products
U2:
- IBM U2 Update and Strategy for the Future
- Framework Structure for Web Services
- IBM U2 Management Panel: Everything You Wanted to Know About U2
- Extending SB+ GUI Applications With ActiveX and COM Technologies

Please note that the pre-conference tutorials are free of charge. Informix specific tutorials include:

Web Development with J2EE and IBM Informix Databases [Jacques Roy]
The IDS Performance Proof Series [Mark Scranton]
IDS 9.4 Why Upgrade Now! – IDS 7 to 9 Migration Workshop [Christine Normile]
Above and Beyond Basic Datatypes for IDS [Keshava Murthy]
Problem determination Techniques for Informix Dynamic Server [John Miller III]

As in prior years, those in attendance to the conference will be able to participate in a lively panel exchange with senior IBM executives on topics of interest to all DB2 Information Management Software customers and business partners. Don’t miss this opportunity to go live with these key decision-makers at the “Meet the Executives” panel session sponsored by the International Informix Users Group (IIUG). If you would like to submit a question for “Meet the Executives”, send it via e-mail to conferences@iiug.org with “MTE Question” in the message subject line.

As an attendee, we encourage you to participate in IIUG’s Annual General Meeting, where IIUG leaders will present the year’s report and their plans for 2004.

IIUG and Querix Working Together

Resulting from an exclusive collaboration between IIUG and Querix, all active IIUG members who attend the upcoming IBM Data Management Technical Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and take part a presentation by Querix, will be awarded a voucher for Querix’s Hydra 4 for Informix & DB2 UDB, including 18-months free technical support and upgrades.

Active IIUG members not able to make it to the conference may request Querix’s latest development tools for Informix including the extended 18 months free technical support and upgrades. Instructions will follow in a later issue of the IIUG Insider.

Querix’s free package for active IIUG members will include the following:

Hydra 4GL Core Compiler V4.1 for Informix & IBM-DB2 with Dynamic 4GL extensions support (only for IIUG members Present at a Querix presentation or demonstration)
Character Mode and GUI Clients (Phoenix, Chimera & Arachne)
Corresponding Client runtime licenses
Technical support for 18 months
Upgrade maintenance for 18 months
Missing feature implementation pledge

Should there be any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Querix by email at moreinfo@querix.com or directly by phone (UK) +44 2380 385181.

See also: http://www.querix.com/php/news/story.php?id=63

Useful Links

In response to your input, we have created a new page on the IIUG web site containing all the links we used to include. Please find it at:

/quicklinks.html

Closing and Credits

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 18,000 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
Editors:	Fred Hubbard, IIUG Board of Directors, David Smith, IIUG Board of Directors, and Jean Georges Perrin, IIUG Board of Directors
For comments, please send an email to ug@iiug.org.