Highlights: Greetings from Ambuj Goyal, General Manager, IBM Information Management Software, An address by Stuart Litel, IIUG president
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 in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German
- Highlights
- Conference corner
- Education
- Developer corner
- Informix news
- IIUG Board
- Calendar of events
- Useful links
- Closing and credits
| Editorial | Back to top |
Happy new year to all IIUG members!
2006 was a great year.
First of all for Informix. The highlight was the announcement of IDS 11, code named Cheetah, 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 2006 these actions were made visible through the press and in the IOD conference in Anaheim (IOD standing for Information on Demand). More than 5500 people attended this conference. Some of these actions were symbolic like changing the brand name from DB2 to IBM Information Management. Others were more profound. The result was a two digit growth in new Informix licenses; a growth far superior to the database market’s growth.
At work, I had a wonderful year as well. We are participating in the IDS 11 Beta program which is a great experience. From what I have learnt so far Cheetah is going to be a huge success. We have started a migration of our 4GL code to Java EE. We have a long and fascinating way to go and it is calming to know we have Informix to rely on.
Unfortunately 2006 was a sad year for Israel and our neighbor Lebanon. Hundreds of innocent civilians were killed in a useless war. I hope 2007 will be a peaceful year for the Middle East.
I wish 2007 will be better then ever for IBM and Informix. More Informix users, more IIUG members, more content for the IIUG Insider, an interesting and profitable year to you all at work and a happy and peaceful year all together.
Spanish
¡Feliz Año Nuevo a todos los miembros de IIUG!
2006 fue un gran año.
Sobretodo todo para Informix. Lo mas destacado fue el anuncio de IDS11, código de nombre Cheetah ; un enorme paso adelante. Invertir y promover un lanzamiento tan importante fue apenas uno de muchos actos hechos por IBM para colocar a Informix como su principal base de datos OLTP. Durante 2006, estos actos fueron presentados y destacados a través de la prensa y durante la conferencia IOD en Anaheim (IOD : Information on Demand – información a demanda). Más de 5500 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 esta base de datos.
En el trabajo, tuve un año maravilloso también. Estamos participando en el programa IDS 11 Beta, lo cual es una gran experiencia. Segun lo que he visto hasta ahora Cheetah va a ser un gran éxito. Hemos comenzado una migración de nuestro código 4GL a Java EE. Tenemos aun un largo y fascinante camino que recorrer y es reconfortante saber que podemos confiar en Informix.
Desafortunadamente 2006 fue un año triste para Israel y para nuestro vecino el Líbano. Cientos de inocentes civiles murieron en una guerra inútil. Espero que el 2007 sea un año de paz para el Oriente Medio.
Deseo que el año 2007 sea un mejor año aun para IBM y Informix. Que tengamos más usuarios de Informix, más miembros de IIUG, más contenido para IIUG Insider. Que sea un año interesante y prospero para todos en el marco laboral.
Les deseo a todos un feliz año, lleno de paz.
French (Thank you JGP)
Comme chaque année, Gary me demande de traduire son éditorial en français. Je vais le faire, mais bon, à ma façon. Je vous conseille donc de lire le sien tout de même…
JGP
Éditorial
Bonne année à tous les membres d’IIUG !
2006 a été une super année (enfin, parle pour toi, parce que moi…)
Tout d’abord pour Informix. C’est vrai, l’annonce d’IDS 11 (11.1 pour les puristes), dont le nom de code est « guépard » (oui, en Anglais c’est Cheetah, c’est à se demander pourquoi Edgar Rice Burroughs a nommé un singe « guépard ») est un énorme pas en avant ! L’investissement réalisé et la promotion en cours ne sont que quelques unes des actions qu’IBM a entrepris pour positionner Informix comme sa principale base de données OLTP. En 2006, ces actions ont été visibles au travers de la presse et lors de la conférence IOD à Anaheim (IOD voulant naturellement dire Information On Demand). Plus de 5500 personnes ont participé à cet évènement. Quelques unes de ces actions ont été très symboliques comme changer la marque (le brand) de « DB2 » à « Information Management ». D’autres ont été plus profondes. Le résultat a été une croissance à 2 chiffres pour les nouvelles licences Informix ; une croissance bien supérieure au marché des bases de données !
Du coté professionnel, Gary a eu une année exceptionnelle. Oui, là je suis obligé de parler pour Gary, parce que moi, j’ai connu de meilleures années : beaucoup d’espoirs mais, malheureusement encore plus de déceptions (message subliminale dans une bouteille là…). Ils participent au programme Beta d’IDS 11, c’est une expérience formidable (moi aussi, et c’est effectivement très chouette). De ce qu’il a pu voir de jusqu’à présent, Cheetah sera un succès énorme. Ils ont aussi commencé leur migration du code 4GL vers Java EE (anciennement J2EE). Ils ont une longue et fascinante route devant eux et c’est soulageant de savoir que l’on peut compter sur Informix (moi, j’ai juste la longue route, un peu genre traversée du désert).
Malheureusement, 2006 a été une année triste pour Israël et notre voisin, le Liban. Des centaines de civils innocent ont été tués dans une guerre inutile. J’espère, et je rejoins Gary, que 2007 sera une année de paix au proche orient (sinon, on renvoi Ségolène).
J’espère que 2007 sera une année exceptionnelle pour IBM et Informix. Gary et moi souhaitons encore plus d’utilisateurs Informix, encore plus de membres d’IIUG, encore plus de contenu pour l’IIUG Insider, une année intéressante et profitable professionnellement et une heureuse et paisible année….
Portuguese
Editorial
Feliz ano novo a todos os membros do IIUG!
2006 foi um grande ano.
Antes de mais nada para a Informix. O destaque deste ano foi o anúncio de IDS 11, batizado como código Cheetah, 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 2006 estas ações tornaram-se visíveis tanto na imprensa quanto na conferência de IOD em Anaheim (IOD: Information on Demand). Mais de 5500 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. Estamos participando do programa Beta de IDS 11 que é uma grande experiência. Pelo que aprendi sobre o Cheetah, tudo indica que vai tornar-se um enorme sucesso. Nós começamos a migração de nosso código 4GL para Java EE. Temos um longo e fascinante caminho pela frente e é tranquilizante saber que podemos contar com a Informix.
Infelizmente 2006 foi um triste ano para Israel e nosso vizinho, o Líbano. Centenas de civis inocentes mortos em uma guerra inútil. Espero que 2007 seja um ano mais sossegado no Oriente Médio.
Vão aí meus votos para que 2007 seja melhor do que nunca para a IBM e Informix. Mais usuários de Informix, mais membros no IIUG, mais conteúdo para o IIUG Insider; que seja um próspero e interessante ano cheio de paz e felicidade a todos.
German (Thank you Hubert)
Leitartikel
Erstmal moechte ich allen IIUG Mitgliedern ein gutes und froehliches neues Jahr wuenschen!
2006 war ein super Jahr, vor allem fuer Informix. Der Hoehepunkt war die Bekanntgabe der neuen IDS Version 11 mit dem Code Namen ‘Cheetah’ – ein riessen Sprung in die richtige Richtung.
Die Investionen in Entwicklung und Werbung fuer diese neue Version war nur einer von vielen wichtigen Schritten die IBM unternommen hat um Informix IDS als Haupt-OLTP Datenbank zu positionieren. Diese Entwicklungen konnte man in allen fuehrenden EDV Magazinen und Veranstaltungen wie die IOD Konferenz in Anaheim-US verfolgen (IOD, das zu Information on Demand). Mehr als 5500 Leute sorgten sich diese Konferenz. Manche Aktionen waren mehr symbolisch wie zum Beispiel die Produkt Umbenennung von DB2 zu IBM Information Management aber das Ergebnis unter dem Strich stimmt: Eine zweistellige Zuwachsrate fuer die Informix Datenbank.
Beruflich hatte ich auch ein hervoragendes Jahr. Wir nahmen am IDS 11 Beta Preogram teil, das uns wirklich an viel Erfahrung und Wissen bereicherte. Von was wir sehen konnten, wird IDS11 ein riessiger Erfolg. Wir entwickelten auch viel in und um 4GL und Java EE. Ich glaube, wir haben einen langen und faszinierenden Weg vor uns mit der Unterstuetzung von Informix.
Leider war 2006 ein trauriges jahr fuer Israel und unseren Nachbarn Libanon. Hunderet von unschuldigen Zivilisten wurden in einem nutzlosen Krieg getoetet. Ich hoffe 2007 wird ein friedlicheres Jahr fuer den Nahen Osten.
Ich wuensche mir, dass 2007 das beste Jahr fuer IBM/Informix wird. Mehr IIUG Mitglieder, mehr Informix Benuetzer und mehr Inhalt fuer den IIUG Insider. Dazu wuensche ich euch allen ein interessantes und wirtschaftlich gutes und vor allem friedliches Jahr fuer euch alle.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org
| Highlights | Back to top |
Ambuy Goyal (left) with IIUG President Stuart Litel
Let me start by offering my holiday greetings.
This past year has been an exciting one for me, visiting with hundreds of IIUG members, IDS clients and partners – most recently at an IIUG session held in Washington D.C. Seeing the passion and commitment of this community is without parallel in my experience. It also makes me confident that IBM’s continuing commitment to this community is a sound investment.
Thank you for the strong business growth we experienced in 2006 and best wishes for a prosperous 2007.
Ambuj Goyal
General Manager, IBM Information Management Software
An address by Stuart Litel, IIUG president
As the 2006 year comes to a close, I am a little under the weather with a bad cold, so our illustrious Insider editor, Mr Ben-Israel, has held up the Insider for me to write an end-of-the-year note to the IIUG community. I do apologize for the hold-up on my end in getting this final issue of 2006 out to you.
2006 was a long year for the IIUG and the Board of Directors with over three weeks on the road for IIUG events, starting last May with a very successful IIUG / IDUG conference in beautiful Tampa, Florida. The conference, with more technical sessions than ever before, featured speakers from all over the world. It was guided by the IIUG Conference Committee headed by Cindy Lichtenauer, James Edmiston, Tammy Frankfuter and Kernoal Stephens, in coordination with our great friends at IDUG. In May of 2007 we will be in San Jose, California, and we hope more of you can join us as we are planning a bigger and better event for the Informix community. More information is available now at /conf/ with links to the IDUG conference site.
After IIUG / IDUG, we next attempted a week-long event in Europe – this year in Vienna, Austria in the fall of 2007 under the great guidance of Gary Ben-Israel and Paul Watson, and again in coordination with IDUG. Although the event was skillfully and carefully planned, the attendance was not so good, and therefore we will not be working with IDUG in 2007 for an event in Europe.
Then, just two weeks later, the IIUG Board of Directors was together again for the week-long event at IBM’s Information On Demand (IOD) conference in Anaheim, CA. This year IBM’s Information Management division, that owns Informix and the database products under the guidance of General Manager, Mr Ambuj Goyal, decided to pull out all the stops and put on a wonderful event that showed IBM to be the top database player.
At the event, awards were given out to IBM partners around the world. All but one went to Informix partners. Also at the event (and I am sorry that due to my cold I can only hope I get this quote correct) came the statement “IDS is number one in new license sales in all of IBM Software Group in the SMB market space” (that is Small Medium Business and please don’t ask me to clarify what SMB means to IBM as that could take a whole issue of the Insider). Wow! Number one. Can’t get much better than number one. Oh yes, and it was also revealed that Informix growth is up with “double digit” growth from the year before with an industry average of around 8% and the “O”ther database just announcing a few weeks ago I believe, that new license sales are down 14%.
Finally we ended the year in Washington DC with the WAIUG (Washington Area Informix User Group) DC Forum in early December. This event, produced in conjunction with the SEIUG (SouthEast Informix User Group out of Atlanta), featured over two days of technical sessions and Informix vendors from around the world.
About 200 attendees were treated to top-notch speakers and two special keynote speakers whom I need to thank personally. IBM Information Management General Manager, Ambuj Goyal, flew in to New York from a business trip in Europe, switched his baggage, hopped on a plane, and came down to speak as the keynote to the Informix attendees. He explained to us how important and key the Informix / IDS business is to his portfolio.
The next morning, Arvind Krishna, IBM Information Management division Vice President of Database Servers, spoke about IDS, the future of IDS, and the upcoming release in 2007 of “Cheetah” – the next release of IDS. Cheetah is now in controlled beta release and will be available to the Informix community for a TEST RUN (remember Cheetahs don’t drive, they RUN) sometime at the end of the first quarter 2007 or in the second quarter 2007 (ok my cold is starting to effect me – I don’t remember the date, so don’t hold me to it).
A special thank you to Ambuj and Arvind as I don’t believe these two individuals have ever gone to any other local database user group event anywhere in the world. Yet there in Washington, DC, we were lucky to have both of them come to speak and spend time with us to show the Informix community how important and key they feel Informix User Forum 2006 is to the users.
Another important event of 2006 was IIUG’s receipt of a special downloadable version of IDS 10, the most current release, made free to all IIUG members. This version is available for download for all members via the IIUG Website with versions for AIX, HP, Linux, Sun and Windows. To get a copy go to /members/. Also available in the member area are all the Informix technical sessions from the 2006 IIUG/IDUG conferences in Tampa and Vienna!
Well enough about what we have done this past year. Each year I think we have done much more than the previous year. The individuals behind this completely volunteer organization never cease to amaze me. In addition to the IIUG board members I already mentioned above (Cindy, Gary and Paul), I need to thank the others:
David Fraser: I don’t know how you do it, traveling all the way from New Zealand to the “States” and to Europe for these meetings and events, but thank you for the wonderful job on Special Interest Groups (SIGS), forums, surveys and much more.
Kate Tomchik: Our Web content person – in addition to having a full-time job, Kate is stuck with another full-time job of keeping the content of the IIUG Website fresh. The site has never been better in the 12+ years of the IIUG.
Jean-Georges (aka JGP) Perrin: JGP has had a tough year with work, but managed to keep the IIUG board pointed in the right direction. Most of the time it is the correct direction, but sometimes it is in the direction of the closest “outlet”, mall or shopping venue. Thanks for keeping us in that direction!! JGP has also created a formal press offering and continues to work with the technical press.
June Hunt: June is the reason the most important part of the IIUG keeps on functioning. She is the “person behind the curtain” as the saying goes, and makes sure that the IIUG Website is always functioning. I know this year the only downtime the IIUG Website has had was due to outages at our ISP for a few minutes here and there, but last week I happened to be on the server and I believe it has been up and running for over 180 days since the last reboot, and that reboot was due to a needed O/S patch. Great Job!
Sergio Ferreira: Sergio had never been in the United States until this year’s first board meeting and now the USA will never be the same (but that is another story). Sergio, in his “rookie” year on the IIUG board, blended in perfectly with the existing board members and gave us his outsider’s opinion. Sorry Sergio, I don’t think IBM will open source IDS, but do continue to try…
So the year 2006 comes to a close… wait I forgot someone… the famous or infamous Mr. Ron Flannery. OK Ron, I will not tell any Ron stories. Ron will be leaving the IIUG Board due to the expanding of his business. Ron is the President of One Point Solutions, and an Informix Premier Partner in the USA. He is also The author of the famous (and very large) Informix Handbook. Ron was the only board member who has been on the IIUG Board longer than myself and the stories are too numerous to tell, but no matter what the story is or was, Ron has always been there for the IIUG and the Informix community. It is his constant dedication to, as he puts it, “the Informix cause”, that has kept the IIUG board moving in the right direction for the last many years. Ron’s insightfulness, hard work and constant e-mails have kept me going and keep us going. Ron, this comes from the heart; I will surely miss you. There will never be another Ron Flannery on the IIUG Board of Directors. You are truly one-of-a-kind (see no stories!!)
Lastly, I need to thank a few IBMers who have helped us through the past year. Of course, number one on the list has to be Bruce Weed. Bruce is the Program Manager of Informix at IBM. He is also the official IBM member on the IIUG Board. A few years ago, Bruce had never heard the word Informix. But over the past few years, has been the key “go-to” guy at IBM for everything non-technical with Informix. In my mind, he is one of the hardest working Informix people at IBM (outside of the wonderful development staff of course). I need to say one thing to Bruce’s boss, whom I shall not name in this article (but you know who you are); Do not let Bruce go anywhere. If he ever leaves his job, the entire Informix community will be in trouble!
Next on the list of IBMers, one who also might be the hardest working person for the Informix Community (Bruce and he will need to fight this one out), is Jerry Keesee. Many of you know Jerry, but for those who do not, Jerry is the Director of Development for Informix Products. Jerry has always made sure that the Informix community gets the finest database product in the world, on time, and of the highest quality – IDS! Jerry is one of the best friends that the IIUG could ask for and is always there to help us out.
I am not going into detail on any other IBMers, but a few others do need mention for helping the IIUG through the year: Bernie Spang, Danilo Novelli, Cindy Fung, Gary Proctor, Linda Spina and Rich Hughes. These six people count among many other IBMers throughout the world that keep Informix growing in the right direction. Thank you to the six of you, and the entire IBM/Informix world, for a great year in 2006, and especially to each and every developer of the Informix product line at IBM. You are the true wonders behind a great product.
Finally, welcome to two new IIUG board members for the coming year; Kernoal Stephens of Memphis, TN and Michael Segal of Chicago, IL.
And remember – 2007 >>> Run Cheetah Run!
Happy New Year!
Stuart Litel
President
International Informix Users Group
| Conference corner | Back to top |
The Informix User Group Technical Conference
The Washington Area Informix User Group (WAIUG) based in Washington, DC, and the Southeast Informix Users Group (SEIUG), based in Atlanta, GA, teamed up once again to present Informix User Forum 2006. This was the premiere Informix regional user group technical conference in the world. This was a user conference planned and run by Informix users for Informix users.
I have been putting together the Washington Area Informix Users Group Forums since 1994 and this year’s was the best event we have done to date. We had over 140 participants from 10 countries and 22 states in the US. There were 13 sponsors with products for the Informix user community. There were 32 technical presentations by Informix developers and DBAs from around the world.
We had the best support ever from IBM with keynotes from the top two IBM executives in charge of Information Management Software:
- Ambuj Goyal, General Manager of IBM Information Management
- Arvind Krishna, Vice President of Database Servers, IBM Information Management
We also had the Informix Future Directions Road Map presentation from:
- Jerry Keesee, Director Informix Development
Last year the message was very clear from IBM that Informix is a critical product and will continue to have a great future. This year we got the details on Cheetah, the next generation of IDS. The message from the users attending was also very clear: no other product does the job of Informix and we are loyal to what works.
To view the results and presentations from Forum 2006 visit:
/waiug/
Pictures are available for all who missed it at:
/waiug/present/Forum2006/Forum2006Pictures.html
Many thanks to IBM, the IIUG and all the sponsors who provided support, all the speakers, and all the volunteers who provided the hard work that made Forum 2006 happen.
Happy New Year – Lester
Mark your calendar!! For May 6-10, 2007
Mark your calendar for the first week of May next year, and plan on attending the IIUG/IDUG North American Conference in San Jose, California.
This will be the BEST technical conference ever offered to Informix users by the IIUG. We will be hosting FOUR full tracks of the latest and greatest INFORMIX ONLY technical content. These sessions will be given by Informix users, Business Partners, IBM Developers, and IBM Advanced Support.
Here are just a few samples from more than 55 technical sessions on the schedule:
- Exploiting Role Separation in IDS – Jonathan Leffler, IBM
- Put yourself on the map with Google Maps API, DB2/Informix, and PHP on Linux- Martin Lurie of IBM and Aron Lurie
- Using the Onpladm Tool for Informix High-Performance Loader- John Carlson, Home Depot
- Performance Tuning IDS In-Depth: The Next Generation- Art Kagel, Bloomberg LP
- IDS Installations, Upgrades and Maintenance: Best Practices- Thomas Girsch, Hilton
In addition to these great technical sessions, we will also be offering 6 half-day Educational Seminars given by some of the best Informix technical experts around.
Here are a few examples:
- Introduction to Java Development with IDS, by Jean-Georges Perrin
- Speed and Performance in IDS, by John Miller III of IBM
- Using PERL, CGI and DBI with Databases, by Darryl Priest of Piper Rudnick
Go Further! Share your experiences. Learn from what others have experienced first-hand at the many networking opportunities available throughout the conference. Mingle with exhibitors in the exhibit hall. Benefit from extended face-to-face time with conference presenters and developers during the Speaker and IBM Developer Reception. Throughout the week you will be provided with many peer-to-peer networking opportunities.
One great example of networking with your peers would be the Special Interest Groups.
We are offering the following for Informix:
- Informix for Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence
- Informix on Linux
- Informix Best Practices
Registration for this event is now open! Take advantage of the special early-bird registration and attend IIUG/IDUG North America 2007 for only $1650.
http://conferences.idug.org/na/Registration/tabid/127/Default.aspx
Cindy Lichtenauer
IIUG Board of Directors
IIUG Conference Planning Committee
IBM Information On Demand 2007 global conference – Las Vegas, Nevada, 2007
Please join us in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 14-19, 2007, for the IBM Information On Demand 2007 global conference.
IBM Information On Demand 2007 incorporates seven previous Information Management conferences: including IBM DB2®, IBM IMSTM and Content Management Technical Conferences, Business Intelligence Customer Solution Summit, Master Data Management Conference, Information Integration Live, and Americas UserNet Conference.
Speakers, networking, labs and more
In addition to dynamic keynote speakers and invaluable networking opportunities, take advantage of more than 500 sessions during the conference, including hands-on labs and free certification testing. You’ll learn first-hand about Information Management’s latest products and add value to your business by building your information management skills with the best in IBM technical education. You’ll also have unprecedented access to the IBM Information Management technical community and to IBM and Business Partner solutions in the EXPO Solution Center.
Please visit our website at http://www.ibm.com/events/InformationOnDemand for more information.
Mark your calendars for October 14-19, 2007.
| Education | Back to top |
Plan your 2007 training budget!
Get 10% and up to $5,000 with an IBM Education Pack – online account
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Leare more
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Subscribe to IBM Training News from IBM
Each month you can get the latest information about education and training for both hardware and software product families with sections covering more than 14 interest areas from eServers to Networking, Application Development, Cisco, Linux, Information Management, Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, WebSphere, and more. Subscribe to the IBM Training News and personalize your subscription to meet your specific interests.
http://www-931.ibm.com/bin/subscriptions/walk_small_steps.cgi?cl=USEN&nid=10181
| Developer corner | Back to top |
Participate in the .NET Framework 2.0 Open Beta
IBM is extending an invitation to IDS customers to participate in the .NET Framework 2.0 Open Beta Program and to provide them with your feedback. This release includes significant performance improvements, requested by customers, to the .NET Data Provider. The beta program has started, and it will last until March 1, 2007. Please take a little time to try the beta code and give your very valuable and much appreciated feedback to the IDS Development Team.
Information about this beta program is available at:
https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/earlyprograms/ibm/idsnet2/
The beta code could be downloaded from:
https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/earlyprograms/ibm/idsnet2/download.shtml.
You will need to a userid and password to initiate the download. For information on the userid, see:
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/preLogin.do?lang=en_US&source=swg-indpob
Support for the open beta will be provided via a QuickPlace, which includes a support forum, and technical and educational information. Upon downloading the product from the open beta website, you will receive an email giving you access to the QuickPlace. Should you encountered any problems accessing QuickPlace, please report to Paul Read (paul_read@uk.ibm.com) for access help.
(Note, if you encountered any problems accessing the Betaworks website before, the problems have been fixed. Please visit this site again.)
Regards,
Cindy Fung
IDS Product Management
New IBM Redbook: Informix Dynamic Server V10
This IBM Redbook provides an overview of the Informix Dynamic Server (IDS), Version 10. IDS provides the reliability, flexibility, and ease of maintenance that can enable you to adapt to new customer requirements. It is well known for its blazing online transaction processing (OLTP) performance, legendary reliability, and nearly hands-free administration for businesses of all sizes–all while simplifying and automating enterprise database deployment.
Version 10 offers significant improvements in performance, availability, security, and manageability, including patent-pending technology that virtually eliminates downtime and automates many of the tasks that are associated with deploying mission-critical enterprise systems. New features speed application development, enable more robust enterprise data replication, and enable improved programmer productivity through support of IBM Rational development tools, JDBC 3.0, and Microsoft .NET as examples. Version 10 provides a robust foundation for e-business infrastructures with optimized Java support, IBM WebSphere certification, and XML and Web services support.
Ready for service-oriented architecture (SOA)? This IBM Redbook also includes descriptions and demonstrations of support that are specific to IDS for an SOA.
http://publib-b.boulder.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247299.html?Open
Why upgrade to IDS 10.0 – A Technical Perspective
By Jacques Roy
This document discusses the reasons why someone using an older version of IBM Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) would want to upgrade to IDS 10.0. As stated below, IDS 9.21 is a superset of functionality from IDS 7.31. By considering features included in the IDS 9.x code line in different versions, we can find the new features that were added after the IDS 7.x code line. By dividing the features by release, it makes it easier for anyone to have a better idea of how much more they get by going to IDS 10.0. It should be noted that the upgrade to IDS 10.0 is a direct step from IDS 7.24, 7.30, 7.31, 9.21, 9.30, and 9.40.
Read the full article at: /news/articles/UpgradeIDS101.pdf
DB2/Informix and open source: Database defense against the dark political arts
Real-time monitoring of your database for career enhancement
Level: Introductory
Marty Lurie (lurie@us.ibm.com), Information Technology Specialist, IBM
Aron Y. Lurie (aron.lurie@gmail.com), 9th Grader/Webmaster, Newton South High School/Hebrew College
21 Dec 2006
A down system is one of the most stressful events for system administrators. This article shows you how to create a real-time monitor for your database so you can be alerted when problems arise, and also provide valuable information to others about the status of the database servers. The focus should be on fixing the problem, not the blame. This is also an asset for application and network administrators for rapid diagnosis of what has caused the system outage. Complete source code is provided for the monitor, including the PHP pages to publish the database status.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0612lurie/
Ruby/Informix is a Ruby extension for connecting to IBM Informix Dynamic Server, written in ESQL/C. It is being developed and heavily tested on Solaris/SPARC. It has been reported to work on Linux Fedora, SuSE Linux, Windows XP and HP-UX.
0.5.0 12/27/2006
New features:
- Easier to install
- BigDecimal accepted for input parameters
- BigDecimal used for instantiating DECIMAL and MONEY values
- Cursor, Statement, Slob and Database accept an optional block that automatically frees resources after execution.Based on ideas and pseudo-code by Edwin Fine and me.
- Database#slob shortcut for creating Slob objects.
- Slob::Stat class implemented. Returned by Slob#stat, represents the SLOB status. Methods: atime, ctime, mtime, refcnt and size.
Includes Comparable.
- Slob new methods:
<<, rewind, stat, pos, pos=, lock, unlock, estbytes, extsz, flags, maxbytes, sbspace, extsz=, flags=, atime, ctime, mtime, refcnt and size - Thread safe
Remarks:
- DECIMAL and MONEY columns are no longer returned as Float. BigDecimal is used instead.
Bugs fixed:
- If there was an error reading (ifx_lo_read) an SLOB, memory allocated for the read buffer was not freed. Noticed by Edwin Fine
- maxbytes option was ignored when creating an Slob object
- Documentation for Slob mentioned an RDRW constant, but it actuallyis RDWR.
Special thanks to Guy Bowerman, Jonathan Leffler and Logan Capaldo for their feedback and help.
Home page: http://ruby-informix.rubyforge.org
Download from: http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-informix/
| Informix news | Back to top |
Misys Healthcare Systems Wins “Most Distinguished Achievement” Award From IBM
Triad — First-Ever Honor Recognizes Company’s Excellence in Delivering Business Value Misys Healthcare Systems, a market leader in healthcare IT, today announced it has received the “Most Distinguished Achievement” award for North America, as part of the inaugural IBM Information Management Awards. This category recognizes the top IBM Information Management Business Partners that demonstrate excellence in delivering exceptional business value for Information Management. It also honors those vendors who provide cutting-edge solutions based on the Information Management software portfolio. Nominations for this award could only be made by IBM sales and channel representatives.
“Misys Healthcare Systems has made a significant contribution to IBM’s Information Management software business in 2006,” said Tony Rummans, vice president of business development, IBM Information Management Software. “We look forward to continuing to work with Misys in 2007 to provide exceptional business value to our joint customers.”
In part, the Most Distinguished Achievement Award was bestowed upon Misys Healthcare Systems, an OEM partner integrating Informix into solutions for its customers, because the company closed $1.7 million of IDS revenue over the past twelve months, all in the SMB group. At least 80 percent of this revenue represented net new business and competitive wins for both Misys Healthcare and IBM. Misys Healthcare’s most impressive achievement, however, is the 400 new customers it generated for IBM over the past 12 months…
http://triad.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=98990&type_news=latest
| IIUG Board | Back to top |
The new IIUG Board of Directors 2007
The election of the 2007 IIUG Board Members concluded on 15 December 2006. The following members were elected to serve on the 2007 Board (In Alphabetical order, president first):
Stuart Litel (President, USA)
Gary Ben-Israel (Israel)
Sergio Ferreira (Portugal)
David Fraser (New Zealand)
June Hunt (USA)
Cindy Lichtenauer (USA)
Jean Georges Perrin (France)
Michael Segel (USA)
Kernoal Stephens (USA)
Kate Tomchik (USA)
Paul Watson (United Kingdom)
We thank and congratulate every candidate for their time and dedication. We also thank every member who voted.
| Calendar of events | Back to top |
| May – 2007 | |||
| Date | Event | Location | Contact |
| 6-10 | IIUG/IDUG 2007 – North America | San Jose, CA | Cindy Lichtenauer |
| October – 2007 | |||
| Date | Event | Location | Contact |
| 14-19 | IBM Information On Demand 2007 | Las Vegas, NV | |
| 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: /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. 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. |
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| Editors: | Gary Ben Israel Stuart Litel Jean Georges Perrin |
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org.
