Highlights: WAIUG Meeting, December 11

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.

Table of Contents

Editorial

2025 is coming to an end. December will be the last issue.

I hope to have more content next year. However, it is up to you as well. I’m sure many of you have content to share. It may be technical content, how you use Informix in your organization, things you would like to see in the product or the IIUG. Send requests to IBM or HCL. Get more involved and help yourself and others.

In the upcoming months you will see more promotions for the IBM TechXchange in Atlanta, Georgia, October 26-29 2026. We know travel approval takes time so start preparing. IBM TechXchange 2025 in Orlando was a great event. We believe 2026 will be even better. Stay tuned.

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

Highlights

WAIUG Meeting, December 11, 9:30 am EST

Title: Washington Area Informix Users Group (WAIUG) Meeting

Date: Thursday, December 11, 2025

Time: 9:30 AM – 13:00 PM EST

IDS 15.0 – Unlimited and Future Proof

John Lengyel (HCL)

I will cover all the new benefits of the 15.0 Informix release.

Text to SQL Agent powered by Informix and Watsonx

Xavier Escoté (Deister)

This talk dives into how we built a natural language interface on top of IBM Informix using Watsox, allowing users to ask questions in plain text and get accurate SQL responses. We’ll walk through the architecture, training process, prompt engineering, and a demo of the working solution. Whether you’re in retail, finance, or any industry, this session will show how to bridge the gap between language and data through the power of IBM technologies.

Informix Encryption Everywhere Everyway

Thomas Beebe (xDB Systems)

In this talk we will cover all layers of data encryption with Informix.

Informix has a very robust set of security features that often go under or unused in organizations. As we all get more security focused it is important to make sure that your data is secure, and your auditors are happy. Whether you are running a massive core system that has been keeping your company running for 20 years or you are using the most cutting edge IoT solutions you will want to make sure your data is safe and reliable.

From the base object layer up through data in transit the different methods of Informix encryption will be shown. This will also go into practical examples and uses as well as when to use and when not to use them. This talk will be relevant to anyone running Informix version 7.x or later.

NOTE: You do not have to be a WAIUG member or IIUG member to attend!

Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board / WAIUG Vice-President

Conference Corner

IBM TechXchange Conference 2026 – Save the Date!!

IBM TechXchange 2026

October 26 – 29, 2026

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

IBM is currently offering a 50% early bird discount to IBM TechXchange 2026 if you register now.

NOTE: You will be taken to the IBM sign in page to register for this event. You must have an IBM account to register for this event. There is a link on the page to create your IBM account.

Invite colleagues to join us at IBM TechXchange 2026!

We can’t wait to see you in Atlanta in 2026!

#IIUG #IBMTechXchange #Informix

Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board

IBM TechXchange 2025 Attendees: Extended Opportunity for Complimentary Informix Certification

The Informix Administration Badge/Certification Exam was offered free of cost at the IBM TechXchange 2025 – Orlando, FL – October 6-9.

If you couldn’t take the exam at the conference, you now have an extended opportunity to complete it at no cost. Simply share your proof of attendance (such as your conference badge or a screenshot of your registration page), and we’ll enroll you for the exam.

Don’t miss this golden opportunity to get certified and showcase your Informix expertise!

Send your participation details and interest to anup@iiug.org.

Anup Nair
IBM

Informix Corner

Informix Tech Talks on YouTube – December 11, 2025

Upcoming Informix Tech Talks

Title: Washington Area Informix Users Group (WAIUG) Meeting

Date: Thursday, December 11, 2025

Time: 9:30 AM – 13:00 PM EST

See Highlights Section for Details!

Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board / WAIUG Vice-President

Last Informix Tech Talks Replay

Replay of the Last Informix Tech Talks: InformixHQ 3.1.0 – Ajay Satbhadre, August 2025

Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel

Our YouTube Channel now has:

580 subscribers (6 new subscribers)
115 videos (no new video)
25,529 views (301 additional views)

Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel Videos

Past Informix Tech Talks Replays

In Search of Tech Talks Speakers

We are looking for additional speakers and especially any new speakers to share your Informix knowledge with our user Community via the IIUG Tech Talks. We will assist you in preparing for your Tech Talks presentation by prerecording your session. This will allow you to be available to answer any questions that come up in the chat during you presentation.

If you are interested in producing a 15 – 45-minute presentation, please contact either Art Kagel or Bruce Simms for additional information.

Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board

Informix Training

Free Informix Tutorials Videos – a step by step approach to using Informix Database Servers are available at https://advancedatatools.com/tech-info/informix-tutorials/

RFE Corner

IBM has an RFE – Request For Enhancements website.
Please visit the RFE site to vote for your favorite enhancements and place new requests. It is friendly and has a nice look and feel.

Recent

Request Informix slow queries history

Request block level Informix cluster replication

Better search facility for filters in Informix-HQ. Like a negation NOT operator

Backup Individual database, not entire instance (95 votes)

IBM Informix Forum Corner

Join and visit the IBM Informix Community Forum

Recent Posts:

Need help for Usage of “UTL_FILE_GET_LINE”

How to list registered DataBlade modules without ‘blademgr’ program (Informix from 14.10.xC6 on)?

bson_update with special characters crashes session

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Board

Informix Technical Content

Calculating the difference between datetime columns

This topic is calculating the difference in seconds between two datetime columns.

Let’s create a table with two datetime columns.

create temp table dt_vals(t1 datetime year to second, t2 datetime year to second);

Now let’s insert to two values into the table.

insert into dt_vals (t1,t2) values (“2016-08-28 10:14:47″,”2016-08-28 11:18:58”);

If we use the minus operator

select t2-t1 from dt_vals;

The result will be correct but the format, a character string, cannot be used in calculations.

0 01:04:11

If we want the difference in seconds as an integer we should use the following select statement.

select (((t2 – t1)::interval second(9) to second)::char(10))::int from dt_vals;

This will return an integer.

3851.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Board

Informix Resources

IIUG Website
Not a member? Become an IIUG member and keep updated on all things Informix. It’s free.

IBM Informix Community
Not a member, join the IBM Informix community and connect with other Informix data experts.

Blogs

Art Kagel – https://informix-myview.blogspot.com/

Mary Schulte – ACTIAN https://www.actian.com/blog/databases/user-friendly-external-smartblobs-using-a-shadow-directory/

IBM Informix RFE

IBM Informix RFE – Informix Requests for Enhancements.

Technical Articles

Oninit Group
WAIUG (Washington Area Informix User Group) Tech Tips
Over 10 Years of Informix Webcast Replays
Over 30 Years of Informix Blog Posts

Social Media

YouTube

Facebook

IIUG’s own Art Kagel was recently features on the Tech Sharmit Podcast to talk about his life and involvement with Informix and database systems.
Catch the podcast here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l81pLa7i-J0)

Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines

Informix Marketing channel on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/informixmarketing?feature=results_main

Closing and Credits

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 exceeds 25,000 entries and enjoys the support and commitment of IBM’s Information 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, Rhonda Hackenburg

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