Highlights: IIUG Board Elections
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 Informix community.
Table of Contents
Editorial
We will be electing the 2027-2028 board of directors. Being a board member is a lot of hard work. The satisfaction you will get is that of helping Informix and the Informix user community.
If you want to join the board, please stand for elections. We need new board members.
If there are more candidates than Board positions, we will have an election.
Please make sure you are voting for the candidates you think are the best fit. Your vote matters.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org
Highlights
IIUG Board Elections
Every two years the membership of the International Informix Users Group elects its Board of Directors. Anyone who became an IIUG member at least one month prior to nomination open date is eligible to be considered for nomination. This term for the new Board of Directors will begin on January 1, 2027, and will terminate on December 31, 2028.
The IIUG Board of Directors election is overseen by a Nominating Committee that supervises both the nomination process and the election. The members of Nominating Committee are appointed by the current Board of Directors and cannot be standing for election.
The election is a democratic process whereby candidates who receive the most votes will be confirmed and notified in a timely manner. To avoid potential conflicts of interest, votes are automatically tallied and manually validated by the members of the IIUG Nominating Committee.
Candidates for the IIUG Board of Directors must be current IIUG members or have become a member at least one month prior to the nomination open date. Nominees are selected by the IIUG Nominating Committee who attempt to find nominees that represent a wide geographical membership as well as a mix of product utilization. They are also looking for those who can meet the many and varied challenges and functions of the Board.
Candidates must submit the following:
- Applicant’s name.
- Applicant’s parent organization and role in that organization.
- Applicant’s IIUG membership number.
- A brief description about why the applicant would be a good candidate for the role on the IIUG Board.
- A brief description about the attributes that the applicant has and can apply to the work of the IIUG Board.
- A statement acknowledging that the applicant has the time commitment to devote to the work of the IIUG Board that will include, amongst other things, a daily commitment to email correspondence, a monthly commitment to conference calls and at least two Board meetings (normally 3 days plus travel) and attendance and assistance to the IIUG Informix conference in North America (normally 5 days plus travel). For all the events, attendance is compulsory.
- If you are not a current Board member, a completed questionnaire.
If you are interested in joining the IIUG Board of Directors submit the required information to the Election Commissioner John Fahey no later than midnight EST Monday November 2, 2026 to be considered for a Board position. Nominations received after midnight US Eastern Standard Time on November 2, 2026 will not be eligible.
To learn more about duties, guidelines and to review the Member Handbook click IIUG Board Elections 2027-2028 under “About IIUG”
Election Schedule
All dates are Mondays:
| Nominations Open | October 19, 2026 |
| Nominations Closed | November 2, 2026 |
| Candidates Announced | November 16, 2026 |
| Start of Election | November 23, 2026 |
| End of Election | December 7, 2026 |
| Election Results Officially Declared | December 14, 2026 |
IMPORTANT: An election will only occur if there are more nominations than Board positions.
If you have any questions, please reach out to any current Board member.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board of Directors
Conference Corner
IBM TechXchange Conference 2026
October 26 – 29, 2026
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
NOTE: You will be taken to the IBM sign in page to register and submit your session for this event. You must have an IBM account for this event. There is a link on the page to create your IBM account.
Informix Sessions for TechXchange User Day, October 26 (only!):
| TITLE | SPEAKER | DESCRIPTION |
| International Informix User Group(IIUG): Vector Search Inside IBM Informix: Building a Native AI Embedding Engine with DataBlade [MUP-4657] | Xavier Escoté Airtool, Deister |
Vector similarity search is the backbone of modern AI applications such as RAG pipelines, semantic search, and recommendation systems. While most architectures rely on separate vector databases, this session demonstrates an alternative: a full DataBlade implementation in IBM Informix that integrates vector search natively within the database engine. We introduce a native vector opaque type and an HNSW approximate nearest-neighbor index, enabling embeddings and business data to be queried in a single SQL statement. The design includes a float32 type with AVX2 SIMD-optimized distance functions (cosine, L2, inner product, L1), SQL operator overloading, and a custom HNSW index via Informix’s Virtual-Index Interface. We also compare against pgvector, highlighting its 2,000-dimension HNSW limit versus Informix’s support for up to 8,191 dimensions, enabling full-resolution OpenAI embeddings. The session covers benchmarks, extensibility constraints, and hybrid SQL patterns that combine vector similarity with metadata filtering in a single query without post-processing. |
| International Informix User Group(IIUG): Migrating Applications to Informix Version 15.0 [MUP-4656] | Art Kagel ASK Database Management |
Migrating your applications to Informix V15.0 entails unique challenges. While existing applications continue to work with existing tables created by earlier releases of Informix, in order to take advantage of the new features included in Informix V15.0 some coding changes and recompilation is required. This session discusses these issues as well as outlining the relevant changes in Informix V15.0. |
| International Informix User Group(IIUG): What’s new in Informix 15.0 – Unlimited and Future Proof [MUP-4658] | John Lengyel HCL |
Covering all the new benefits of the Informix 15.0 release and priorities for the future. 15.0 is the latest and greatest Informix version and join us to find out what’s new and priorities moving forward. |
| International Informix User Group(IIUG): External SmartBlobs in IBM Informix 15: Configuration Deep Dive and AI-Ready Architectures [MUP-4659] | Vicente Salvador Cubedo DEISTER, S.A. |
This session explores the new External SmartBlobs feature in IBM Informix 14, providing a technical deep dive into configuration methods, architecture, storage management, and operational best practices. We will review how SmartBlobs stored directly in external files simplify large object management while opening new integration possibilities for modern AI and analytics environments, where file-based access is often required for model training and data pipelines. The session also includes a real customer implementation, covering deployment decisions, lessons learned, and production results. |
| International Informix User Group(IIUG): Meet the Expert: Licensing to technology. All you want to know about IBM Informix [MUP-4660] | Anup Nair – Product Manager Mark Jamison – Technical Product Manager Karen Qualley – Dev Product Manager John Lengyel – Chief Informix Architect |
All your Informix related questions ranging from licensing to architecture answered live by the Principal Product manger and the Technical Product Manager. |
For additional details regarding the above Informix sessions, please refer to the full catalog. Click on User Group Led, and IIUG.
Stay tuned for future updates!
#IIUG #IBMTechXchange #Informix
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
Informix Corner
Oninit® Archive
Historical Informix Usenet discussion, cross-checked against DrWatson evidence and knowledge-base sources. Ask a question in plain language. Go to www.oninit.com/cdi ask a question and find the information you are looking for.
Paul Watson
HCL Informix Virtual User Day
Title: Read, Write, and Query Vectors Natively Inside HCL Informix®
Date/Time: October 13, 2026 8 am – 11 am PST
Description: Join us for a 3-hour technical program on HCL Informix: native vector search and RAG with VectorBlade, plus real guidance on upgrading and migrating.
HCL Informix User Day Agenda and Registration
Actian Dinner Invite
If you’ll be in Atlanta on October 27, HCL/Actian invites you for an evening of good food, conversation, and a candid discussion around where HCL Informix is headed.
Actian is hosting a small roundtable dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in downtown Atlanta, featuring Jean-Georges “JGP” Perrin, longtime Informix expert, former IIUG board member, and Lifetime IBM Champion, along with John (JC) Lengyel, who has more than 30 years of experience working with Informix.
They will discuss HCL Informix’s evolution for the next generation of applications, including vectors, AI, MCP, and how existing HCL Informix environments can support production AI.
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, you can save your spot here: Save Your Spot – Atlanta Informix Roundtable.
Informix Tech Talks on YouTube
Upcoming Informix Tech Talks
Title: Informix and Actian Analytics Engine 8.0: A Modern Analytics Solution Stack
Date/Time: October 22, 2026 1:00 PM EDT
Speaker: Steffen Kläbe, Actian
Description: Informix environments increasingly need to support modern analytics, data science, and AI workloads alongside core transactional processing. This session introduces Actian Analytics Engine 8.0, a columnar analytics database that pairs with Informix to serve as a modern data warehouse for these workloads, handling data engineering and data science use cases with built-in AI capabilities and controls that reinforce data sovereignty requirements.
Attendees will also see how the Actian AI Analyst can sit on top of the warehouse, giving business users and analysts natural language access to trusted data. The talk covers how Informix and Analytics Engine 8.0 fit together, and what this pairing offers Informix users evaluating a modern, end-to-end analytics and AI stack.
Bio: Steffen Kläbe is Chief Researcher at Actian, where he develops research-driven perspectives on modern data management and AI-ready architectures. His work focuses on translating advanced database technologies into practical solutions for real-world AI systems.
He plays a key role in shaping Actian’s database and AI roadmap, contributing to innovations such as in-database machine learning, vector search, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). He works closely with engineering, product, and partners to bring these capabilities into production environments
Tech Talk: Analytics Engine 8.0 Registration
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
Last Informix Tech Talks Replay
Replay of the Last Informix Tech Talks: September 2026 – Migration off of the Informix 4GL, “green screen” – by Jan Musil, IBM
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel
Our YouTube Channel now has:
- 604 subscribers (4 new subscribers)
- 126 videos (1 new video)
- 29,140 views (690 additional views)
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel Videos
Past Informix Tech Talks Replays
In Search of Tech Talks Speakers
We are looking for passionate voices to present at our monthly Tech Talks for 2026! Whether you are a seasoned expert or a fresh voice in the community, your insights can spark the next big breakthrough.
Why Join Us?
-
Connect: Engage with a global community of Informix peers.
-
Support: Help others solve challenges by sharing what you know well.
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Grow: Build your professional brand with the IIUG and Informix ecosystem.
Presentations need only be 15 – 45 minutes. If you haven’t done this before you won’t need to do this alone; the board will assist you with preparing you presentation.
Tech Talks are normally the third Thursday of the month around 1:00 pm ET. However, we are willing to adjust the timing to meet your needs. The IIUG promotes the event and will set up the registration for the event.
All presentations are recorded and will be offered as replays on our YouTube Tech Talks channel page.
Maybe you are too shy to be a presenter. If you have a topic you would like to see as a presentation, you can submit the topic to us and we will try to find a presenter.
You don’t have to be an IIUG member to present or attend the Tech Talks. If you are interested, 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 is 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
No new submissions
Popular
Informix should be able to change owner on tables and any other objects (110 votes)
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Board
IBM Informix Forum Corner
Join and visit the IBM Informix Community Forum
Recent Posts:
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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 / Newsletters
Art Kagel – https://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Mary Schulte – ACTIAN https://www.actian.com/blog/databases/user-friendly-external-smartblobs-using-a-shadow-directory/
Gerd Kaluzinski – German Informix Newsletter
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 | X |
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