IIUG Insider (Issue #220) November 2018

Highlights: Elections for the IIUG Board of Directors
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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.

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Contents:
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1) Editorial
2) Highlights
2.1 Elections for the IIUG Board of Directors
3) Conference Corner
3.1 Think 2019 | Feb 12-15 | IBM Flagship Technology Conference
4) RFE Corner
5) Informix Resources
5.1 Informix Blogs and Wikis
5.2 Social Media
5.3 Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines
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1) Editorial
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In my last editorial I raised the following questions:
1. Can you solve the confusion between IBM Informix and HCL Informix?
 Are there two different products HCL Informix and IBM Informix?
 Who is in charge of marketing?
 Who is in charge of product management?
 Who decides what features go into v-next and what are the plans for future releases?
 As IBM customers where do we go if we have issues with support?
 Does the HCL website approved by IBM?
I promised that if I get answers they will be published.
In a meeting with Linda Hunt, Director, Strategic Partnerships, IBM Analytics, Business Development,
Linda clarified the confusion we had at the CAC.
IBM continues to be responsible for IBM Informix go to Market including Sales and Marketing. This
includes IBM client relationships and processes such as IBM client contracts, Passport Advantage, IBM
Informix client feedback sessions, etc.
HCL is in charge of Informix development and support. In addition HCL has its own sales offerings
mainly in the cloud.
The answers to the questions above are:
 There is one Informix product in terms of code. But there are IBM and HCL packaging.
 IBM is responsible for marketing. Product management is a collaboration between IBM and HCL.
Karen Qualley from HCL and Milind Tamaskar from IBM work together defining the Informix roadmap
including features in the next versions and other joint product offerings.

 Support calls are dealt by HCH Informix support team. If we do have support issues we can
contact IBM as we have done in the past.
 HCL has an HCL Informix community managed by HCL. IBM has an Informix community in IBM
knowledge center. And of course there is the IIUG website.
Correction:
At the CAC Pradeep Muthalpuredathe, Marcelo Cabane, Shawn Moe, Karen Qualley and Pradeep
Natarajan wrere representing Engineering and Support for IBM Informix.
The only remaining issue is lack of communication between HCL and the IIUG. We are working on it and
I hope it will improve.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org
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2) Highlights
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2.1 Elections for the IIUG Board of Directors
The IIUG is electing a new board of directors. If you want to take part leading the IIUG stay tuned and
follow our website and email blats.
If you did not serve on the board before, bear in mind it requires more than just a monthly calls and 3
board meetings. I have always found the hard work rewarding and would like to see new people joining
us.
If you do not want to stand for elections please vote.
Due to technical difficulties the timetable for the elections has changed.
The new timetable is:
Jan 7 2019 – Nomination opens
Jan 21 2019 – Nomination closes
Feb 11 2019 – Election starts
Feb 25 2019 – Election ends
Mar 11 2019 – Election Result Officially Declared
Mar 12 2019 – New board term starts
Gary Ben-Israel
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3) Conference Corner
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3.1 Think 2019 | Feb 12-15 | IBM Flagship Technology Conference
Community day February 11, 2019.
If you are attending the conference join the community of cloud, data, and security enthusiasts as they
discuss the technology of today and ideas for tomorrow. All Think 2019 attendees welcome join the

community of cloud, data, and security enthusiasts as we discuss the technology of today and ideas for
tomorrow. All Think 2019 attendees welcome.
Gary Ben-Israel
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4) RFE Corner
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IBM created a public website to collect the requests for new features directly from users. The RFE
(Requests For Enhancements) website is included in developerWorks. You can access it here.
Once you logged in with your usual IBM ID, choose "Information Management" in the Brand dropdown
box and "Informix Servers" or "Client Products" in the Products dropdown box.
The idea of the RFE corner is to provide a digest on new Informix RFEs and make those RFEs more
visible and accessible to the community, so you can vote on those that are also important to you. By
actively participating in this website, IBM will have solid and useful elements from the customer base to
introduce new functionality to Informix product.
Also in the area of IBM website, a new functionality has been released: MyNotifications. You will want to
register this webpage in order to receive the notifications of your choice (new product defects, new patch
release, new versions etc…, on the frequency of your choice (daily, weekly). I have registered and will
definitely remain registered, due to the value of the information delivered.
Check at this place.
TOP 15 RFE’s
Abstract Status Votes Progr.
In-Place Alter for varchar, lvarchar and boolean

Under Consideration 65 0

Backup from RSS or HDR Secondaries using
ontape, onunload, onbar, dbexport

Under Consideration 65 0

SQL interface to obtain the temporary space
usage (tables, hash, sorts…)

Under Consideration 50 0

Obtain the query plan of a running query

Under Consideration 50 0

Backup Individual database, not entire instance

Submitted 43 0

Informix should be able to change owner on
tables and any other objects

Submitted 43 +1

Request to track and save a time stamp for last
time an index was used. Nee…

Delivered 40 0

Implement CREATE OR REPLACE option for
stored procedures

Under Consideration 33 0

ALTER owner of database objects after creation Submitted 29 0

New feature to have FORCE_DDL_EXEC
functionality for all DDL changes

Submitted 26 0

Implementation of regular expressions (adding
to LIKE/MATCHES functions)

Delivered 23 0

Ability to re-create views and procedures without
dependent objects being dropped (34762

Under consideration 20 0

Need an onmode option to terminate orphaned,
tightly coupled global transac…

Under Consideration 20 0

allow repack of TBLSpace extents Under Consideration 19 0

You can access each RFE by clicking on the above links. At the bottom of each RFE page you will find a
hyperlink to vote for it. You will see the Request stats, including number of votes for this request, on the
right side of the request page. The more votes, the greater the chance an enhancement will be
addressed by the Development Team.
Gary Ben-Israel
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5) Informix Resources
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IBM Informix home page
www.informix.com or directly at: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/informix/
IBM Informix community
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSGU8G_12.1.0/com.ibm.community.doc/community.
htm
5.1 Informix Blogs and Wikis
Blogs and Wikis
 Art Kagel http://informix-myview.blogspot.co.il/
 Andrés Repossi https://andreserepossi.wixsite.com/hablemosinformix (In Spanish)
 Ben Thompson’s blog at: https://informixdba.wordpress.com/

5.2 Social Media
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25049
Twitter : https://twitter.com/iiug
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/IIUG.Informix
Informix IoT Channel : https://ibm.biz/BdH2nm
5.3 Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines
 The IIUG forums at /forums/technical.php
 Informix Marketing channel on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/informixmarketing?feature=results_main
 IBM DATABASE MAGAZINE at http://www.ibmdatabasemag.com
 Credentials, the IBM Certification Newsletter at
http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/email/201307credentials.shtml
 There is now an Informix group on LinkedIn. The group is called “Informix Supporter”, so anyone
loving Informix can join, from current IBM employees, former Informix employees, to users. It will
also be a good occasion to get in touch with others or long-time-no-seen friends. If you fancy
showing the Informix logo on your profile, join. To join, simply go to:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/25049/5E4B2048E558

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 now 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.

Editor: Gary Ben-Israel
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org
To validate

Published
Categorized as Insider

By Vicente Salvador

Board member since 2014, a user since 1989 and Informix fan. I'am software architect which allow me to combine technical and business skills.