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!!
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
Popular
Informix should be able to change owner on tables and any other objects (110 votes)
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 | 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