Informix Business Partner Newsletter August 2011
Ted J. Wasserman Informix Channel Marketing Manager | Top
Stories
Editor's Corner As the summer comes to a close and the Informix 10 year anniversary celebrations wind down, let's take a look at one of the areas that what will drive Informix forward during the next 10 years at IBM. Some attributes of the product will never change, such as its performance, reliability, low cost of ownership, and ease of administration. However, technologies like TimeSeries will propel Informix forward into new and exciting spaces in the market. TimeSeries is a truly differentiating technology -- no other database vendor offers something comparable -- and we are receiving a lot of interest and proof-of-concept requests. In addition to the Energy & Utilities industry where we are currently seeing a lot of interest, TimeSeries also has applicability to other industries and solutions. From applications such as vehicle monitoring, to healthcare monitoring, to financial analysis, TimeSeries is the ideal data management solution for doing trend analysis and monitoring. IBM is increasing its investments in this area and making the technology even better (see Jacques' article below). We are also working on many new marketing deliverables that will help explain the benefits of the technology to a slew of new users. Please reach out to me if you want to learn more about this technology and how you can participate in go-to-market activities. Finally, before I sign-off, I wanted to draw your attention to a new resource that is now available to you. We have created a new discussion forum, hosted by the IIUG, exclusively for business partners to use as a mechanism to collaborate, whether it be to find technical expertise, share Informix marketing campaign ideas or strategies, or find a partner to work with in a different geography. This forum is only visible and accessible to business partners who sign up for it. Details about how to do that are found in Business Partner Resources section below. A big thanks to Stuart Litel, Pete Perez, and the IIUG for supporting this idea and helping make it happen! Cheers, Ted Wasserman |
Jacques Roy Manager/Architect - Informix developmentt | Informix
TimeSeries Enhancements
In Informix 11.70.xC3, we added some new time series capabilities. Why would you care? Time series are found everywhere. It is simply data that is collected over time. It could be changes in stock price and transaction volumes. It could also be reading of your house electric meter. Readings could be done every 15 minutes for example to provide a much more accurate picture of how electricity is being used. Other time series examples include weather information, network traffic, thermal readings in a large data center, and so on. One key characteristic of time series is that the processing always include a time component. For example, you want to get all the meter readings for one month for a specific customer. With this data, you can calculate daily consumption, running averages, etc. To do this type of processing, you need quick access to the specific range of data you want to analyze and you also need to get it in time order. Informix provides a data type that is used specifically to optimize time series data. It also comes with a extensive set of functions used to manipulate these time series. The Informix TimeSeries provide three major benefits: In a standard relational database, each time series element must have an identifier and a time stamp because the time series element are stored in a separate table from the object it refers to (such as an electric meter). You then need an index on the identifier and the time stamp so you can joint it with the table that allows you to select what identifier and time range you want to operate on. In contrast, Informix TimeSeries stores the time series in the same table and row that represents the object. You don't need the additional index on the identifier to join tables. Also, the data is kept in time order in the time series. In the case of regular intervals, you don't even need to keep the time stam since the position gives you the time In customer tests we have regularly seen that Informix TimeSeries takes one third of the disk space. Performance benefits Just by having less data on disk gives the Informix TimeSeries a significant performance benefit but it does not stop there. The data is ordered. This means it is much faster to get to the exact subset of data that you want to process. By being ordered, This means you will likely find the next record that you are looking for on the same page as the last one. In a relational system, all this data could be scattered over a large number of pages without specific ordering. This would cause a lot more I/O operations to be executed than in the case of Informix TimeSeries. You also don't need to go through an additional sorting step before you process your data. In customer tests we have seen as much as 60X performance improvements over standard relational in some queries. Simpler development Informix TimeSeries comes with a set of functions that allow you to manipulate the time series. For example, if you need to group our reading to go from a 15 minute interval to a hourly interval, it can be done in a simple statement. Similarly, if you want to calculate a running average: simple statement. This means you don't need to write specialized code to provide this processing. It is built into the Informix TimeSeries capabilities. The end result can be simpler code, less maintenance, and faster time to market Informix TimeSeries also provides the ability to create relational views on top of your time series data. This opens the door to the use of standard off the shelf products to do things like reporting. |
Louis T. Cherian Competitive Marketing Manager | Social
Media for Informix
Demonstrate your passion for Informix by joining the Informix social media communities today! Social media is playing an important role in today's business environment and we would like to leverage it to energize our Informix community. Social media has the ability to connect people with similar interests, helping them share information and experiences. This is very crucial for the Informix business, as we attempt to embrace social media to help grow the Informix user base. Many of us are already on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, then please "like" the Informix page today! Many of us are also on LinkedIn. If you have a LinkedIn profile, then join the Informix group today. And if you have a Twitter account, please follow the Informix account. It will take only a few moments to do this, and it will help a lot. Here are the details for each of these communities: · Like the IBM Informix page on Facebook · Follow @IBM_Informix on Twitter · Join the Informix - IIUG LinkedIn group · Follow my blog |
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Business Partner Resources New Business Partner Forum Hosted On IIUG A new discussion forum hosted by the IIUG has been set up exclusively for business partners to use as a mechanism to collaborate with each other. This forum is only visible and accessible to business partners who sign up for it. Membership is open to any IBM Informix business partner (we will verify your business partner status) and you must also be an IIUG member. To sign up for access, please email us and provide the main email address in your IIUG member record, or the SIGs email address in your Member record (Under the Membership button). You will be sent a confirmation email when your access has been approved. New Discover InformixEvent-in-a-Box The Discover Informix Event-in-a-Box is a kit designed for IBM Business Partners to run a half-day or lunch & learn style of event, focused on the business value delivered by Informix and related solutions. There will be a keynote session that focuses on how the new innovations in Informix solve real-world business problems. Additional sessions will focus on key Informix topics of interest such as the new Informix warehousing offering for extreme performance, Informix Genero, Smart Metering Solutions using Informix TimeSeries, Information Security & Privacy Solutions that Enable Information Governance, and Embedded Data Management. The objectives of the event are to drive Informix awareness, improve consideration and drive leads by energizing the existing Informix community and leveraging their passion to influence new prospects. To access the event-in-the-box, click here. Newly Designed Information Management Solutions Portal The Information Management Solution Portal is an interactive web site designed to showcase business partner solutions that support Information Management software. IBM Business Partners with solutions that integrate with Informix and other Information Management software are able to have their solution listed in the portal at no cost. It is critical to get your Informix-supported solutions listed in this portal as this will be the central hub that all IBM sales teams and customers will be pointed to who need to find applications and solutions built on top of Informix. Getting your solution listed is a straightforward process and doesn't consume a lot of time. If your solution is not listed yet, START TODAY! To get listed, please contact us. New Campaign Materials: Develop on Informix Are you interested in attracting new developers and solution providers to Informix? If so, you can leverage new high-quality materials including an email, direct mailer, postcard, sample web page, and web banner. Most of them are customizable so you can include your company logo and specific call-to-action. You can find these new assets on the IBM Co-Marketing Center (CMC) -- search with the keywords "Develop on Informix" to find them. To access the CMC, click here. New Industry Marketing Templates Information Management industry marketing assets are now available for Business Partners to edit to quickly create compelling event invitations and solution sheets with industry messaging. Business Partners with an industry solution that integrates Information Management software can "jump start" the creation of marketing campaigns using new industry templates. It's easy and free. The industry templates contain graphics and the same industry pain points and messaging from effective IBM campaigns. Business Partners simply drop in their own business partner logo and unique solution description and contact information. So far, the assets available include solution briefs and event invitations for the Communications, Financial, Government, Healthcare, and Retail industries. More assets are under development and will be available soon. You can find these assets on the IBM Co-Marketing Center (CMC) -- search with the keywords "Information Management Industry Event" or "Information Management Solution Brief". To access the CMC, click here. Quick Reference Tool for Informix Business Partners In an effort to continue to provide key information to our Informix business partners and make it easy to find, we have created an Informix Quick Reference Tool that you can use for "one-stop clicking" to various Informix assets and information. Bookmark it and check back frequently for the latest information. Informix Demand Generation Materials for Business Partners Do you want to run a demand generation campaign around Informix? Leverage these new materials created by IBM's professional ad agency to generate new leads for Informix. Many of these materials, which include a direct mailer, email template, web banner, and more, are customizable so that you can add your own company logo and call to action. You can find these new assets on the IBM Co-Marketing Center (CMC). To access the CMC, click here. IBM PartnerWorld Are you a member of IBM PartnerWorld? Find out what you are missing: Communication, Collateral, Lead Generation benefits, and much more! To learn more about becoming a PartnerWorld member, click here. | 
Informix Resources Sales and Marketing Materials Informix Quick Reference Tool for BPs Informix Business Partner Playbook IBM Co-Marketing Center Tool Discover Informix Event-In-A-Box Information Management Solution Portal Business Partner Programs Ready-for-Informix Certification IBM Software Value Plus IBM PartnerWorld Education Opportunities Informix Business Partner Bootcamps Informix Technical Roadshow Informix Chat With the Lab International Informix User Group (IIUG) Social Media 
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
IBM Bloggers Bruce Weed's Blog Louis Cherian's Blog Kevin Brown's Blog Jonathan Leffler's Blog Fred Ho's Blog Jacques Roy's Blog Carlton Doe's Blog Spokey Wheeler's Blog Informix Experts' Blog Application Development Blog |
| In The News |
| HP Customers
Have Options With IBM Informix!
Earlier this year, Oracle announced they would be ceasing support for all future software development and certification on Intel® Itanium® based servers, such as HP Integrity Servers. At IBM, we believe that customers should have the freedom to choose what infrastructure works best for their business. Informix has supported HP-UX® for both PA-RISC and Itanium for many years and IBM intends to continue to support the Intel Itanium platform. Many of our customers are asking us what our plans our for the Itanium platform. In response, we have created a new web page that outlines our support for this platform. Please help spread the word to your customers! View the Informix-Itanium web page here. |
IBM Information On Demand October 22-27, 2011 Las Vegas, Nevada USA | IOD
Conference 2011: Early Bird Registration Discount Ends Soon!
Join us in Las Vegas this October to experience proven technologies and meaningful business insights to improve performance while reducing costs. Choose from three technical forums (Information Management, Business Analytics, and Enterprise Content Management) that give you in-depth education including hands-on labs and usability sand boxes, and the thought-provoking forum for Business Leadership. New this year, our program will be combined for Business Partners who have an Information Management, Business Analytics and Enterprise Content Management focus. You'll engage in one complete program designed to help you maximize performance and drive better business results. Join us to learn about the exceptional programs and resources at your disposal to grow your business. [UTF-8?]You’ll learn of plans, directions, market trends, competitive strategies and new and innovative technologies to help you drive new business opportunities. The Business Partner Summit (Saturday and Sunday) is complimentary; however, you must register for this portion of the conference to participate. There are also a variety of activities for Business Partners throughout the week and so we invite you to register for the full conference and stay on for Information on Demand 2011. Register by August 31 to get the best savings and the best conference hotel accommodation. To get more information about the conference and register, click here. |
| Informix
Chat with the Lab - All About Informix Private Server and Mapped Users
The next chat with the lab series is all about Informix Private Server and Mapped Users. This new feature, included in the Informix 11.7 release, introduced the ability to install and run Informix as a "Private Server" - in other words, without access to user root or user informix. Since running the server using an unprivileged user makes operating system authentication of users impossible, you will hear how using "Mapped Users" which allows creation of users that are not necessarily known to the OS. Date: August 25, 2011 Time: 11.30 a.m. (New York); 4:30 p.m. (London) Register for this event here. Note: The presentation will also be available at www.ibm.com/informix/labchats prior to the event. |
| Informix
Videos
Have you seen the latest Informix client videos, including the new videos that were unveiled at this year's Informix User Group conference? Learn how Informix solutions are being used everywhere and how some of our clients are adopting powerful technology like the Informix Flexible Grid to solve some of their toughest business challenges. To view the videos, click here. |
| PreferredPartner
Announces Analytic Accelerator Providing Customers with Real-time Analytics
PreferredPartner, an IBM Premier Business Partner specializing in IBM software solutions and IT services, announced today the general availability of Analytics Accelerator - a new data warehouse solution that bundles IBM's Informix Ultimate Warehouse Edition and off-the-shelf hardware with targeted technical consulting services. The solution is designed to help organizations increase performance and flexibility by accelerating warehouse queries up to 100+ times, giving customers real-time answers, while also lowering costs and eliminating many maintenance issues. Analytics Accelerator enables organizations to compress and process data marts entirely in memory, using a deep columnar approach for optimizing performance. By leveraging all cores in the machine, users gain parallel access to compressed data for each query. Off-the-shelf hardware means no need for expensive appliances and zero administrative cost - no DBA resources are required. Read the full press release here. |
| Bull
GMBH Releases the Bull Data Booster - built on the Informix Warehouse Accelerator
Bull Data Booster is an appliance that can accelerate your data warehouse queries quickly and safely. With pre-configured and optimized hardware and software, including the Informix Ultimate Warehouse Edition, the Data Booster can be quickly integrated into an existing database landscape. It comes in small, medium, and large sizes, and offers the perfect solution for a variety of customer requirements. Learn more about the Bull Data Booster solution here. |
| NEW:
Informix Ultimate Warehouse Edition 90 Day Trial Version
Are you or your customer interested in trying out the new Informix Ultimate Warehouse Edition (and Informix Warehouse Accelerator) to see the magnitude of speed up of your data warehousing workload first-hand? There is now a 90 day trial version of the Informix Ultimate Warehouse Edition available for download on the Informix download site. Download and try it out today! Download the trial edition here. |
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