Curious About Informix? Do you want to learn more? Review what the experts say about Informix

What is it?

IBM Informix is the only continuously available, easily embeddable, OLTP database software that reduces costs and increases productivity by providing near-zero administration for small to highly-distributed environments regardless of platform. "Set it and forget it" is a popular quote from Informix customers, who count on the ease of use and legendary reliability of Informix. With over 100,000 customers and growing, the Inforix fan base has voted IBM Informix the #1 vendor at VendorRate 2 years in a row. "Discover Informix"

Who uses it?

Thousands of retailers worlwide rely on Informix to manage data in their remote stores as well as their enterprise. One large retailer has over 10,000 database servers worldwide managed by only 8 DBAs. Telecom service delivery providers and financial services rely on the real-time capabilities and high volume transaction processing provided by Informix.

When used as an embedded data management solution, Informix allows DBA administrative functions to be hidded within applications so that no manual administration is required. Such low administration requirements are just one reason telecommunications and other companies value Informix; because they can deploy applications that are easy for their customers to manage. Ongoing maintenance is also greatly reduced, making their solutions the most cost effective. "Discover Informix"

Why Choose it?

Customers choose Infomrix because of its reliability, flexibility, ease-of-use, and total cost of ownership. In simple terms, this means Informix works without a problem or major administrative issues regardless of the operating system Informix is running on, so you can manage your application needs as your business dictates. Informix is available across a broad range of platforms and operating systems including AIX, HP-UX, SUN Solaris, Macintosh OS X, Linux - System i, System p, System x, System z and Windows "Carlton Doe - IBM"

IBM Informix database software is designed from the ground up for easy, scalable administration, with many features that allow Informix to 'disappear' within an application. In addition to the self-monitoring and self-healing features built into Informix, it can also be customized to rpoactively track and react to your business thresholds - and resolve them before they become an issue.

Which Informix server product is right for you?

Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) is an enterprise class relational database management system designed for multi-processor (SMP) environments. If you are not deploying IDS in this type of environment you should question whether you need the computing overhead of running an enterprise class relational database management server at all.

Informix Standard Engine (SE) is ideal for small applications because of its extremely low system overhead (12 Mb disk footprint). Pretty much regardless of hardware, SE is quick and exceptionally reliable. Informix has all but removed any limitation in file-based data storage however you're unlikely to want to put any more than about 100 users on one of these systems.

Informix C-ISAM is embedded in literally thousands of applications in everything from traffic management systems to network routers and EPOS terminals. If you have a requirement for a zero administration record management system that supports data integrity features then this is it.

Product Lifecycle

Click here to go to IBM's product lifecycle pages

Now you know a little about Informix, let Bell Micro assist you in realising the benefits of introducing Informix to your business.