IBM Informix

Informix is the product name for a database management system ( DBMS). The identical database company was acquired by IBM in 2001, the software has since been further developed by IBM and is currently in version 12.10 before.

History

The former company Informix played in the dissemination of relational databases ( RDBMS) on Unix a significant role - as the strongest competitor of Oracle.

The associated, also focused on UNIX and on terminal operation Integrated Development Environment Informix 4GL was in the early 1990s, the probably most widely used 4GL development tool ever. In Germany the Informix products were made ​​known and established initially by the distributor and systems integrator Garmhausen and partners, then by the BYTEC GmbH and Siemens.

While the database server is Informix Dynamic Server (IDS ) is still widely used today, it was not possible for the company to bring another successful successor for the now obsolete 4GL development environment on the market.

Apart from the actual Informix database server also developed by Informix Data Access Tool C -ISAM has ( a C interface for ISAM files ) gained wide acceptance (especially on UNIX systems ). The newer versions of the Informix IDS can access via the C -ISAM DataBlade to the data that were stored in the old format C- ISAM.

With the acquisition of Garmhausen and partners mid -1990s attempts were made to strengthen the company's position in Germany. In subsequent years, however, lost Informix, triggered by an accounting scandal and some dubious acquisitions, at market value. In 2000, Informix bought the company Ardent (ETL vendors ) to and named a little later in Ascential order to clarify that the software portfolio now consisted of more products than just the database server. After a management change the database Informix division was sold including employees to IBM for $ 1 billion. Meanwhile, Ascential was acquired for another billion dollars from the IBM.

After the acquisition by IBM, there was briefly the plan to merge with DB2 Informix, which caused some uncertainty in the Informix customers. This plan was discarded, and Informix, and DB2 are developed in parallel with a different focus, but it is often introduce new technologies in the other system. The database server Informix Dynamic Server (IDS ) is referred to by IBM as a strategic database system and re-established itself on the market (especially for OLTP, Integrated Applications, embedded systems, spatial applications, and SMB ).

On March 26, 2013, IBM has introduced the Informix version 12:10 on a webcast.

Properties

The current version of Informix IDS (12.10, Code Name: Centaurus ) was presented on 26 March 2013. The latest version is available on AIX, HP- UX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris and Windows.

The manufacturer advertises Informix with the following properties:

  • Reliability
  • Low administration costs
  • Good performance
  • Well embedded in hardware

The strengths of version 12.10 are

  • NoSQL is possible from version 12.10xC2
  • Better Real-time Analytics
  • Fast, always-on Transactions
  • Sensor data management
  • Self-configuration and improved self -healing
  • Embedded data management platform for ISVs and OEMs

The strengths of version 11 are:

  • Better system availability ( less scheduled or unscheduled downtime )
  • Faster and easier administration
  • New GUI interface for database administration
  • Advanced replication features that allow a cluster architecture, even without expensive hardware
  • Performance Improvement for concurrent access
  • Web Feature Service API
  • Better support for XML data processing
  • Improvement of Time Series functionality for time series data, eg of Smart Meters
  • In-memory database using the Informix Warehouse Accelerator for the acceleration of data warehouse queries
Oracle Corporation Fourth-generation programming language Embedded database Spatial file manager IBM AIX
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