IBM and HCL Strategic Partnership to jointly develop and market IBM Informix

by Dan Hernandez, VP Offering Management Analytics

Friends,

I have some very exciting news to share with you today. I am very pleased to announce that IBM and HCL are entering a strategic partnership to jointly develop and market the IBM Informix family of products.

We are building on a history of collaboration between the two companies. The new partnership combines IBM’s large Informix customer base and global sales force with HCL’s leadership in the IT services sector – accelerating the investments, evolution and adoption of Informix as a leading database – and further address the needs of an embedded database.

Effective May 1, 2017, HCL will take over development and support of the Informix product family. Product strategy, marketing and sales efforts continue to be led by IBM with HCL participating and expanding routes to market. Experience for customers remains unchanged. Existing customer agreements, first point of contact, new licenses or extensions to existing entitlements continue to be through IBM.

Let me close by expressing again my personal excitement about this new partnership as it will lead to new innovations, more delighted clients and more opportunities for our employees and partners.

Just one month remains until the IIUG Event in Raleigh, NC. Register today!

by Rajesh Govindan, Portfolio Marketing Manager, IBM Informix

If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the space! But you’re going to want to register now — before the conference is 100% booked.

Already, we’ve had lots of Informix developers from all over the world sign up to attend this year’s IIUG conference. They’re not only coming for the 20+ educational sessions we’ll be offering over three days of jam-packed learning, but also to attend our sensational keynote presentation by John Cohn.

John is well known for his entertaining and inspirational talks, and you won’t want to miss what he has to say. His enthusiastic approach to work has made him one of the most sought-after speakers at IBM, where he serves as IBM Fellow in the IBM Watson Internet of Things Division. You may also recognize John from his TED Talks presentation, or in his appearance in “The Colony” on the Discovery Channel.

In addition to John Cohn, our roster includes Informix experts such as:
·    Alex Chen
·    Jeff Filippi
·    Hulka Radomir
·    Art Kagel
·    Lester Knutsen
·    Doug Lawrey
·    Ognien Orel
·    Jacques Roy
·    Nancy Slaughter
·    Neil Truby
·    Mike Walker
·    David Williams

The International Informix Users Group conference will be held at the Marriott City Center, April 23 to April 27, 2017 in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. It will feature great opportunities to listen, learn and network with colleagues who have overcome the same challenges you face.
After the main event, attendees are invited to participate in FREE in-depth tutorials on Database Administration, Application Development, Security, Cloud offerings, JSON/NoSQL, and Apache Spark.
If you’d like to know more, visit our web site.  Time and space are running out, so be sure to book as quickly as you can!
PS
If you’ve already registered, please leave a note and tell us what you’re most looking forward to learning.

Attention Developers! The upcoming IIUG conference is especially for you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Rajesh Govindan, Portfolio Marketing Manager – IBM Informix

If you’re an Informix developer, you’ll want to attend the upcoming IIUG Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s the largest gathering of Informix users in the world. And it’s a great place to improve your skills, learn about new enhancements, and obtain valuable information from professionals who’ve faced and overcome the same challenges that you have.
Last year, the IIUG conference attracted over 400 professionals from throughout the world who joined together in an intensive learning environment that also offered great opportunities for networking, and featured some fun social events. This year’s event promises to be even better!
Industry visionaries from IBM and 3rd party vendors will be on hand for three full days to teach and tell Informix developers how to do their job more efficiently, and what to expect in the way of product improvements.

Then on Thursday, after the conference is over, attendees are invited to participate in FREE in-depth tutorials on Database Administration, Application Development, Security, Cloud offerings, JSON/NoSQL, and Apache Spark.
The International Informix Users Group conference will be held at the Marriott City Center, April 23 to April 27, 2017 in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. If you’d like to know more about the courses and activities at the upcoming IIUG event, visit our web site.  Space is limited for this international event, so be sure to book early!

IBM Informix Roadshow – Is your city on the list?

by Becky Hanenkrat, NA Database and BigData Software Sales

Your job is to know more about Informix than your boss. So it’s time to hit the road and heighten your abilities at the 2017 Informix Roadshow!

We’re featuring a half-day with deep dive sessions presented by experts in the field. You’ll also have the chance to meet with others, like yourself, network, and hear how they’ve resolved the challenges they’ve faced. And the entire event is free…including lunch.

Join us in the morning to learn up-to-date information about the most recent features and functions included in Informix 12.10.xC6, xC7 and the newly released xC8. You’ll get valuable information about the newly integrated full disk encryption technology, as well as the latest features for NoSQL, replication, Administration, and more.

If you’re an Application or Data Architect, Database Administrator, Application Developer or
Line-of Business owner who is evaluating architectural and data server solutions for your corporate environment, this is an event you won’t want to miss.

In February, you can attend the IBM Informix Roadshow in:

·    Kingston, Jamaica
·    Salt Lake City, UT
·    Denver, CO
·    Phoenix, AZ
·    Chicago, IL
·    San Francisco, CA
·    Dallas, TX

If we’re not in a city close to you, we’ll be offering additional events in Canada and the US in March and April, 2017.

Space is limited and participation is popular. So be sure to sign up now to confirm your spot on the road to Informix expertise.

Register  here !

Make fun of your work at Informix Users Group Conference 2017

by Rajesh Govindan- Portfolio Marketing Manager, IBM Informix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re delighted to announce that John Cohn, esteemed IBM engineer, inventor and author will be the keynote speaker at the International Informix Users Group conference. John is not only an innovator immersed in initiatives for IBM’s Watson Internet of Things, he’s also an expert on making fun at your job.
If you’ve ever wanted to stimulate your creativity to improve your performance, you’ll want to see John in action. (Think Albert Einstein after a couple of Red Bulls.) His high-energy enthusiasm and inspirational words will boost your spirit of innovation and adventure, so you’ll return to your office with renewed excitement for your work.
The International Informix Users Group conference will be held at the Marriott City Center, April 23 to April 27, 2017 in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. It will feature three full days of educational sessions for Informix DBAs, developers and managers, plus social events where you can meet with others who’ve encountered and resolved issues that you may be dealing with in your job.
The IIUG conference is the world’s largest gathering of Informix users, and attracted over 400 professionals last year from throughout the world. Enthusiastic participants from Bangalore to Omaha came, learned, and shared at an event geared specifically to their work and their information needs.
If you’d like to know more about this year’s IIUG event, visit our web site. Those who register before January 31st will save their company money with an Early Bird Special that offers $375 off the regular fee.
If you’re planning to attend the event, let us know what it is you’d most like to learn. Leave a comment and we’ll see what we can do to include your ideas at the conference.

Will you join me at the Informix Users Group Conference 2017?

 

 

by Rajesh Govindan, Portfolio Marketing Manager – Informix

Are you interested in improving your Informix skills, learning about new features, and networking with others who have encountered –and resolved –the same challenges that you face? Do you want to become professionally certified on Informix or other IBM Analytics products? Would you like to attend seminars and tutorials that help you develop skills that will increase your value to your organization? Of course you do!

To give you a heads up , next year’s International Informix Users Group conference will be held April 23 to April 27, 2017 in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. There, at Marriott City Center, you’ll enjoy three full days of educational sessions for Informix DBAs, developers and managers. We’ll have several tracks dedicated to specific areas of learning, so you can select which one is best for you.

The IIUG conference is the world’s largest gathering of Informix users. Last year’s event attracted over 400 professionals from throughout the world, and garnered enthusiastic reviews from many who participated.

Hari Ammundi, Senior DBA at Action Net, attended for the first time in 2016, and told us, “The workshops are a wealth of information that I’m going to take back, and I think I’ll be visiting year after year for these functions.”   Hari, we look forward to seeing you again!

If you’d like to learn more about this year’s IIUG event, visit the web site. Those who register before January 31^st will save their company money with an Early Bird Special that offers $375 off the regular fee.

Also, if you’ve got something to teach or talk about, we’re seeking presenters. So drop a note to Bruce Simms at bruce@iiug.org. (Presentations to global audiences look great on performance reviews and resumes!)

This is the premier world event for Informix DBAs, developers and managers. Please join   and together we can ensure IIUG members remain recognized for their professionalism, expertise, and commitment to learning new Informix skills.

 

 

(Did you attend the IIUG event last year? If so, leave a comments to let me know what you enjoyed most at the conference.)

 

Auditing Informix database connections

 

By Inge Halilovic, IBM Analytics Platform

 

Preserving integrity of information and managing compliance control across heterogeneous environments is becoming increasingly critical. IBM Security Guardium has worked with Informix for many years now  and  with Informix 12.10.xc6, you have increased capabilities when you audit the user actions for your Informix database server with IBM Security Guardium, version 10.0. Guardium prevents leaks from databases, ensures the integrity of information, and automates compliance controls across heterogeneous environments.

Guardium can now:

• Mask sensitive data in Informix databases.
• Audit, and close, any Informix connection (if necessary,), regardless of the connection protocol. Previously, Guardium audited and closed only TCP connections.

On the Informix side, you use the new ifxguard utility to monitor connections that are audited by Guardium. Every time a user session attempts an action that is auditable, an ifxguard agent contacts the Guardium server. The Guardium server audits the connection and takes any appropriate action. You can customize the behavior of the ifxguard utility:

• Set the logging mode
• Set the number of ifxguard worker threads to prevent heavy locking

You can enable auditing and set the actions of the database server if the Guardium server does not respond in the timeout period by setting the new IFXGUARD configuration parameter in the onconfig file. For example, if the timeout period is exceeded, the Informix server can allow the client connection without auditing, trigger an alarm, disable auditing altogether, or shut down.

The 2016 IIUG conference will include sessions by experts that cover this topic in greater detail. If you are interested in learning more you can Register for the conference and attend the session on auditing with IBM Security Guardium to find out how to configure auditing for your Informix database server.

The conference will be held from May 4^th – 8^th at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA.  The good news is that IIUG members get Flat $100 off on the registration fees. You can register here – http://bit.ly/iiug2016reg.

Golf, Beaches and Informix – Welcome to Florida!

By Sajan Kuttappa, Marketing Manager – Analytics Platform Services, IBM

IBM Informix has forged new frontiers with its ability to effectively manage large amounts of data from the Internet of Things. You can also seamlessly integrate non-standard data types, with a rich set of APIs including REST, that enhance development simplicity, flexibility and time to market. All of this without compromising on availability, scalability and security which make it the most powerful enterprise class database in the market today

While Informix has evolved over the years to stay in tune with rapid advances in technology, the annual IIUG conference has established itself as the premiere data and analytics conference and the best place to learn about the latest updates from the technology world. The best brains are selected to share their expertise during 3 days of educational sessions that will help the audience develop key skills for career advancement while also providing great networking opportunities with IBM executives, Informix development team and more.

In 2015 we celebrated 20 years of the IIUG and I am sure the emotional moments from the conference held at San Diego last year will be etched in the memories of all those who attended. The 2016 conference will be held from May 4^th – 8^th at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA and the lineup of speakers and sessions looks very promising.

At the home of the PGA tour, you will be served an excellent platter of technical educational sessions that cover everything from the benefits of Hybrid databases, Spark analytics with Informix, Tools and technologies for the world of Internet-of-Things (IoT). You can further benefit from the optional tutorials on May 8^th around database administration, application development and tools on Sunday. Become IBM Informix Certified by taking the IBM Informix Professional Certification exams or almost any other IBM Information Management exam (the first exam is usually free at a savings of about $150).  

Visit www.iiug2016.org for more details and register yourself. Paid registration includes full access to IIUG 2016 from May 4 – 8 including continental breakfast and lunch each day, the Wednesday evening reception and admission to IIUG party on May 5 and 6. IIUG members who register online get $100.00 off registration fees

So get ready to tee off with the best minds in the technology world. Welcome to Florida!

Connected devices and new business engagement models for industries

By   Sajan Kuttappa,  Marketing Manager, Analytics Platform Services

Business strategy expert Michael Porter recently referred to it as the “Third wave of IT innovation”. Not a day passes without articles being published about the multi-billion dollar value that it will help create.

If you are still wondering what this is about…here’s one more hint –  While everyone seems to agree on the impact that this will create not many understand the true shape that this could take in the future.

We are talking about the Internet of Things (IoT) and the promise of an utopian future where connected devices are the norm. As experts will tell you, the IoT as it is popularly called, is not new-to-the-world. In fact it has been around in different forms for many years.

While a few industries like manufacturing are ahead of the curve with adoption of IoT, there are new use cases within other industries where the concept of devices talking to each other over the internet is helping with designing innovative products, tackling inefficiencies within supply chains, improving customer service and more. Businesses of all types – manufacturers, servicing organizations, public utilities, industrial, telecommunications, healthcare providers and more are adopting the use of sensor technology to lower operating costs and increase business value. This is driving the need for instant access to information for speed-of-thought insight and the ability to deliver new services in record time.

Join IBM and Intel for a special event at the IBM Briefing Center in San Jose on August 17th. This half-day event will feature real world solutions using the latest IoT, cloud and analytics technologies. Come and learn how leading edge solutions can be implemented now and take the opportunity to meet the IBM and Intel teams supporting IoT industry solutions.

You can register for the event here – https://ibm.biz/BdXAXK

Bringing Informix Technology to the World’s Fastest Growing Database Market

By Sajan Kuttappa
Social Media Marketing & Communications Manager, IBM

If someone wanted more proof that Informix is technologically a step ahead of competitors, IBM provided evidence in China! Even the hardest cynic would find it difficult to rebuff the fact that the adoption of a locally innovated version of the Informix database for the burgeoning database market in China is a masterstroke

Why Informix over other competitors?

When one of the fastest growing markets in the world embraces Informix over other open source projects, it merits taking a second look (or maybe more) at what differentiates Informix from the rest of the competitors.

Before I begin extolling the virtues of the Informix database you can find details of the deal that was signed between IBM and GBASE here:  GBASE and IBM to collaborate on locally innovated database in China.

IBM Informix is a high-performance Enterprise Class Database that provides you with competitive advantage with its low cost, no administrative overhead, and powerful innovative features like OLTP and OLAP capabilities. Informix offers high availability in a significantly less complex, less expensive manner compared to competition for both distributed and centralized deployments.

Analysts agree that where database infrastructures must meet the challenges of the future, Informix is an obvious candidate. You can read the comparative analysis here.  IBM Informix – The database for high availability and data replication

The Proof of the pudding is in the eating.

A growing database market like China adopting Informix technology to create their locally innovated database is strong reference for the technological superiority of Informix. While a lot has been said about the superior capabilities of the Informix product, this deal will go a long way in reinforcing Informix as the number one reliable and highest performing database for most applications including the “Internet of Things”.

If you would like to stay updated, follow @IBM_Informix on Twitter for the latest Informix announcements, and updates!

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