RELEASE: Informix Announces Data Warehousing Strategy
William Daul
Partnerships to Provide "Best in Class" Warehouse Solutions
Dynamic Scalable Architecture Ideal Technology
for Information Warehouse
DB EXPO, San Francisco, Calif. (May 24, 1994) -- Informix Software, Inc.,
(NASDAQ: IFMX) the leader in parallel processing database technology for
open systems, today announced its data warehousing strategy to enable
customers to use the INFORMIX(R)-OnLine Dynamic Server(TM) as a core
technology for data warehousing environments.
As part of its data warehousing initiative, Informix today announced a
joint marketing agreement with Prism Solutions to provide data warehouse
management software from Prism for the INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server.
"A data warehouse enables end users to do ad hoc queries and decision
support applications against very large databases of integrated
information, in order to gather pertinent data analysis about their
business," said Steve Sommer, vice president of marketing. "Until the
recent introduction of our parallel processing database technology, no
open systems database product was capable of handling the large databases
that data warehouse applications require. With INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic
Server, there is now a mainstream server product that gives customers the
ability to utilize the price/performance of open systems for data
warehousing."
Informix's Data Warehouse Strategy
Informix recognizes the following six key components as necessary data
warehouse success factors and will be linking its powerful parallel
processing server technology with technologies and services from other
companies to provide a complete open systems-based data warehousing
solution for customers. These key areas of technology and services include:
-Data Modeling -- An analysis that requires selecting pertinent
data from operational source databases and modeling it into a data
warehouse. This analysis is often done internally by the corporation, or
through consultation services.
-Management Tools For Data Extract Transformation and Maintenance
--These software tools automate the process of extracting data from
various sources and place it in the data warehouse database. Informix has
formed InSync relationships with two key vendors in this area, Prism
Solutions, and Carleton Corporation.
-Relational Database Technology -- A successful data warehouse
implementation requires the ability to accumulate and manage large amounts
of data efficiently. This requirement is satisfied by a relational
database management system that is built on parallel technology. Informix
today provides the only core parallel technology with INFORMIX-OnLine
Dynamic Server, that features data partitioning, parallel query, parallel
loading and indexing, and dynamic system management--all important to a
data warehouse environment.
-Open System Hardware Platforms for Data Warehousing -- Informix
has strong relationships with all the hardware vendors who offer scalable
high end open systems hardware solutions--hardware that is essential for
data warehousing. Currently Informix participates in a number of hardware
vendors data warehousing initiatives.
-Data Access Tools -- Effective data access and application
development tools for decision support are needed by customers to provide
data warehouse interfaces and applications. Informix has long-standing
relationships with many key vendors in this area, such as: Business
Objects, Inc., Clear Access/Fairfield Software, Gupta Technologies,
Information Advantage, Inc., Information Builders, Inc., Knowledgeware,
Inc., Powersoft Corporation, Trinzic Corp., and Uniface Corp.
Informix also offers its own products for end user access and
decision support applications, INFORMIX-ViewPoint(TM) and
INFORMIX-HyperScript¨ Tools.
-Consulting Services -- Informix is identifying relationships that
provide complete consultation and integration services for data
warehousing, from accessing business needs, to modeling and tool
recommendations, to deployment strategies.
Relational Database Management With OnLine Dynamic Server
Relational database management is a key component in data warehouse
implementation. In order to maximize the manageability of large volumes of
data in a data warehouse, customers must select a relational database that
can manage data in parallel.
Informix's Dynamic Scalable Architecture(TM), (DSA) the foundation upon
which INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server is built, provides the internal
parallel technology needed for managing large amounts of data in a data
warehouse. This core parallel technology includes features such as data
partitioning, parallel query, parallel loading and indexing, and dynamic
system management--important to data warehousing environments.
INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server's core internal parallel design, enables
complex requests from the user to be routed to multiple CPUs and divides
these tasks into subtasks, essentially giving up to 10 to 30 times the
speedup in a query process.
With OnLine Dynamic Server, customers can increase the number of users
gaining access to a data warehouse, and increase the volume and complexity
of their queries. In order to do this, OnLine Dynamic Server, can be
dynamically scaled to add more processors and disks as the data warehouse
needs evolve and scale.
One major design criteria in developing a data warehouse is the ability to
partition data stored in a warehouse. DSA allows for table partitioning,
which splits data into smaller partitions for improved manageability. Once
the data is partitioned, OnLine Dynamic Server can then leverage its
parallel processing capabilities and deliver queries to users at maximum
speed.
About Informix
Informix Software is the leading supplier of high performance, parallel
processing database technology for open systems. The company's database
servers are the number one choice of computer hardware manufacturers for
publishing Transaction Processing Council (TPC) benchmarks for UNIX-based systems.
Informix products also include application development tools for creating
client/server production applications, decision support systems, and
ad-hoc query interfaces, and connectivity software that allows information
to be shared transparently from PCs to mainframes within the corporate
computing environment.
Informix's corporate headquarters is based in Menlo Park, California.
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William Daul Advanced Support INFORMIX SOFTWARE INC.
4100 Bohannon Dr. (415) 926-6488 - wk
Menlo Park, CA. 94025 uunet!infmx!billd or bi...@informix.com