NetApp/Informix Announce BI Partnership

Network Appliance Inc, a leading provider of network-attached data access and content management solutions, and Informix Corporation, a technology leader in software infrastructure for the i.Economy, announced a business intelligence partnership. Together, these industry leaders are working to test and develop technology that addresses the increasing workloads of Internet, data warehousing, and decision-support environments. As part of recent research and testing, Informix has certified Network Appliance (NetApp) storage appliances, also known as "filers," for deployment in Informix database environments.

"To best meet our customers' information access requirements, we needed a high- capacity network storage solution that could be integrated with our Informix database environment," said Earl Atwood, IT manager, Wyoming Department of Revenue. "The NetApp storage solution we chose allowed us to migrate several years of archived document images from an optical platter subsystem to magnetic storage. Data retrieval is now almost instantaneous regardless of the age of the archived document, and the storage solution is very scalable and easy to administer. In addition to image storage and retrieval, we are using the NetApp solution to centralize scheduled system backups from various UNIX computers on our network, saving our operations staff significant amounts of time."

Joint Informix and NetApp customers greatly benefit from the certification with the assurance of a simple, scalable, zero downtime, backup solution for mission-critical database environments. Optimized for network access and retrieval, NetApp filers provide optimal performance, reliability, and ease of management for UNIX, Windows NT, and Web environments. Ranked number one by Dataquest in a 1999 study, Network Appliance offers Informix a reliable and reputable storage infrastructure with more than 60 percent market share for end-user spending.

"Database requirements in the e-business marketplace require solutions that are easy to deploy, manage, and scale," said Steve Weick, senior vice president and group executive, i.Foundation business group, Informix. "Our certification of NetApp is a direct result of its ability to deftly handle high volumes of data and support rapid growth in Informix-powered databases and applications on the Web."

"With the growing need for reliable and highly scalable storage solutions in the e-business environment, our NetApp solutions are the perfect fit for Informix," said Mark Santora, senior vice president of marketing at Network Appliance. "NetApp storage solutions empower Informix databases with the high performance and manageability they need to meet the ever increasing demands of the Internet."

About Network Appliance

Network Appliance, a veteran in network file serving and caching, has been providing data access solutions since 1992, and is a member of both the S+P 500 and NASDAQ 100 index. Major corporations and ISPs, including Lycos, Yahoo!, Citicorp Securities, Siemens, Lockheed, Cisco, Motorola, and Texas Instruments have deployed NetApp solutions. NetApp Internet caching solutions (NetCache appliances) and file servers (filers) deliver fast, simple, reliable and cost-effective access to network-stored data and enable simultaneous shared file services for UNIX, Windows NT, and the World Wide Web.

The company pioneered the concept of the "network appliance," an extension of the industry trend toward dedicated, specialized products that perform a single function. Network Appliance filers and NetCache appliances are based on the company's innovative data access software known as the Data ONTAP operating system and standards-compliant hardware. More information is available at www.netapp.com.

About Informix

Informix Software is a technology leader in software infrastructure solutions for the Internet--providing a fast, simple and complete way to bring businesses to the Web. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Informix is the first and only company to integrate e-commerce and business intelligence on a true Internet infrastructure. The company's highly scalable Web engines, together with its personalized content management, real-time analytics and media asset management capabilities, offer customers a unique competitive advantage. For more information, contact the nearest sales office or visit the Web site at www.informix.com.