Informix Embeds Spatial Data Management from ESRI

In a move to make spatial data management a pervasive technology, Informix Corporation, a technology leader in software infrastructure for the i.Economy, will embed spatial data management technology from ESRI, the leader in spatial analysis and geographic information system (GIS) mapping software, in its high performance, fully extensible data and content management platform for e-business applications and services -- Foundation.2000.

This announcement positions Informix to be the first company to deliver open systems-based, embedded, spatial data management on a single platform at no additional cost to its customers, and in doing so, to take the technology beyond the GIS community to penetrate virtually all market segments.

Specifically, ESRI's spatial data management technology will be embedded in the next major release of Informix Dynamic Server.2000 version 9.3, the core database server at the heart of Foundation.2000. The new embedded solution is expected to ship in spring 2001. In the meantime, this fall, Informix will also make the ESRI technology available, at no additional cost, to organizations already running Informix Dynamic Server.2000, version 9.20 or later, and Foundation.2000, version 9.20 or later.

"The Informix and ESRI partnership is one of the year's most significant events in the SIM industry," said David Sonnen, senior consultant for Spatial Information Management at International Data Corporation (IDC). "Embedding spatial types and functions in their core products lets any application access spatial data through standard SQL3 queries. This capability positions Informix to take advantage of the swelling market for combined geospatial, relational and object data. With the market for spatially-enabled business support systems poised to grow at 30 percent annually through 2004(a), the company's integration of spatial and business data on a single, standards-based platform is well timed."

Added Kevin Daugherty, strategic accounts manager at ESRI, "By making spatial data types and functions freely available to all Informix Dynamic Server.2000 and Foundation.2000 users, Informix is pioneering a new generation of business and e-commerce opportunities, while it reinvigorates existing SQL-based applications with support for maps and spatial queries. ESRI looks forward to supplying the tools and applications to help Informix customers build spatially-enabled business support systems and other GIS-enabled solutions."

Continued Michael Stevens, spatial business development manager, i.Foundation business group, Informix, "embedding ESRI's spatial data management technology, Informix will emerge as the first and only company to completely spatially-enable its data and content management platforms at no additional cost to its customers. This opens the door for virtually all users to quickly and easily access the location-oriented information that is vital to business decisions and understanding. It also improves spatial data management performance over middleware-based approaches by fully utilizing our built-in R-tree spatial index, bringing concurrency, parallelism, full transaction support, and recoverability to spatial data."

Informix's forthcoming spatial data management solutions will comprise a number of technologies, including the ESRI spatial types and functions, a Java spatial data viewer, a data loader, and sample data sets. In addition to their immediate collaboration on Informix Dynamic Server.2000 and Foundation.2000, Informix and ESRI will collaborate on advancing spatial data management software according to the standards set by the OpenGIS and ISO/SQLMM Committees.

Informix Displays Spatial Leadership at ESRI Conference

As one of the three platinum sponsors of the Twentieth Annual ESRI International User Conference, June 26 to June 30, Informix hosted a number of show activities and events during the conference, including:

• Informix Technology Review -- An Informix presentation that reveals the advantages of running spatial data management on the Informix platform.
• Ports of Call -- An Australian-themed reception that runs concurrently with the Informix Technology Review, giving conference attendees an opportunity to network and mingle, while enjoying Australian cuisine and libations.
• Daily drawing for a Garmin eMap GPS device
• Daily technology demonstrations, including:
• Market Share Analysis for the Financial Industry -- Using Informix'Visionary executive dashboard as the interface, this demonstration analyzes market share for a fictional bank and reveals the power of combining spatial and business data in a visually intuitive fashion.

Visionary is a graphical development and deployment system that can display extended data types like geospatial data, thereby creating highly visual spatial data management solutions for sound decision-making.

• Geode -- This demonstration of a U.S. Geological Survey Website lets nonexpert GIS users perform spatial queries and analysis, emphasizing Informix's success in Internet-based mapping applications and government solutions.
• General Spatial Demonstrations -- These demonstrations highlight Informix's R-tree spatial index, spatial application development environment, and high performance on spatial and non-spatial queries.

About ESRI

For more than thirty years, ESRI has been a leading developer of geographic information system (GIS) software with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. ESRI also provides consulting, implementation, and technical support services. In addition to its headquarters in California, ESRI has regional offices throughout the United States, international distributors in more than ninety countries, and more than 1,000 resellers and developers. ESRI's goal is to provide users with comprehensive tools to help them quickly and efficiently manage and use geographic information to make a real difference in the world around them. ESRI can be found on the Web at www.esri.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.

Contact Informix Corporation, Alpana Arora 650-926-5802, alpana.arora@informix.com.