Informix Software Announces XPS Version 8.31

Informix Corporation, a technology leader in software infrastructure for the i.Economy, announced Extended Parallel Server (XPS) 8.31, the latest version of Informix' industry-leading, high-end database server. XPS 8.31 includes comprehensive data warehousing features that enable Internet and large-scale enterprises to make more profitable decisions from complex, query-intensive analytical applications. XPS provides a "no ceilings" approach to data warehousing, with no limit to database size, number of users, type or complexity of query, or schema design. XPS 8.31 was launched at the Data Warehousing Institute's Best Practices in Data Warehousing and E-business Intelligence Conference in Boston, at Informix' booth No. 110.

"Informix' XPS 8.31 is the foundation for a powerful business intelligence infrastructure, furthering our commitment to providing customers with an active, no limits data warehouse environment," said Jim Foy, senior vice president, Informix. "The automatic query tuning features in this release are particularly valuable, and ensure that the technical sophistication of the data warehouse benefits users and third party application providers, immediately and transparently."

Built to deliver faster performance in real-world environments, XPS 8.31 delivers high-power decision support and ad-hoc query performance. XPS 8.31 is a solution for both operational and historical data with the ability to act as a large-scale data warehouse, an operational data store, an exploration warehouse and a data mart. Enhanced features supported in this latest version consolidate the strengths of XPS as an "active data warehouse," meaning that the database becomes a valuable asset in closed-loop, real-time decision support environments. New features include:

• Mixed query workload management - "User Personalities" can easily be defined by the database administrator, enabling the system to allocate resources intelligently according to requirements. X/Open Support (XA) in this release further enhances the ability of XPS to manage demanding transactional workloads and work with popular transaction monitors.
• Automatic query modification (via the Informix I-Spy monitoring and management tool) - Queries are automatically tuned so as to be executed with optimum performance. Together with mixed query management, this feature enables third party applications to extract maximum power and efficiency from the data warehouse without having to be aware of the specific features of the database.
• Continued performance evolution - A range of sophisticated features that build upon XPS's already impressive performance advantage, including: small table duplication across processing units; automatic memory allocation according to query type; and the ability of the intelligent optimizer to generate "zig-zag" query plans, a technique for mixing join methods to maximize speed of query resolution.

"As a worldwide leader in providing IT solutions for the travel and transportation industry, we required an advanced database server to enable us to efficiently manage large amounts of complex data," said Brad Jenson, senior vice president, Sabre. "XPS 8.31 is the most sophisticated data management solution on the market, allowing Sabre customers to effectively analyze schedule, fare and fare rules, ticketing, industry and government data. It has the flexibility required to support our complex business intelligence model combined with the power and scalability necessary to provide our users with near real-time access to the tens of millions of records loaded daily. The result is our users get better data quicker and with less effort."

Informix' XPS 8.31 is available immeadiately. For more information about XPS 8.31, visit the Informix Web site at www.informix.com.

About Informix' Extended Parallel Server (XPS)

Informix' XPS is a high-end database server that provides customers with the best choice for business-critical enterprise-wide data warehousing. Informix' XPS enables fast data loading and comprehensive data management to support some of the world's largest and most heavily utilized business intelligence environments. Global 2000 companies in a broad range of industries including retail, healthcare, government, telecommunications, finance, and transportation rely on XPS' extensive performance-enhancing technologies to make more profitable, informed, business decisions from complex, query-intensive analytical applications. Informix' XPS provides: no ceilings scalability; optimized query performance in complex, ad hoc environments; fully parallel load functionality; superior data access performance; data skew management tools; and query management tools.

About Informix

Informix Software is a technology leader in software infrastructure and solutions for the Internet. Informix brings a focused set of products and services that integrate e-business and business intelligence on an Internet infrastructure. The Company's highly scalable database engines, in addition to its business intelligence, content management and e-commerce solutions, enable customers to succeed in the new economy. For more information, contact the nearest sales office or visit the Web site at www.informix.com.

Contact Informix Corporation, Melora Foley, 650-926-6443, melora.foley@informix.com.