Informix linux download

Informix decides to throw hat in Linux OS ring

SEATTLE, Wash. -- Informix Inc. is sticking a toe into the Linux pond before deciding whether to take a deep plunge.

At its annual international user group meeting here last month, the company announced its mid-range Informix-SE database is now available on Linux, the free version of the Unix operating system popular in universities, price-sensitive businesses and some government departments.

It joins other vendors who believe Linux's reliability and scalability is an alternative to Windows NT for some products.

However, the company is holding back porting its flagship enterprise product, Dynamic Server, to Linux partly to see what the response is to the Informix-SE version, but also because Linux's threading capability and some other functions aren't powerful enough yet. By contrast, Oracle has announced it will port Oracle8 to Linux -- but not until later this year. Informix-SE for Linux is available now.

Linux is "clearly is just learning what it takes to play in the enterprise market," said Diane Fraiman, Informix vice-president of marketing.

"There is some immaturity to it," one reason why competitors can't ship product today. But she said Informix is helping to bring it together.

"As that function surfaces in Linux, we can get our other products in that marketplace within 90 to 120 days," claimed Mike Sarana, the company's senior vice-president for product management. Those are the products Informix will charge for, Fraiman said.

Shawn Dagg, a Richmond, Ont., application developer for a U.S. consulting firm and member of the Informix International User Group board, called the SE announcement "extremely significant." Informix users have been asking for a Linux product for some time, he said, adding that SE is a "new choice for lower-end environments."

One of the advantages, he said, is that developers can now use an inexpensive Linux-run computer to show what Informix products can do on a Unix platform.

While none of his clients have been asking for Informix on Linux, Dagg can foresee selling it to companies such as small retail chains which want a complex database application but can't afford a Unix machine.

Informix-SE is an SQL-based database engine for small-to-medium-range applications, according to the company. In addition to SE for Linux, developers can also download Informix's SQL toolkit called ESQL/C, and I-Connect, a runtime version of ESQL/C.

There are two groups Informix has in mind: Linux small business users and Informix SE users on other platforms. Fraiman admitted there's a risk developers will take SE for Linux with no revenue to the company. But, she added, "if the Linux force is what's going to be the third piece of the puzzle between the Unix and NT front then we have to be there.

"The really important thing to me, which does have a revenue opportunity in the long run, is that ultimately this is going to breed a whole new generation of Informix users."