More IFMX News.....
Universally Recognized "Fathers of Data Warehousing" to Keynote at
Upcoming Informix User Conference
Bill Inmon and Ralph Kimball to Share Industry Perspectives with
Attendees of Informix's Solutions Portal '99
MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 1999-- Informix® Corporation, (NASDAQ:IFMX
- news) the technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, is pleased to announce that the
two founding fathers of data warehousing will be keynote speakers at the upcoming Solutions Portal(tm)
'99, the company's annual worldwide user conference.
Bill Inmon and Ralph Kimball will be sharing their perspectives on the changes in data warehousing at
Solutions Portal '99 which will be held in San Diego at the San Diego Conference Center, July 19-22.
The conference is expected to draw an attendance of over 2,000 business and technology professionals
who will have the opportunity to learn about the complete portfolio of Informix smart solutions for
transactions, data warehousing/data marts, and the Internet, as well as those of Informix's world class
partners.
''It is a tremendous honor for Informix to host Bill Inmon and Ralph Kimball at Solutions Portal '99,''
commented Leonard Palomino, vice president and general manager for the Data Warehousing Division of
Informix Software. ''Their presence at the conference, combined with value packed educational
seminars and exciting Informix news announcements will make Solutions Portal '99 the place to be this
summer to pick up smart strategies for the future.''
''These two speakers are a perfect fit for Solutions Portal '99 as they represent the two dominant
schools of thought in data warehousing,'' said Bob Walters, vice president, business development of the
data warehousing division at Informix. ''Bill Inmon is a strong supporter of the hub and spoke
architecture in data warehouse construction. This architecture has been adopted by many of our largest
customers. Ralph Kimball is a proponent of the dimensional approach which the Red Brick®-enriched
Informix product line can also support. Our customers will hear both perspectives at Solutions Portal
'99, allowing them to decide which architecture best meets their data warehousing needs.''
About Bill Inmon
As founder of Pine Cone Systems, Inc., Bill Inmon is responsible for the high-level design of Pine Cone
products and the architecture of planned and future products. He has over 26 years of database
technology management experience and data warehouse design expertise, and has published 36 books and
more than 350 articles in major computer journals. Inmon's books have been translated into nine
languages. He is recognized around the world for his seminars on developing data warehouses and has
been a keynote speaker for every major computing association. Before founding Pine Cone Systems,
Inmon co-founded Prism Solutions. He also worked for American Management Systems, Inc. and Coopers
Lybrand.
About Ralph Kimball
Ralph Kimball is the founder of Red Brick Systems and has made significant contributions to advances in
DSS architecture. He was also co-inventor of the Xerox workstation, the first commercial product to
use mice, icons, and windows. A leading proponent of the dimensional approach to designing large data
warehouses, Kimball currently teaches data warehousing design skills to large IS groups and helps
selected clients with specific data warehouse designs. His book ''The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit'' is considered a must-have reference for anyone working in the field. Kimball is also a columnist
for DBMS Magazine. Prior to founding Red Brick Systems, he was vice president of applications at
Metaphor Computer Systems, an early pioneer in DW/DSS solutions.
For additional information about Solutions Portal '99, please visit informix.com
==============
SKECHERS Chooses Informix i.SELL To Drive E-commerce Business At
Footwear 'Company of the Year'
Informix E-commerce Solution Gets SKECHERS to the Web Fast, Enables
Integrated Marketing Across Catalog and Web
MENLO PARK, Calif.--June 7, 1999--Informix® Corporation (NASDAQ:IFMX - news), the technology
leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, today announced that in the second quarter of this
year, SKECHERS USA, Inc., one of the world's hottest footwear companies, selected Informix
i.Sell(TM) as the e-commerce solution to drive the company's online store.
Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, SKECHERS is in the process of implementing i.Sell,
Informix's complete end-to-end e-commerce offering, running on multiple Sun Microsystems servers.
The i.Informix consulting group is assisting in the implementation.
Founded in 1992, SKECHERS has established itself as a widely-recognized and respected brand,
recently winning the award for Company of the Year from the footwear industry's leading trade
publication. In order to offer consumers 24x7 access to merchandise and to broaden the company's
customer reach, SKECHERS launched its online store, skechers.com, in 1998. SKECHERS chose the
Informix i.Sell solution to offer consumers superior shopping experiences through dynamic online
catalogs, and to improve customer service through better integration with their fulfillment processes.
''Selecting i.Sell was a no-brainer for us,'' stated Clay Irving, MIS director at SKECHERS. ''We
have been using Informix database technology throughout the company for five years and consider their
technology to be 'hands down,' the best out there. Our business has grown considerably over the years
and Informix has scaled right along with us. To choose Informix as our Web-based solution was the only
logical thing to do.''
Currently, the company's Web site displays approximately 25 percent of the company's total
merchandise to online customers, and relies on weekly, manual updates to reconcile the site's content with
actual product availability. SKECHERS plans to integrate i.Sell with their apparel distribution
application, developed and implemented by Informix partner Garpac Corporation, to provide end-to-end
e-commerce order fulfillment. i.Sell will then allow SKECHERS to showcase and catalog its entire
inventory - every shoe style, size, and color - on the Web. i.Sell will also provide customers with
real-time product availability information through its integration with Garpac's apparel distribution
system.
The skechers.com Web site is intended to be a complement to and an extension of the company's mail
order catalog, SKECHERS BY MAIL, with its trend-setting presentation. The SKECHERS BY MAIL
catalog is produced and distributed quarterly, with a new look to reflect each season's style. The
company aims to launch the new Web site simultaneously with the fall catalog release in August.
Added Melanie Robins, i.Sell marketing director at Informix, ''SKECHERS has an incredibly aggressive
timeframe to go live with their new site. Only i.Sell, with its fixed delivery offering, can get SKECHERS
up and running in time for their next catalog drop in August.''
Ongoing, i.Sell will allow SKECHERS to easily change their Web site as often as they like, as well as
remain consistent with their mail order catalog. i.Sell separates the content from the page design by
using Web page templates for the look and feel of the catalog, while storing the catalog information in
the database. Changing the catalog is as easy as changing the design of the templates, since the Web page
content is generated dynamically. Using templates greatly simplifies and speeds the process of
redesigning the entire Web site.
In a future phase of the i.Sell implementation at SKECHERS, the company plans to use the e-commerce
solution to offer personalized merchandizing to its online visitors - in the form of frequent shopper
discount programs, limited-time-only promotions, targeted merchandising, and other customer services.
About Informix i.Sell
Informix i.Sell is a fixed-priced e-commerce solution that can dramatically improve the ability of
businesses to generate higher revenue from the Web. Informix i.Sell allows companies to get to the Web
fast, enhance their customers' online shopping experience, improve customers' loyalty and secure repeat
business. Informix i.Sell leverages Informix's world class technology and database expertise to allow
for the profiling and delivery of rich content and builds the foundation for true one-to-one marketing.
The Informix i.Sell solution is a complete end-to-end e-commerce offering that combines the most
powerful database transaction engine, Informix Dynamic Server(TM), with best-of-breed e-commerce
application suites, i.Informix enterprise consulting services or certified i-Informix partner services,
and global support. (Note to editors: see related Informix announcements dated April 13, 1999.)
About SKECHERS
SKECHERS USA, Inc., a Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based company, designs, develops and markets lifestyle
footwear for men, women and children. Its products, known for their comfortable outsoles and edgy
designs, are found in top retailers in more than 125 countries and territories throughout the world.
===============
Arrow Factory Stores Collar Retail Solution Based on Apropos and
Informix
Complete Suite of Informix-Based Apropos Systems to Improve POS, Back
Office Operations for Well-Known Shirt Manufacturer and Retailer
SEATTLE and MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 1999-- Apropos Retail Management
Systems Inc., the leading provider of software for chain retail management for small and mid-size chain
retailers, and Informix® Corporation (Nasdaq:IFMX - news), the technology leader in enterprise
database-powered solutions, today announced that the complete suite of Informix-based Apropos retail
systems has been selected and is currently being deployed by Arrow Factory Stores, the well-known
shirt manufacturer and subsidiary of the Cluett American Group.
Arrow will use the Informix-based Apropos solution to improve in-store and back office operations at
its 28 store locations in the United States and Canada, as well as its corporate headquarters in Atlanta.
To date, Arrow's 25 United States stores and its Atlanta headquarters are up and running on Apropos,
and the company's three Canadian stores will be in production by the end of July.
''With Informix and Apropos, we can finally manage the data, whereas the data managed us in our
previous system,'' said Sam Moore, retail systems manager for Arrow.
''Now, we can take advantage of the Informix relational database that underpins Apropos to see the
data in any way we want. For example, we can look at sales for anything -- any region, any store, any
range of dates, any part of the merchandise hierarchy -- it's fantastic. We expect Apropos to deliver
significant bottom line benefits, including cost savings associated with faster information delivery, as
well as increased revenues due to better decision making.''
Informix and Apropos Hit Retail Target at Arrow
Developed with Informix Dynamic 4GL, the Apropos suite serves as the foundation for in-store and back
office operations for Arrow. The company uses Apropos Store Manager to handle all in-store
operations, including point-of-sale, merchandise transfers, physical inventory, in-store analysis, customer
capture and profiling, store merchandise receiving, and markdowns, and markdown confirmations.
Each of Arrow's stores will run Apropos Store Manager in conjunction with an Informix database
running on an SCO OpenServer-based Compaq server.
Meanwhile, Arrow uses Apropos Corporate System and Apropos3 Data Warehouse to automate and
expedite back office operations and decision making at its Atlanta headquarters. Running Informix
Dynamic Server(TM) on a multiprocessor Compaq server under SCO OpenServer, Apropos Corporate
System handles Arrow's inventory control, purchasing, sales analysis, mail order processing, distribution
center management, merchandise management, loss prevention and security, and wholesale order
processing.
Based on Informix MetaCube® ROLAP Option, Apropos3 Data Warehouse brings an entirely new level
of data analysis capabilities to Arrow, including the ability of managers, buyers, planners, and
executives to ask free-form questions of the Apropos3 Data Warehouse and get answers quickly,
accurately, and reliably. The Apropos3 Data Warehouse at Arrow runs on Informix Dynamic Server via
a Windows NT-based server from Hewlett-Packard.
To tie together Arrow's stores and corporate office, the company uses Apropos Intranet to instantly
disseminate reports, graphs, and other data from its Apropos Retail Management System to their
corporate employees, stores, vendors, and customers.
''We looked at just about every available Unix-based retail solution on the market,'' said Moore. ''No
other system could rival the power and elegance of the Informix/Apropos solution, which gives us
one-stop shopping from point-of-sale to decision support. That's why we selected the Apropos Retail
Management System for our mission-critical business operations.''
Further explained Kent McNall, president of Apropos, ''We're delighted that Arrow selected our
Informix-based solution. Emerging as the winner in Arrows' exhaustive evaluation, which pitted us
against Oracle and others, validates all the effort we've put into tightly integrating Informix
technologies with Apropos to make it a robust, comprehensive solution for small and mid-size chain
retailers.''
According to Kenneth Leung, global retail industry manager for Informix, ''Since 1989, Informix and
Apropos have worked hand-in-hand to deliver high performance, easy-to-use retail management solutions
that address a retailer's needs in the stores and the back office. By integrating our leading-edge
database, relational OLAP, and programming language technologies into its retail solutions, Apropos has
created an unparalleled value proposition for Arrow.''
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