Know how to read ? Anyone bad mouthing IFMX, can you read ?
This release says it all. The company is on the verge of explosive growth ! Read and you shall see.
New And Existing Customers Build Company's Progress In Strategic Enterprise Market Segments
Informix Corporation (NASDAQ:IFMX), the leading provider of innovative database technology, today announced significant fourth quarter customer sales, signaling renewed customer confidence in the company's strategic enterprise segment focus in high performance OLTP, data warehousing and Web/content management. Fourth quarter customer wins include six leading financial institutions as well as continued solutions-based business with Informix(R) global partners, Baan, PeopleSoft, and SAP. "Our fourth quarter results signal the progress of our focused high-end market emphasis, targeting enterprises which seek competitive advantage through advanced database technology," said Bob Finocchio, chairman and CEO of Informix. "We are encouraged by the support of our customers and increased sales seen in our strategic enterprise segments for high-performance OLTP, data warehousing and Web/content management." Informix today also announced customer momentum in the telecommunications industry with a variety of companies who have purchased Informix technology for their strategic applications. (Editors: See separate press release issued today.) Informix targets three high-end market segments for strategic enterprise applications: high-performance OLTP, data warehousing and Web/content management.
Informix Drives Hi-performance OLTP Database Applications
Significant fourth quarter wins where Informix proved a leader in the high-performance OLTP market include:
-- Arizona State Compensation Fund -- sells workers compensation
insurance to businesses within the state of Arizona. Arizona State
Compensation Fund is a first time customer who purchased Informix
Dynamic Server(tm) and its application development tool, INFORMIX-Data
Director(tm) for Visual Basic, to manage their imaging and
workflow-based claims processing application. The host-based system
runs on an HP9000 where nine districts will process claims information
to be managed centrally. The application will manage all documents,
forms, claims and information for a claimant, routed in a workflow
environment all the way down to the payment of medical bills.
"In our reference checks for Informix and Oracle, we chose
Informix over Oracle for two reasons," said Pat O'Keefe, data
resources and technology integration manager. "One, their product was
technically faster, and two, Informix received high marks from other
customers for their customer service and support."
-- Cavendes Financial Group -- in Venezuela is implementing a
centralized "Universal Bank" application that aims to increase sales
and lower the cost of doing business while improving customer service.
The application allows Cavendes' disparate financial groups to
consolidate their products and services to be sold through one central
bank location and to distribute information to eleven bank branches.
The OLTP application will be running Informix Dynamic Server on
Data General hardware with the financial package, SIF from Grupo PISA,
at the central location. Branches will be running Informix Dynamic
Server, Workgroup Edition(tm) running Windows NT.
-- Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais -- in Brazil, CEMIG is a
public company that supplies energy to the entire state of Minas
Gerais. They are developing a customer service center application with
Informix Dynamic Server for Windows NT and HP UNIX. The application
will allow customers to obtain information on their energy
consumption.
-- Core Pacific Securities Corporation -- in Taiwan is one of the
top five securities and finance companies in the country. After a two
year evaluation, Informix was selected as their key long-term partner
for database management systems to Core Pacific's country-wide
operation and business system. Core Pacific replaced Sybase with
Informix Dynamic Server for their future commodity application in
December 1997.
Informix, together with partner Systex & ProYoung, provided a
total solution, including application, database, consulting, network
management, and technical services to Core Pacific headquarters and
their five remote sites. The application is a full accounting system,
general ledger, accounts payable, receivables, balance checking,
tracking, and billing system. The application also administers
commission calculation, sales, and marketing and cost analysis.
-- Banco Hipotecario Nacional -- located in Argentina, Banco
Hipotecario has chosen Informix for their database to manage their
home mortgage loan application. Banco Hipotecario is replacing their
core system running on an IBM host system and moving to Informix
Dynamic Server running Windows NT. The new system will run their
central office and 24 branches over each state in Argentina.
-- Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy -- in Poland is an investment,
commercial and retail bank who purchased Informix products in the
fourth quarter to manage their central banking system.
Other significant wins in the fourth quarter in the
high-performance OLTP market segment include: Instituto de Seguridat y
Servicios Sociales para os Trabajadores del Estado (ISSTE, Government
Workers Social Services Institute in Mexico); Fric Rot Tenneco in
Argentina; JC Whitney Company in Chicago; Point P, and Informatique &
Communication in France; and the following companies in Germany:
Bundesfinanzministerium and Deutscher Paket dienst.
Informix Leads The Way In Web and Content Management
Informix continues to drive new and existing business in Web and
content management with customers such as:
-- Egghead -- Informix, along with partner Fort Point Partners
Inc., a San Francisco-based electronic commerce consulting firm,
expanded their technology support for Egghead Computer's high-volume
e-commerce Web site.
Fort Point Partners will be adding Informix Dynamic Server with
Universal Data Option(tm) and the next generation of Informix's Web
Integration Option(tm) to Egghead's current e-commerce Web site
environment (www.egghead.com) in order to manage its rapid growth and
increasing popularity.
The Egghead Web site, designed and built with the support of Fort
Point Partners and based on Informix's database technology, is among
the most frequently visited commerce sites on the Internet, according
to Media Metrix, The PC Meter Company.
-- Radio Televisione Italiana (RAI) -- the Italian national
radio-television broadcasting corporation is using Informix to create
a digital archive of its extensive library of programming and related
media. Informix Dynamic Server with Universal Data Option will enable
RAI to reconstruct an extensive catalog of all broadcast material and
transfer film, sound, photographs and text from RAI archives into a
large, easily accessible digital media library for consultation,
production and post-production purposes.
-- National Stock Exchange (NSE) -- in India is the premier stock
exchange and has been a pioneer in the area of information technology
deployment. NSE has also been a pioneer in the implementation of
Internet technology. NSE's requirements are to provide the investor
community, its members and the companies being traded on the exchange
with a world-class web site that will provide real-time quotes and
other sources of relevant information.
NSE strongly believes that the foundation of their Web site
should be in a powerful, scalable and extensible implementation of Web
technology, using an industrial strength RDBMS to enable the advanced
requirements of NSE for servicing the broker and investor community.
NSE chose Informix Dynamic Server with the Web Integration Option
and Informix partner, DBS Internet, to provide a total solution that
meets NSE's requirements.
"Informix continued to play offense, rather than defense, in the
quarter," said Finocchio. "We aggressively built on our legacy of
technology leadership and innovation in areas such as the Web. Our new
Data Director for Web, a development tool that makes it easier for
database and Web developers to create Web applications and manage Web
sites, is an exciting new solution for this high-growth area of the
database market."
Other customer business wins in the fourth quarter for Web and
content management include ANPE and Mag Info in France.
Informix Makes Strong Gains In Enterprise Data Warehouse Market
Informix continues to make strong gains in the data warehouse
market segment and won business in the fourth quarter with the
following companies:
-- Fidelity Investments -- the leading provider of mutual funds and other financial services, recently signed an additional agreement for 4,000 licenses of Informix Dynamic Server for a major call center project in Fidelity's retail organization. -- First Union Corporation -- based in Charlotte, N.C., is the sixth-largest bank in the U.S. First Union signed a substantial contract with Informix in the fourth quarter. The agreement expands First Union's use of Informix Dynamic Server with Extended Parallel Option(tm) and will expand the corporate data warehouse to a size of several terabytes of customer information. First Union's data warehouse will be used to more precisely target the bank's marketing efforts and customer relationship-building efforts. "We are pleased with the flexibility and capabilities that Informix gives us," said Al Sale, First Union's executive vice president of marketing and strategic planning. First Union's Executive Vice President of Automation and Operations Austin Adams said, "Informix's software is a key reason we are able to build a data warehouse of this size and scope." -- American Medical Association (AMA) -- is a voluntary membership organization of physicians which sets standards for the profession of medicine in areas such as education, and medical policy that affect the fabric of American medicine and patient care. In the fourth quarter AMA purchased Informix Dynamic Server and Informix consulting services to construct AMA's data warehouse as part of the organization's AIMS Project. The AIMS Project is a strategic initiative to provide the enabling technology that will allow the AMA to enhance service to their members and will be considered a strategic asset, helping to shape and support the activities of the AMA well into the 21st century. The data warehouse will initially be used for marketing analysis, data extracts, physician profiles, and mail list processing. "Informix has been a primary vendor for us and we continue to purchase their technology because we feel it is state-of-the-art and surpasses the competition," said Kevin Lutz, director of data architecture at AMA. -- Hana Bank -- in Korea, selected Informix Dynamic Server with Extended Parallel Option for their Strategic Information System (SIS). The SIS data warehouse will manage the rapidly changing financial and credit information about Hana Bank customers worldwide. SIS will analyze customer data for marketing and sales purposes with the intent to deliver better service and increase bank profits. SIS is scheduled to be in production in the first half of 1998. -- Standard Chartered Bank -- in the U.K. purchased Informix Dynamic Server and SUN Microsystems hardware for a Global Risk Management System. -- Health Care Hawkes Bay -- in New Zealand is a Crown Health Enterprise or government body that is using Informix products to build a data warehouse to consolidate and report on disparate information from its different centers. The initial system is for the Emergency Department and will grow to include other cost centers. Other significant wins in the fourth quarter in the data warehouse market segment include Whitbread in the U.K. and France Printemps in France.
Informix Goes After Solutions-based Business With Global Partners
Informix pursued solutions-based business with its Global partners in the fourth quarter which included such customers as:
-- The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) -- in Australia
is a media organization and national broadcaster. Its broadcast
services include radio, television and, more recently, the Internet.
The ABC is a new customer for Informix and was selected to run SAP's
R/3 Financial and Human Resources Modules to help ABC improve the
management and cost savings of its business support functions. The
SAP/Informix solution will ultimately support all ABC staff of up to
4500 ad hoc users at approximately 56 sites.
"We chose Informix for the current SAP project based on the
products' price performance and reputation, but with a long-term view
of making use of its audio and video storage capabilities to meet
ABC's multimedia needs," said Christine Rogers, general manager,
Information Technology Services at ABC. "In this area, the
architecture of Informix was a deciding factor."
-- SpeedFam International, Inc. -- in Arizona is a multimillion
dollar leader in designing, marketing, manufacturing and supporting
state-of-the-art flat surface processing technologies and related
products. SpeedFam Corporation, a subsidiary of SpeedFam International
Inc., purchased Informix to run SAP's full suite of ERP modules. The
SAP/Informix solution will run on HP9000 systems centrally supported
out of SpeedFam's corporate headquarters in Chandler, Ariz.
"We have used Informix in the past and were already familiar with
the quality of their technology," said Michael J. Revenew, MIS manager
at SpeedFam. "Essentially, we chose Informix over Oracle8 because we
think it is technically a better product."
-- Arcor -- in Argentina is a billion dollar worldwide supplier
of confections products. They have chosen Informix for the corporate
database running their internal systems including an intranet and
distribution system using PeopleSoft on Windows NT. Arcor also is
using Informix for their data warehousing applications. They replaced
Oracle with Informix for managing their manufacturing data and they
also replaced their Microsoft database with Informix.
-- Votorantim Group -- in Brazil, is the largest national holding
company for the mining, steel, energy, cellulose, and paper
industries. This group has nine main companies from which one of them,
Votorantim Mineracao e Metalurgia, recently purchased Informix
technology. Votorantim Mineracao e Metalurgia purchased the Informix
Dynamic Server with the Baan ERP Solution.
"We bought the Informix database due to its superior performance,
and also because we believe they have a strong partnership base with
the leading ERP companies," said Robson Alves de Camargo, information
technology consultant at Votorantim Mineracao e Metalurgia.
-- Cerveceria y Malteria Quilmes -- in Argentina is a beer
producer and distributor. Informix won new business with this customer
in the fourth quarter over Oracle due to Informix pre-sales and
post-sales support. The new system is planned to run SAP and Informix
with more than 600 concurrent users on IBM hardware.
Informix and ISV Partner, EXE Leverage Key Deals
Informix also continued to do substantial business with ISV
partner, EXE Technologies, Inc., a world leader in global supply chain
execution software. EXE Technologies helped Informix close several new
transactions in the quarter, including PETsMART, a pet supply
superstore; Tru-Serv, a hardware store chain; CompUSA, a nationwide
computer retailer; and Provigo, Inc., a retailer located in Toronto,
Canada.
Mike Marvis, vice president of worldwide marketing stated,
"Informix has been an integral partner in the success of the Exceed.ux
platform (EXE's Unix platform)." |
