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To: limit who wrote (9705)	2/24/1998 6:56:00 PM
From: Lou	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14631

Informix focusing on high-end apps, says CEO /reposter By Paul Krill InfoWorld Electric Posted at 12:33 PM PT, Feb 24, 1998 MILLBRAE, Calif. -- Informix, as the linchpin of its revival strategy, is conceding the low-end Windows NT database market to Microsoft and instead plans to sell databases for high-end applications in online transaction processing (OLTP) and data warehousing as well as for database- driven Web sites, said Robert Finocchio Jr., the struggling company's president and CEO. Hosting a breakfast with the media here this morning, Finocchio also said the company does not want to imitate rival Oracle, which has been involved in diversions such as enterprise applications and promoting a thin-client-based network computing paradigm. The low-end, shrink-wrapped database marketplace is cornered by Microsoft, Finocchio said. "Like it or not, I'm not going to compete with Microsoft there," Finocchio said. Although Informix last year announced plans to boost efforts to sell Windows NT databases -- something that Oracle has succeeded at doing -- Finocchio said the new battle plan still makes room for selling to higher-end NT users. Informix hopes to build a stronger channel for NT sales. High-end Unix environments also are critical, he noted. Although Informix has not yet made money on selling its object-relational database product, the Universal Data Option to Informix Dynamic Server, growth is anticipated, Finocchio said. This product is being used in applications such as Web site development and Internet commerce, he said. He reiterated past Informix pronouncements that the company has a technological lead in this area. "Most of our competitors have just given lip service to this kind of functionality," Finocchio said. Informix wants to differ from Oracle, both in attitude and in database focus, Finocchio said. "We want to be aggressive like Oracle, but we don't want to be arrogant like Oracle," Finocchio said. Finocchio also said pursuit of the client/server applications market dominated by companies such as Baan and PeopleSoft presents limited opportunities because of pricing pressures. "Those applications really don't stress database technology underneath them that much," Finocchio said. Although Informix lost $357.3 million last year, the company had a profitable fourth quarter after cutting 1,000 jobs and shutting down some offices in 1997. The company had a net income of $9.2 million and an operating profit of $17.8 million for the quarter. Finocchio said the company changed its selling strategy to focus on smaller, more frequent transactions, rather than the long-term, discount-laden deals that had burdened the bottom line previously. Finocchio said he did not anticipate Informix being the target of an acquisition. from------- infoworld.com