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IBM Informix

Score9.6 out of 10

16 Reviews and Ratings

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What is IBM Informix?

Informix is an embedded relational database offering from IBM.

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Who Buys & Uses IBM Informix

IBM Informix Reviews

What users are saying about IBM Informix.
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IBM Informix is an Effective Cloud Platform for the Multiple Services Automation.

Incentivized
Edger LoredoView profile
Project Manager in Engineering at Keyway (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

IBM Informix is an excellent Cloud solution with flexible capabilities and a very reliable solution for large project data management. The data protection and effective data migration functions on IBM Informix are very amazing and the end results services quality is effective. The interface configuration and easy data analytics creation of IBM Informix is fantastic.

Pros

  • The SQL capability is effective.
  • Project management is very simple.
  • Data transfer speed is profitable.

Cons

  • No major on this system just the security setting.
  • Big data transfer slows performance.
  • Ability to manage huge amount of different data type requires a professional.

Most Important Features

  • The data mining tools.
  • Cloud services management features.
  • Ability to create real time data analytics.

Return on Investment

  • IBM Informix has been an helpful data migration platform.
  • The best data mining and data extraction functionalities are very reliable and easy to collect feedback.
  • Cloud services Automation and great Orchestration platform.

Alternatives Considered

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, IBM Process Mining and SAP Analytics Cloud

Other Software Used

Veeam ONE, Linode, Teamcenter

Reliable Database Management

Sylvia BeningView profile
Customer Service Consultant in Customer Service at T-Mobile (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Informix brings our team the best functionality, openness and reliability for our customers, and allows developers and customers to avoid having cumbersome time configuring. Managing huge amounts of different data with rapid retrieval process. Informax also helps us in project management with its hybrid data capabilities.We can provide our customers with customized information and datas.

Pros

  • Data management
  • Hybrid data capabilities
  • Project management

Cons

  • The support system.
  • Efficiency when working with remote databases.
  • Public integration with open source softwares.

Most Important Features

  • Open admin tool
  • Client Software development
  • Datablade developers kit

Return on Investment

  • Enhanced decision making
  • Improved cost management
  • Revenue growth

Alternatives Considered

MariaDB Platform

Other Software Used

Oracle MySQL Cloud Service, MariaDB Platform, Neptune DX Platform

A point of view on Informix IDS and tools

Hamza ZianiView profile
Informix Consultant in Information Technology at Self Employed (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I've started working with Informix l as a developer. It was a very interesting experience as Informix 4gl is a very good development tool. It consists of two parts: One part for designing screens and another part for writing code that easily uses these screens to form a complete business application including a report engine that lets you create reports very easily. After that, I've started working on IDS version 7 as an administrator. I've discovered a powerful engine with a unique architecture that runs as an operating system where you can tune every part of this incredible machine, starting with its virtual processors and ending with flexible disk storage. Informa IDS is multithreaded (is there any other DB engine that can do the same?). I've also had an exciting experience with Genero, a development tool that can take your Informix 4gl application and change its text interface to a graphical one and deploy it on a web server. Instead of rewriting your 4gl code with any framework, just load it on Genero studio and see the result. Actually, if you try to develop the same application with another framework, it will cost you a lot without success.

Pros

  • Can manage very small to very big databases
  • It's easy to administer, tune it and let it go!!!
  • It's very stable, especially if you choose to install it on Unix/Linux machines.

Cons

  • Improve marketing. People don't know what they can gain by choosing Informix IDS and tools

Most Important Features

  • Datavbase managment

Return on Investment

  • All positive

Informix, still the RDBMS of choice among those who have used it.

Incentivized
Art S. KagelView profile
President and Principal Consultant at ASK Database Management (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Industry leading OLTP performance.
  • Excellent Data Warehouse performance from the basic engine. Outstanding Data Warehouse performance from the Informix Warehouse Accelerator module.
  • Best embedability among major RDBMS systems.
  • Scalable from the smallest Raspberry PI up to the largest monolithic systems and out to dozens of distributed nodes.
  • Hybrid data capabilities to merge relational data with time seriesv, geospacial data, JSON data and other non-traditional data types with performance comparable or better than systems dedicated to those data types.

Cons

  • Honestly, not much. IBM and HCL have excellent product feature feedback mechanisms with an online system for users to offer feature improvements and suggestions. Many are incorporated in new releases. The latest includes two such user suggested features for example.

Return on Investment

  • Informix typically requires fewer DBAs and less time spent by DBA staff on operational and maintenance operations permitting them to concentrate on other issues and reducing ROI.

Alternatives Considered

Oracle Database, SAP Sybase IQ, Ingres and solidDB

Usability

The Basal Stone.

Incentivized
Andrés RepossiView profile
Principal Architect / DBA Team Leader in Information Technology at Sociedad Militar (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Informix since its conception has a distinct multi-threading architecture no other engine has, it is unique of its kind. This is precisely how the engine is able to scale up like no other, with the lowest footprint, without killing the host and profiting each bit of the hardware. The threads are sub-proceses like any other one, but the difference is that they are are not controlled by the OS process dispatcher. This is why you will never be able to see these threads running at OS level. Informix is an OS itself, on top of the OS.
  • Informix has the best replication techniques. Not many ppl know that MongoDB (the NoSQL engine) scales out because of its data sharding replication technology, and Informix is able to store Mongo BSON documents using the same data partitioning as MongoDB does. This way Informix extends the SQL or structured data with the unstructured data natively, together within the same data repository. This means that it is not only able to store JSON/BSON documents, but the engine is able to behave as it would be the MongoDB engine itself. Any application using MongoDB can be redirected to the Informix Mongo wire listener transparently. What´s more, it also improves the NoSQL (BASE) characteristic, making it ACID by allowing transactions to the CRUD operations. This last is something MongoDB is working on, promised to be delivered next year.
  • As described previously, MongoDB's sharding concept relies on data partitioning, this is how it scales out, and as I also described previously Informix scales up given the described multithreading unique architecture! It implements the data sharding with one of its best replication technologies called Enterprise Replication. This is an Active-Active replication technology that allows replicating even between different platforms. This is actually how I managed to migrate the whole Informix platform from Solaris to Linux, with just a DNS change. There was almost ZERO downtime nor application change - this was really amazing!.

Cons

  • It is very difficult to find a missing functionality in Informix, technically is great. I will again criticize the business side and how it has been managed over the past, I hope this could be improved with HCL's help. I know they are working hard, but we need to start letting the world know and revert their concept about its existence and that it is one of the best competitors within the data treatment, in the market. We need to start telling the world about success cases and stories showing this and backing up its strong technology.

Return on Investment

  • As I have explained earlier, Informix has had along the past 15 years, the lowest number of vulnerability defects reported in NVD. Informix allows you to disregard the vulnerability defects, and spend your time building and growing your business instead of wasting it in patching and fixing every quarter! This to me is the best example I can empirically prove that Informix is definitely one of the best return of investment and so that any CDO or CIO should pay attention at the time to consider what platform to chose, to build on top!
  • The other return of investment any CDO or CIO should pay attention to, is the number of DBAs a DB platform should be required to support it! Informix with the SELF-everything, is getting chosen by companies as the best suited engine given its low footprint and little maintenance to get it embedded in their hardware.
  • Given its uptime and minimum planned outages Informix allows you to have, it is yet another reason Informix is not means an investment and not a money waste!

Alternatives Considered

Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL

Other Software Used

IBM Cognos, IBM Netezza Data Warehouse Appliances, IBM InfoSphere QualityStage