Informix Software Inc. Endorses BMC Software's PATROL to Provide Database Management for INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server Architecture Databases

Business Wire, July 18, 1995

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 1995--Informix Software, lnc. and BMC Software, Inc. today announced a comprehensive strategy to provide Informix customers with the ability to manage their INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server databases with industry standard frameworks such as HP OpenView, SunNet Manager, IBM* NetView and others.

This capability is made possible through features in BMC Software's PATROL application management product suite.

"BMC Software's PATROL offers one of the most comprehensive database and application management capabilities for OnLine Dynamic Server users, said Steve Sommer, vice president of marketing for Informix Software. Working closely with BMC allows us to provide our customers with a better managed environment and therefore a better running solution."

Added Leland Putterman, vice president of marketing for BMC Software, "As databases become larger, database management has become a critical issue. We were the first software management company to support Informix databases and, for the past year, Informix and BMC Software have been providing mutual customers with effective solutions for proactively managing their high performance Informix databases and applications."

The flexible design of the PATROL intelligent, autonomous agent architecture allows for choice of console. In Version 3.0 of PATROL (scheduled for availability in August 1995), any Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) console (in addition to PATROL s operator console) can access PATROL's intelligent, autonomous agent to provide information about the Informix database. Informix users also can access in-depth database metrics through BMC Software's recently announced PATROLVIEWTM product that uses the native console of a network management framework to display events and information collected by PATROL. Other features of PATROL's intelligent, autonomous agent architecture allow for easy agent-to-agent integration of PATROL and products from leading systems, network, hardware and tool vendors.

Joint Technology Programs

Today, PATROL supports Informix databases through the Knowledge Module for Informix, a library of expertise that contains rules for how PATROL will manage Informix databases. It provides customized management features specific to OnLine Dynamic Server and other databases based on Informix Dynamic Scalable Architecture (DSA). These customized features support database administration tasks as well as extensive monitoring. The Knowledge Module for Informix monitors critical Informix parameters such as table scans, deadlocks, buffer waits and overflows, cache hit rates and more than 70 other relevant parameters. When parameters that exceed defined exception thresholds are identified, recovery actions can be automatically executed to address the exception condition.

In the future, the two companies will continue to strengthen product integration between OnLine Dynamic Server and PATROL and will work closely to ensure that the management solution offered by BMC Software will offer agent-to-agent integration with lnformix's soon to be released SNMP-based agent, allowing for an even more robust set of database metrics.

Pricing and Availability

PATROL is available today from BMC Software and its agents and distributors worldwide. Pricing for PATROL begins at $6,000 (U.S. list) depending on the number of consoles and managed objects. The Knowledge Module for Informix is available today and pricing starts at $200. For more information, view a demonstration of PATROL 3.0 at the Informix World Wide User Conference, booth # 1002, or call 1-800-841-2031 or (713) 918-8800.

About BMC Software

BMC Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: BMCS) is a worldwide developer and vendor of Cooperative Enterprise Management Solutions (CEMS) that automate application and data management across heterogeneous legacy and open systems environments. BMC Software is cooperating with leading vendors throughout the computer industry to provide its customers with integrated enterprise-wide data, system, application and network management solutions.

BMC Software has a 15-year history of industry-leading product development for large scale computing environments. It now is leveraging this knowledge and strength in the management and movement of data to introduce new solutions for enterprise-wide computing management. BMC Software is headquartered In Houston, Texas and currently offers more than 70 products.

About Informix

Informix Software is the leading supplier of high-performance, parallel processing database technology for open systems. The company s database servers are the number one choice of computer hardware manufacturers for publishing Transaction Processing Council (TPC) benchmarks for UNIX-based systems. Informix products also include application development tools for creating client/server production applications, decision support systems and ad-hoc query interfaces, and connectivity software that allows information to be shared transparently from PCs to mainframes within the corporate computing environment. The company s corporate headquarters is in Menlo Park, California. More information about Informix is available via the World Wide Web: http//www.informix.com/. -0- Note to Editors: BMC Software, the BMC Software logo and all other products or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of BMC Software, Inc. in the USA and other select countries. The R and TM symbols indicate USA registration or USA trademark. *IBM; INFORMIX, Dynamic Scalable Architecture, OnLine Dynamic Server; and Sun are trademarks or registered trademarks of, respectively, International Business Machines Corp., Informix Software, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. Other logos and products/trade names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. BMC Software is an Equal Opportunity Employer.