Informix and HP Provide Rapid Value to Business Intelligence Solutions for SAP Business Information Warehouse

Business Wire, June 9, 1999

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 1999--

SAP-BW(TM) Added to Certified Data Warehousing Program

for Joint Customer Benefit

Informix(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:IFMX), the technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, announced today the addition of SAP(TM) Business Information Warehouse(TM) 1.2B (SAP-BW(TM)) to the certified data warehousing (CDW) program.

A joint program from Informix and Hewlett-Packard Company, the leader in business-critical data warehousing, the CDW program is targeted at reducing the risk and time to implement data warehousing solutions, such as SAP-BW on HP and Informix technology. Through a collaborative process of SAP-BW configuration definition, sizing and verification on HP 9000 Enterprise Servers and HP NetServer systems using Informix Dynamic Server(TM) 7.3, HP and Informix are providing customers with tested and "certified" business intelligence solutions.

"Our expanding partnership with SAP and our continued efforts with HP enable us to offer our mutual customers not only best-of-breed technologies but a nearly risk-free deployment environment that reduces implementation time and assures a faster ROI," commented Jim O'Gara, vice president, global partners for Informix.

"Our joint solutions give our customers not only the technological advantage but the increased time to market needed for success in today's marketplace."

This announcement is a continuation of the long-standing alliance among the three companies to provide high-performance solutions to help customers better manage their businesses. This joint solution from HP and Informix leverages the power of SAP-BW for faster data retrieval and advanced reporting.

In addition, the SAP-BW solution expands upon HP and Informix's expertise in providing scalable data warehousing solutions to their joint customers. With the SAP-BW solution on Informix and HP, customers are able to thoroughly understand business trends and metrics, and address key issues underlying overall business performance. The CDW program assures HP, Informix and SAP joint customers a smooth, low-risk deployment of SAP-BW on Informix software and HP hardware.

"We've embarked on this new effort with Informix because we share a vision -- providing our mutual customers with easy-to-implement business intelligence solutions," said Harry Sterling, general manager of HP's Business and Technical Solutions Division.

"By combining our market leadership and expertise in both business intelligence and ERP environments with Informix's strengths in these areas, we can help customers move at Web speed to deploy solutions like SAP-BW."

In addition, HP and Informix are partnering with key system integrators, such as Ernst & Young, to further accelerate solution delivery, by sharing configuration and certification methodologies.

"Ernst & Young is committed to delivering value-added solutions to our clients that save time and money and result in new business growth opportunities," said Todd Swift, partner and leader of Global Data Warehousing Solutions for SAP at Ernst & Young.

"HP and Informix are providing an architecture with valuable configuration and sizing information that, when combined with our offerings and experience, will help us make this happen."

About HP 9000 Servers and HP NetServer Systems

HP 9000 Enterprise Servers provide the high-performance and scalability required to support mission-critical computing from the midrange to the very high-end with unparalleled investment protection to the next-generation IA-64-based systems, security and manageability. The HP 9000 Enterprise Server family runs on HP's 64-bit UNIX operating environment and, with HP's vision of 99.999 percent uptime across the entire IT environment.

The HP NetServer systems offer high performing Intel-based server solutions to meet the needs of small and mid-size businesses, workgroups, departments, and enterprise customers. GartnerGroup's 1998 Datapro user survey ranked HP NetServer systems No. 1 in the PC server category for overall satisfaction, receiving highest scores in the categories for performance, expandability/upgradability, reliability of the hardware, service and support, and total cost of ownership.

About Informix Dynamic Server

Informix Dynamic Server is the only enterprise-class database architecture that meets the needs of companies seeking a single database engine that features reliability, high performance, scalability, and the ability to manage all kinds of data. Informix Dynamic Server has the power to manage every kind of information generated and utilized by today's successful businesses. Informix Dynamic Server is used as the database engine for over 1,500 demanding SAP R/3 customers.

About Informix

Informix Corporation, based in Menlo Park, provides innovative database products that assist the world's major corporations to attain competitive advantage. Informix is widely recognized as the technology leader for corporate computing environments ranging from small workgroups to very large parallel processing applications.