First Chicago Selects Informix and HP for Electronic Federal Tax Payment System.

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 1995--Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:IFMX), the leading provider of data warehousing and parallel processing database technology, today announced that First Chicago/Mercantile Services LLC has selected Informix and Hewlett-Packard Company to provide the platform for its development of the U.S. government's Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). First Chicago/Mercantile Services LLC is a joint venture subsidiary of The First National Bank of Chicago and Mercantile Bank of St. Louis.

"This project underscores the importance of advanced, scalable technology," stated Phil White, Informix's chairman and CEO. "Now more than ever, leading banks like First Chicago are looking to the team efforts of companies like Informix and HP to support their expanding electronic banking strategies."

According to Donald R. Hollis, executive vice president of The First National Bank of Chicago, "First Chicago welcomes the opportunity to work with Informix and HP to meet the demanding scalability challenge proposed by this very important contract. The Informix/HP team has clearly distinguished itself in responsiveness, attitude and performance."

First Chicago was selected along with NationsBank Corp. as the financial agents for EFTPS. First Chicago, basing its system on client/server technology, will use INFORMIX(R)-OnLine Dynamic Server(TM) as the relational database management systems (RDBMS) and data warehouse, and the HP 9000 family of PA-RISC-based business servers as the symmetric multiprocessing platform.

Informix and HP technology will drive First Chicago's client/server information system, enabling the government to handle tax payments and taxpayer information electronically. The EFTPS tax payment system will process all taxpayer data, providing on-line querying and batch updates on settlement transactions for customers and the IRS. The system is expected to help the government cut costs and improve productivity by eliminating the paperwork from tax-payment collections, improve the investigation process, and enhance funds management. First Chicago has an eight-year contract with the government, which has set a March 1996 target for installation.

In accordance with NAFTA, many large corporate taxpayers have already been mandated to file their tax payments electronically. Each year, the number of electronic taxpayers is expected to increase. By 1997, over 1 million taxpayers will be required to pay their taxes electronically, and by the turn of the century, most tax paying entities, both corporate and individual, will be filing tax payments electronically.

As the master data warehouse for EFTPS, INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server is core to the entire system; all data, including enrollments and payments, will reside on the database. A separate Informix database will be established by First Chicago for customer service applications, such as operational statistics, investigations and inquiries.

To select a RDBMS for this project, First Chicago benchmarked several important requirements across several leading database vendors. Key criteria included the ability to: -0-

-- handle large volumes of data

-- replicate data over a wide area network

-- perform large queries in batch and online

-- make online adjustments (dynamic tuning)

-- optimize HP CPU resources -0-

"For a system of this magnitude, we needed a database that could excel in a multitude of areas, while at the same time, ensure us that it could also handle a range of future unknowns," stated Larry Buettner, senior vice president of First National Bank of Chicago and general manager of First Chicago/Mercantile Services. "INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server was chosen for its advanced technology and its overall superiority in our benchmark tests. Its ability to handle volume, without sacrificing speed, is impressive."

Responsible for the implementation of the EFTPS system, Maribeth Anderson, vice president and senior systems manager at First Chicago/Mercantile Services, explained, "We were able to process over four million payments in eight minutes with INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server. During peak day conditions, the Informix database performed wide queries at extremely fast speeds, while loading the database at the same time. Its ability to provide realtime replication of each transaction within seconds to the bank's hot backup site is critical."

Because of the unknowns in this project, dynamic tuning was "key to our decision in selecting Informix," continued Anderson. "With OnLine Dynamic Server, we are able to make online adjustments to the database during peak periods and see the results right away; other database products required entire re-booting of the system."

About Hewlett-Packard

HP 9000 business servers, which are based on HP's industry-leading HP-UX operating system and PA-RISC technology, provide the high performance and systems-management capabilities required by data-center environments, as well as the flexibility and performance necessary for client/server implementations. HP has assisted more than 3,000 customers in their move from mainframe computing to open systems.

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 98,600 employees and had revenue of $25 billion in its 1994 fiscal year.

About Informix

Informix Software, Inc. 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 application, 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 headquarters is in Menlo Park, California. -0-

Note to Editors: INFORMIX and OnLine Dynamic Server are trademarks of Informix Software, Inc. All other names indicated by (TM) or (R) are trademarks of their respective owners.

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CONTACT: Informix Software

Cecilia Denny, 415/926-6420

or

Hewlett Packard

Brad Pick, 408/447-7809