Informix and HP Speed Time to Market With Comprehensive Data-warehousing Initiative; Industry-First Program Delivers Pre-tested, Pre-certified Data-warehouse configurations.

MENLO PARK and PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 1998--Informix(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:IFMX), the technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, and Hewlett-Packard Company (NASDAQ:HWP), today unveiled a certified data-warehouse (CDW) program that enables customers to implement pre-tested and pre-certified enterprise data-warehouse solutions easily. In addition, Informix announced support for the new HP 9000 V2500 Enterprise Server. Together, Informix solutions and the V2500 Enterprise Server bring superior performance, availability and scalability ideally suited for business-intelligence applications.

This industry-first program enables customers to invest in data-warehouse architectures that not only accommodate changing business needs, but also dramatically reduce the complexity involved in designing and implementing a data warehouse of any size. Most important, the combined strength of this platform provides a growth path from departmental data marts to terabyte-class, enterprise-wide data warehouses, across UNIX(R) system and Windows NT(R) platforms.

"Informix and HP are right on track with the CDW program," said John Lewis, director of information resources of Kinko's. "This will greatly simplify and dramatically reduce the complexity involved in designing and implementing a warehouse of any size, allowing IT to focus on delivering innovative, timely, decision-support solutions to the business units."

The CDW architecture leverages Informix Decision Frontier(TM) Solution Suite, consisting of the industry's most powerful database engine, Informix Dynamic Server(TM); a sophisticated data-extraction, transformation and loading tool, InfoMover(TM); the most complete ROLAP environment for multidimensional data analysis and administration, MetaCube(R) ROLAP Option; an enterprise reporting/distribution tool, Seagate Crystal Info, together with HP's high-performance UNIX system and NT enterprise servers, high-availability products and scalable storage solutions. In addition, the CDW includes HP OpenView and Informix Enterprise Command Center for system, network and database management. The recently announced HP OpenView SMART Plug-In for Informix is a new component included for easier monitoring and administration of both environments from a single console.

"Data warehousing has hit the mainstream. Customers are using data-mart and data-warehouse technology for strategic advantage, now more than ever," said Diane Fraiman, vice president of marketing at Informix. "This program, with HP, is an attractive complement to our Decision Frontier portfolio of data-warehouse products and services."

HP and Informix are partnering with key system integrators and resellers to further simplify and ease customer implementation of custom and turnkey data-warehouse and business intelligence solutions. "Pre-tested and pre-configured data-warehouse configurations can save our consultants at least 100 hours of implementation time, reducing the overall time to build a data warehouse, which will ultimately save our clients time and money," said Phil Maloney, vice president of sales, Sysix Technologies. "We are excited to be the first solutions integrator to participate in the certified data warehouse program. HP's and Informix's vision to simplify and streamline the delivery of data-warehouse solutions mirrors ours."

"By completing certification and integration up front, customers can focus more on the business issues they are trying to solve with a data warehouse," said Patrick Rogers, worldwide marketing manager for HP's HighPerformance Systems Division. "By working with Informix, we shorten implementation time and increase the return on investment from customers' data warehouses."

About HP

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 124,600 employees and had revenue of $47.1 billion in its 1998 fiscal year.

Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

About Informix

Informix Corporation, based in Menlo Park, California, provides innovative database products that assist the world's major corporations attain competitive advantage. Informix is widely recognized as the technology leader for corporate computing environments ranging from small workgroup to very large parallel processing applications. Informix's database server, application development tools, superior customer service, and strong partnerships enable the company to be at the forefront of major information technology solution areas including data warehousing, high performance OLTP, and Web/content management. For more information, contact the sales office nearest you or visit our Web site at http://www.informix.com.

(C) 1998 Informix Corporation. All rights reserved. The following are trademarks of Informix Corporation or its affiliates: Informix(R), Informix Dynamic Server(TM), Decision Frontier(TM), InfoMover(TM), MetaCube(TM) and the Informix logo, which is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.