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Re: No future for DB2

From: Art S. Kagel <kagel_at_bloomberg.net>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:36:26 -0400
Message-ID: <42E8FB7A.50808@bloomberg.net>


Noons wrote:
> Data Goob wrote:
>

>>flames.  They opted to buy the racing team with their marketing budget, instead
>>of promoting any of their products.  The racing team really helped get the

>
>
> Oh puh-leaze: the ONLY reason IBM bought Informix
> was that it was a cheap way of buying another 5 or so %
> points in the db size of user base race so they could
> claim to be ahead of Oracle!
>
> They NEVER had any plan to do anything else with Informix
> other than improperly claiming their share of the market
> as DB2's or IBm's.
>
> And that's a fact.
>

Actually there were two main reasons for IBM purchasing Informix's database assets:
1- Increased RDBMS market share numbers to snub Oracle was certainly a motive. 2- Informix's clustered server version, IDS 8.x, uses a similar architecture to DB2 but is more parallel and is multithreaded. IBM wanted to see if a merger of technologies could create a better DB2.

And, yes, they originally hoped to entice all of Informixdom to switch to DB2 from IDS. However, several things have happened in the intervening four years:
1- IBM has come to realize that the technology differences internally between IDS 8 and DB2 were too great for such a product merger and since DB2 does the cluster thing very well already, IBM decided to just orphan IDS 8.xx and drop the idea of a tech merged product.

2- Informix users refused for the most part to switch to DB2.

3- Rumors I have reason to believe indicate that Informix IDS 9.xx has been selling at least as many new licenses as DB2 on LUW despite sales people who knew nothing about the product until recently, implicit orders to switch customers asking for IDS to DB2, and a continuation of Informix's advertising and marketing strategies for IDS (ie non-existent).

4- Informix IDS 9.xx servers outperform DB2 anytime a customer or potential customer bothers to benchmark both together. (I'd be interested in hearing from people whose experience is different from those who have shared with me to date. So far I have no examples to contradict this contention.)

The result of this:
1- The IDS development budget is larger today than it was when Informix owned the product.

2- I firmly believe that IBM will be posting IDS TPC-C and maybe TPC-H benchmarks before the end of the year.

3- IBM has begun to mention IDS (yes and Cloudscape) in just about every advertisement about database systems right along side DB2.

4- IBM sales people are getting the word that it's OK to sell IDS to new and existing customers and the pressure to switch is abating rapidly.

5- Informix's ESQL/C in the latest release of Client SDK can compile applications that can communicate equally with DB2 or IDS.

6- Rather than merge IDS and DB2 IBM is incorporating the best features of each in the other without compromising the technological strengths and product integrity of either. Examples are IDS style HDR and ER replication in DB2, and improved autonomic computing features in IDS.

Where is all of this leading us? Where is it going? My predictions for the next five years:

Art S. Kagel, ultimate IDS bigot. Received on Thu Jul 28 2005 - 10:36:26 CDT

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