Overall Satisfaction with IBM Informix
I support business and government organizations that use Informix worldwide. Clients use Informix for OLTP applications as well as Data Warehouse and Decision Support analytics. Database sizes range from several GB to tens of TB. Industries include retail, wholesale, electric utilities, online gaming, online gambling, information processing, financial records management and financial transactions, court record keeping, government taxation units, etc. For most of these organizations Informix manages and secures mission-critical data.
- Industry leading OLTP performance.
- Excellent Data Warehouse performance from the basic engine. Outstanding Data Warehouse performance from the Informix Warehouse Accelerator module.
- Best embedability among major RDBMS systems.
- Scalable from the smallest Raspberry PI up to the largest monolithic systems and out to dozens of distributed nodes.
- Hybrid data capabilities to merge relational data with time seriesv, geospacial data, JSON data and other non-traditional data types with performance comparable or better than systems dedicated to those data types.
- Honestly, not much. IBM and HCL have excellent product feature feedback mechanisms with an online system for users to offer feature improvements and suggestions. Many are incorporated in new releases. The latest includes two such user suggested features for example.
- Informix typically requires fewer DBAs and less time spent by DBA staff on operational and maintenance operations permitting them to concentrate on other issues and reducing ROI.
I have participated in evaluations of Informix versus most of its competing RDBMS engines. In all of those evaluations, when performance, ease of maintenance, ROI, and effort required to train staff to proficiency are the criteria of decision, Informix has always been the choice.
Using IBM Informix
1 - President and Principal Consultant
1 - General DBA skills, Informix domain specific knowledge.
- Data analytics
Evaluating IBM Informix and Competitors
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Third-party Reviews
The combination of performance and the applicability of the feature list to specific projects combined to be the deciding factor.
Might include other products in the evaluation stream.
IBM Informix Support
Pros | Cons |
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Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Kept well informed Immediate help available Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Yes - Yes. Most reported bugs result in a patch within a few weeks at the outside with the next scheduled release containing a permanent fix for the issue.
A year or so ago I described a problem with a shortcut function that simplifies creating a virtual table that maps timeseries data to a relational table image for the use of analytical tools that do not understand timeseries data directly. In a few days I was provided with a solution involving using the underlying virtual table technology directly to accomplish the goal. The next release of the engine, available within 60 days, contained a reworked function that fixed the issue, though our problem was already solved by the work-around.
Using IBM Informix
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Schema alterations
- Server version upgrades
- Server monitoring
- Performance tuning
- Nothing. Really!