I disagree with Bill Karwin. HCL, one of the world’s largest consulting companies (among other related businesses), opened a product division last fall which is based in the US. This March HCL Products Division contracted with IBM to take over the development and level 2 & 3 support for Informix. The deal is not a sale. IBM still owns Informix, but HCL will be doing all development with IBM guiding the roadmap. Both companies will market and sell the Informix product line. This is not an outplacement, HCL has already hired all of the US based developers and support personnel for Informix from IBM and will be opening a new larger office space for them in Lenexa KS, just a short distance from their current IBM offices. The developers and support staffs in other countries have also been made offers to join HCL’s Informix team and all have accepted and will transfer to HCL as soon as their countries legal processes permit.

The Intellectual Property sharing agreement is for 15 years with an automatic extension after that. HCL spent what is likely a very large sum of money for those rights and to pay salaries and benefits to the Informix team. They are in this for the long haul. They are betting their IOT and Embedded systems consulting strategies as well as future products on those and other markets on Informix.

In addition, about a year ago, the entire nation of China made Informix its database of choice for all new software development by government fiat and three software companies in China have licensed the Informix source code in order to incorporate Government approved encryption technology into it.

Does that sound like a product that’s fading? Personally, my consulting business, focused on supporting Informix user organizations, is busier than ever and many of my clients are increasing their use of Informix not replacing it.

You can read more about the HCL deal on the International Informix Users’ Group web site (www.iiug.org).