Menlo Park, California-based Informix Corp has reported record first quarter profits before tax of $30.5m. In what is usually its most sluggish quarter, pre-tax profits rose 56% on turnover up 58% to $147.8m. Earnings per share rose 47% to $0.28, less in comparison to the rise in profits because of the increase in the number of Informix shares, 67m to about 68.5m, that resulted from a share issue made last year to cover stock option purchase plans. Informix says the database market is maturing and shaking down to a few long-term players, and it expects to see itself in the lead. But it says it still has to work on changing the perception about itself, especially in the Japanese market, that it provides a great database for small machines. Informix reckons the next release of its database, expected this summer at the users’ conference in San Jose, will lay to rest that myth.
Performance unsurpassed
Informix 8.0 will be able to scale from a uniprocessor up to parallel systems; tests for MCI Communications Corp using IBM Corp’s SP2 machine with 48 nodes produced performance unsurpassed by any other combination of technologies, said Informix. And its NewEra development tool, with its object repository courtesy of Versant Object Technology Corp (CI No 2,634), the ability to partition applications across a client-server environment, and the class libraries, is what major corporations want in a second generation, enterprise-wide tool, it claims. But do not expect Informix to come out with a stand-alone object-oriented database: it says the market does not want this. Instead, Informix will provide object-oriented extensions to its relational database. Other new technologies likely to be announced at San Jose include the ability to support 1Tb of data on an AT&T Global 3600, data warehousing, imaging and workflow applications. Informix also attributes its success to its work with partners like SAP AG and PeopleSoft Inc. Informix’s senior vice-president Europe, Ken Coulter, said, We are not in the applications, consulting or integration business, we stick to we’re good at. He added that in Europe the change in emphasis from channel sales to direct sales was beginning to work. Direct sales, says the company, are the only way in which it can grow at the 30% to 40% level it desires. From around 20 sales people in 1993, the company’s complement has grown and by the end of this year there will be more than 200 in Europe. In the end, the company would like to see a 60-40 split between direct and channel sales; in North America the split is nearer 80-20. It also expects Asia to be a significant market. In Japan, although the number of open systems is still quite small, Informix believes there is great potential for growth, which was partly behind the reason it took a 90% stake in ASCII Corp’s Informix marketing arm last year (CI No 2,517). And this quarter just ended Informix announced that it has formed a joint venture to acquire the software division of the Seoul, South Korea-based company, Daou Technology, again looking to expand its customer base in the area. For the Asian and Middle Eastern markets Informix is converting its technology from 8-bit to 16-bit characters. It reckons within two years, global companies should be able to have Latin, Kanji or Arabic script up on any machine they like.
