Spokey works in Channel Tech Sales specialising in Informix. This blog covers things that would be helpful to IBM's Business Partner community and hopefully also to the wider user community. The postings on this site are his own and do not represent positions, strategies or opinions of IBM or anyone else!

New Training Course

The new 3-day "Informix Dynamic Server 11 New Features" course is being run in London on 24 June 2009.

Contact details can be found here.

New pricing model for Workgroup and Express

IBM has just announced new pricing models for IDS, DB2 and some Infosphere products!

The new pricing model allows for "socket" (or per-cpu) pricing on IDS Workgroup, DB2 Workgroup, InfoSphere Warehouse Departmental & InfoSphere Warehouse Departmental Base.

It also allows for "server" based pricing for IDS Express and DB2 Express.

To convert from PVU pricing to the new model, you use the following formulae:

* 100 PVUs of Workgroup is one socket.
* 200 PVUs of Express is one server.

PVU pricing will remain in Passport Advantage for at least a year, so there is no need to rethink any pricing, unless the new model offers you a better price -- which it hopefully will!

Customers who are due for a support renewal will automatically be renewed with PVU based support pricing. Before they renew under the PVU metric they can ask their support rep to renew with the new metric instead.

Subcapacity is allowed with the new metrics, Workgroup can use subcapacity but currently the maximum physical size of the server Workgroup runs on is 4 sockets. With Express you have to pay for one server per physical or virtual machine and it limits itself to just 4 cores and 4 GB of memory.

Not only is the new model significantly simpler than PVU pricing: it could lead to some very significant cost savings, especially on multi-core CPU servers!

First UK IDS Bootcamp

While I was enjoying Kansan hospitality, Jannis Doerlechter and Jon Ritson delivered the first IDS bootcamp in the UK.

It was a very highly rated and successful event and I suspect that we will move from having one of these to two of these every year in the UK.

Windows 2008 Core Server

While I was at the IIUG conference, I listened to one of Guy Bowerman's presentations about IDS on Windows.

It was pretty interesting to learn about how much Windows server has improved as a platform. And the idea of a Core Server, which has all the operating system "guts" with nothing but a command line for access, was also pretty intriguing. It means that you get a server platform without all the glitz and flummery that would be likely to cause more reliability, availability and scalability issues. And it does sound like Windows Server 2008 is a big step forward in terms of code quality.

Guy's presentation also made it clear that IBM has gone a long way to increasing the "Windows-ness" of IDS on Windows. It's still the engine we all know and love, but it should feel and behave more like a native Windows product, so Windows SysAdmins should take to it like a duck to water!

All in all, it seems that the Core Server offers quite a viable platform for IDS and I look forward to seeing loads of new Windows sites when Microsoft-centric people realise what a good combination this is!

Spaces still available for IDS Bootcamp

We still have 5 places available for the FREE Informix bootcamp in Hursley from 28 to 30 April 2009 on a first come, first served basis. Customers, partners and IBMers are all welcome to sign up here.

The itinerary is:

IDS 3-day Agenda
§ Day 1: (8 Hours)
§ 1.0 Welcome
§ 1.1 Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) Technical Survival Guide
§ 1.2 IDS Fundamentals
§ 1.3 IDS 11.50 Feature Spotlight
§ 1.4 IDS Database Administration
§ Lunch
§ 1.5 IDS Database Administration (Hands On)
§ 1.6 OpenAdmin Tool
§ 1.7 OpenAdmin Tool (Hands On)

§ Day 2: (8 Hours)
§ 2.1 IDS Performance Tuning & Troubleshooting Tools and Techniques
§ 2.2 IDS Performance Tuning & Troubleshooting Tools and Techniques
§ 2.3 IDS Application Development Overview
§ 2.4 IDS Application Development (Hands On)
§ Lunch
§ 2.5 IBM solidDB Universal Cache
§ 2.6 IBM solidDB Universal Cache (Hands On)
§ 2.7 IDS 11.50 Continuous Availability
§ 2.8 IDS 11.50 Continuous Availability (Hands On)

§ Day 3: (8 Hours)
§ 3.1 IDS Security
§ 3.2 IDS Security (Hands On)
§ 3.3 IDS Extensibility
§ 3.4 IDS Extensibility (Hands On)
§ Lunch
§ 3.5 Upgrading Your Databases to IDS 11.50
§ 3.6 Upgrading Your Databases to IDS 11.50 (Hands On)
§ 3.7 Summary and Mastery Test Review
§ 3.8 Informix Technical Sales Mastery Test (M18)

Registering for the IDS Bootcamp in April

You can (and must -- there is no alternative registration process!) register yourself for the IDS bootcamp by clicking here.

Please note that the event is open to all on a first-come, first serve basis and is FREE.

Chat with the Labs: IDS and solidDB Universal Cache

Informix Chat with the Lab - Thursday, March 26th NEW TIME 8:30 AM PST, 10:30 AM Central, 11:30 AM Eastern, 4:30 PM London, 5:30 PM Paris

IDS 11.50 and solidDB Universal Cache 6.3

This presentation is an introductory technical session that will cover the capabilities of solidDB Universal Cache 6.3, the architecture of the typical solutions involving this technology integrated with IBM Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) 11.50 and the overall steps to configure solidDB Universal Cache as an in-memory front end cache for IDS databases.

With the acquisition of Solid by IBM in 2007, the IBM Information Management portfolio now incorporates in-memory relational database technology that delivers extreme and predictable speed to data access, allowing applications to achieve tens of thousands of transactions per second with consistent response times measured in microseconds. The IBM solidDB product family offers two products: solidDB, the relational in-memory database; and solidDB Universal Cache, the industry's first in-memory universal caching software for IBM data servers Informix and DB2, and for Oracle databases. solidDB Universal Cache integrates the solidDB in-memory database with a powerful synchronization technology for flexible options of in-memory front end cache for in-disk databases, allowing you to achieve extreme speed for data residing on IDS, DB2 or Oracle.

RSVP for this call here. If you need RSVP assistance by phone, you may call 800-289-0579 (in the US only).

IDS Bootcamp: 28-30 April

The dates for this enablement have finally been confirmed!

All Informix partners are advised that there will be an Informix bootcamp in Hursley from 28 to 30 April 2009. The itinerary is:

IDS 3-day Agenda
§ Day 1: (8 Hours)
§ 1.0 Welcome
§ 1.1 Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) Technical Survival Guide
§ 1.2 IDS Fundamentals
§ 1.3 IDS 11.50 Feature Spotlight
§ 1.4 IDS Database Administration
§ Lunch
§ 1.5 IDS Database Administration (Hands On)
§ 1.6 OpenAdmin Tool
§ 1.7 OpenAdmin Tool (Hands On)

§ Day 2: (8 Hours)
§ 2.1 IDS Performance Tuning & Troubleshooting Tools and Techniques
§ 2.2 IDS Performance Tuning & Troubleshooting Tools and Techniques
§ 2.3 IDS Application Development Overview
§ 2.4 IDS Application Development (Hands On)
§ Lunch
§ 2.5 IBM solidDB Universal Cache
§ 2.6 IBM solidDB Universal Cache (Hands On)
§ 2.7 IDS 11.50 Continuous Availability
§ 2.8 IDS 11.50 Continuous Availability (Hands On)

§ Day 3: (8 Hours)
§ 3.1 IDS Security
§ 3.2 IDS Security (Hands On)
§ 3.3 IDS Extensibility
§ 3.4 IDS Extensibility (Hands On)
§ Lunch
§ 3.5 Upgrading Your Databases to IDS 11.50
§ 3.6 Upgrading Your Databases to IDS 11.50 (Hands On)
§ 3.7 Summary and Mastery Test Review
§ 3.8 Informix Technical Sales Mastery Test (M18)

Priority will be given to Informix business partners, but if you are an Informix user and are interested in attending, then please let me know and I will put you on the list and if there is space then you can attend.

Please let me know if you want to attend by emailing spokey dot wheeler at uk dot ibm dot com.

Translated solidDB 6.3 manuals available

The translated versions of the solidDB 6.3 Information Center and PDFs have now been published externally.

Available languages are
Chinese (Simplified)
German
Japanese
Portuguese (Brazil)
Spanish

Note: Only Japan has translated all manuals; for other languages, only selected manuals have been translated. Each country/locale decides which manuals are translated.

How to access the translated manuals?

The manuals can be found at the solidDB Information Center.

The language of the Information Center is determined by the language/locale setting of your web browser (e.g. in IE: Tools > Internet Options > Languages).

Alternatively, you can define the locale in the URL of the Information Center by adding ?lang= at the end:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/soliddb/v6r3/index.jsp?lang=zh_CN (Chinese - Simplified)
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/soliddb/v6r3/index.jsp?lang=de (German)
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/soliddb/v6r3/index.jsp?lang=ja (Japanese)
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/soliddb/v6r3/index.jsp?lang=pt_BR (Portuguese - Brazil)
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/soliddb/v6r3/index.jsp?lang=es (Spanish)

PDFs
The PDF versions are available at the solidDB support site via FTP.

The translated PDFs will also be included in the 6.3 Fix Pack 1 Documentation package.

solidDB Universal Cache available for trial download

If you're interested in seeing whether solidDB can help you meet SLAs in extreme high-performance situations, you can now download a trial version here.

It's not trivial to implement, but it can offer you consistent performance levels that no disk-based RDBMS can match. There is an article available that introduces the concepts of the solidDB Universal Cache here.

Selling Optim

Beginning this month, IBM Optim Solutions will be available through IBM’s Passport Advantage program, and can be sold by IBM and by authorized Business Partners who participate in IBM Software ValueNet.

I'm sure some Informix partners in larger accounts will be able to make good use of this. ;-)

New white paper from Bloor

Bloor have released a new white paper on "The importance of having an Information Strategy".

To illustrate the importance of an Information Strategy imagine:
• That you know where all of your corporate data resides.
• That you could trust all of your data to be accurate, complete and up-to-date so that you could rely on it when you make business decisions.
• That you could access any piece of information, or combination of pieces, at any time, to support decision making and understand risk.
• That your data was protected and secure at all times.
• That whenever you needed to make a business decision that you fully understood all the risks involved.
• That you know, based on previous actions and conditions, what the next best action to take is.
• That you know that you were fully compliant with all legislative and governance requirements.
• That your data and content is stored in the most efficient and cost effective manner fit for purpose.

The white paper is a good high-level summary of what an Information Strategy is all about.

Submit a success story for Information on Demand

Data in Action Virtual Event!

Join us for a live webcast featuring the key trends and innovations that are shaping the next generation of Data Management products. Chat with industry experts and IBM innovators about the evolution of traditional Data Management practices in the age of SOA, Web 2.0 and the continuing data explosion into new smarter practices and paradigms for managing information.

See how this smarter data revolution is creating new opportunities for organizations to refresh their approaches, and in the process:
• Gain better access to data
• Increase data security
• Lower costs

Learn how customers who have made the change are now reaping the rewards, and what it took to get them there.

Get all the benefits of a world class Information Management event without the hassle and expense of travel. Register today!

Agenda:
8:00 AM ET Show floor opens
11:00 Understanding the Foundations Of The Information Agenda
12:00 Noon Chat with the experts
1:30 PM Integrated Data Management Revolution with Merv Adrian of Forrester Research
2:30 PM Chat with the experts
6:00 PM Show floor closes

Expo Solution Pedestals:
• Information Agenda
• Lower Costs with IBM Data Servers
• Optim Data Growth
• Architect and Developer Productivity
• DBA Efficiency and Autonomics

Data Studio packaging