Starting May 1, 2017 IBM and HCL agreed a cooperation regarding Informix. The goal  is to strengthen and accelerate the technical development of the Informix Database Server and to improve the market presence. The signal for customers and partners is clear: Informix is a reliable and stable investment for the future.

First, we all need to understand IBM has not sold Informix. This is an Intellectual Property and Licensing agreement between IBM and HCL. HCL is a major worldwide company with offices in 30 countries and 110,000 employees. Hence, it is not a sale or an acquisition. This agreement stands for 15 years and it is automatically renewed after that period.

HCL has a lot of experience in the industrial environment offering products and solutions where Informix fits perfectly with its key benefits in the field of TimeSeries, integration into applications and with the small footprint enabling lots of use cases in the Internet of things and Industry 4.0 issues.

IBM is responsible for the strategy of Informix, HCL will realize it. IBM is responsible for the offering management and the marketing - development and support staff is reinforced and partly move to HCL.

Nothing changes for IBM customers and partners – eg contact points for product support, corresponding procedures, resources and existing standards will continue – the same to existing license agreements.

This partnership is a business commitment for continued growth of Informix to make it more competitive in the market! Fifteen years is a lifetime in the tech world, making this is a major positive