IBM has unveiled a new version of its Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) software designed to help companies better manage and utilize the deluge of data generated from global operations while increasing effectiveness and reducing data management costs by one-third.

The new IDS 11.5, code named "Cheetah 2," is tuned to enable customers to enhance business performance on cluster server environments using information management techniques inspired by IBM's mainframe systems. As a result, IDS is the first non-mainframe data server to provide clustered data centers with low-cost continuous data availability and disaster recovery--regardless of geographic location or distance between backup data center sites.

"Global businesses of all sizes and across all industries are looking to gain a competitive advantage from the ability to execute uninterrupted business transactions locally and across their global enterprise," said Inhi Cho, vice president, IBM Data Management Marketing. "The new version of IDS delivers the speed, agility, and efficiency to help our clients enhance their overall business performance and reduce costs as their companies grow."

IDS 11.5 features numerous enhancements that further its leading reliability and transaction performance, enabling users to reduce the number and cost of servers required. By enabling customers to manage the same amount of data with fewer hardware servers, IDS 11.5 requires fewer software licenses, lowers administration costs, and delivers energy and space savings.

When multiplied across the hundreds or thousands of applications or systems distributed throughout a business, IDS 11.5 offers tremendous savings and significantly lowers the cost for massively distributed data management. The versatile IDS 11.5 also benefits smaller companies and organizations that rely upon uninterrupted information access, but don't have large IT staffs to manage numerous databases.

"We selected Informix to enable us to put together a large-scale data warehouse that would provide our customers with smarter satellite navigation and shorter journeys. We needed to manage data from up to 100,000 vehicles about driving speeds on 3.5 million road segments at all times of day--this was a huge data challenge, and one that was likely to increase," said Jon Tasker, project manager at Trafficmaster, a leading intelligent driving services provider in the UK. "In our benchmarking process, Informix came out above all other leading solutions for its performance, scalability, and reliability," he said.

"As one of the leading providers of highly flexible and modular software solutions for the financial sector, we noticed that our customer base developed an increased demand for high availability and security in addition to more complex legal compliance requirements. With IDS 11.5, embedded into our banking software BANCOS, we now have the right foundation to be able to react in a short amount of time and with reduced total cost of ownership to increased customer demand," says Erik Endriss, CEO of G&H Bankensoftware AG in Berlin, Germany.

"Bell Micro has seen a great increase of interest in and adoption of IDS," said Duncan Crabbe, division manager for IBM Software at Bell Micro. "IBM's clear vision for Informix has created a great opportunity for independent software vendors (ISVs) to see the value IBM can bring to their businesses. We would urge ISVs who seek a competitive advantage through reduced TCO for both themselves and their customers to take a serious look at IDS 11.5. Bell Micro is here to help them through that evaluation."

"Jenzabar is very impressed with the new features that IBM has introduced in IDS 11.5. The high-availability enhancements will enable our customers in the higher education market to more easily provide 24/7 service to their constituents," said Ben Bassett, vice president of software and services at Jenzabar, Inc. "We are especially pleased with the commitment that IBM has demonstrated to the IDS product line, with a series of releases that have added real value to the product--which in turn increases our satisfaction with both the product line and our IBM partnership."

The power of IDS 11.5 is complemented by an integrated development and operations management environment offered by the combination of IBM's industry-leading IBM Data Studio product, as well as the IBM Optim Data Growth, Data Privacy and Test Data Management solutions. The Optim solutions were added to the IBM Information Management portfolio with the recent acquisition of Princeton Softech, Inc.

The IDS 11.5 data server is a strategic element of IBM's Information Management software portfolio and delivers exceptionally fast OLTP performance, high reliability, and low cost administration. IDS is a leading integrated data server in many industries such as retail, telecommunications, government/public sector, and travel and entertainment. The continued popularity and use of IDS is illustrated by the fact that in North America alone, it is used in critical business applications by eight of the top 10 US retailers, and 95 percent of global telecommunications companies.

IDS 11.5 will be available worldwide beginning May 6. Customers, developers and partners can learn more about IDS 11.5 at www.ibm.com/informix/new.