IBM has placed Oracle on its radar with its planned $1 billion acquisition of Informix.
“We are Larry Ellisons worst nightmare, and it just got worse,” says Steve Mills, group executive of IBM Software Group.
IBMs existing DB2 Universal database will continue to be its lead database product, as it rolls some Informix technologies into DB2 while maintaining existing Informix database products as a separate lineup.
The acquisition, set to close in Q3, will give IBM solid technology, a trained staff of 2,500 and a customer list of 100,000, Mills says.
Also, the deal allows IBM to leverage Informixs channel of VARs and ISVs that build applications on top of its database, says James Governor, analyst with Illuminata, a research firm. About 25 percent of Informix revenue is derived from indirect sales, compared with 41 percent of DB2 sales.
The acquisition will help IBM in its database war against Oracle, as it looks to integrate additional analytical functionality, such as OLAP, cube analysis and automated summary tables into the database suite, IBM executives say.
In addition, Informix has made strong headway with its Cloudscape mobile relational database and Cloudsynch device synchronization software, which can be used in IBMs DB2 and Websphere Everyplace suites, says Illuminatas Governor.