Nov 7: Companies in corporate computing environments are undergoing fast changes to suit the needs of the internet era. Informix, a database solution provider, in its effort to be a major player in the area, is drawing up large plans including expansion of solutions and server base and acquisitions to gain larger foothold in the market. The company says that it is bullish on India and has achieved an overall growth of 28 per cent this year. In an interview to The Financial Express, managing director, south Asia, N Muralidharan says Informix is also looking for acquisitions if it finds the `right candidate'. Excerpts:You have been at the drawing board with mega plans for the internet. What are these new efforts?
Internet is top on the agenda. We have released out major initiative, Informix Internet Foundation 2000. This is a software foundation, based on the object relational technology, to enable companies to meet all their requirements related to Net. The project has been in our lab forthe last two and half years and now it has been fine-tuned to meet the new requirements.
The use of Internet Foundation could be widespread. ISPs can work on creating business opportunities and improving content. The ease of use has been ensured through adoption of Java and it has one-line transaction process capabilities. The future belongs companies having real-time analysis abilities. Informix has also launched new generation of business intelligence servers and a host of customised business intelligence solutions.
Apart from this, I think the introduction of Media360 is a landmark of sorts. We have the most comprehensive end-to-end solution for media asset management aimed at broadcasting companies and generally organisations with archives in digital assets. We are working with CNN and BBC while discussion is going on with Zee TV, Star TV and Eenadu group on the advantages of the solution. This is an object-oriented technology solution for solving business problems of large any media house. We are inthis niche market with an intention to capture the full market.
What about the Indian market? Are you pitching in here with these new plans?
Informix is working on an aggressive scheme for this market. We will focus on developers and programmers in Linux for providing them with licences. We are also looking integrators to work on our solutions. We have concluded few agreements with companies like Sysnet, Global Tech in Delhi and on the hardware front, it will be Compaq. We want to promote RedBrick solutions in India. We just picked up few customers for this suite like Blue Star, Godrej Tech and Samsonite.
re you looking for new acquisitions?
Informix has identified acquisitions as a major way of growth. We have just acquired Cloudscape in US. This is a company in small footprint database for distributed e-business applications such as mobile computing. The small footprint database is suitable for average size companies as it saves on overheads and memory. Other than this, we arelooking for acquisitions in India.
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