Dear Customers and Business Partners,

I wanted to take this opportunity to give you an update on IBM's strategic direction for Informix® software. Your existing Informix database software investments will be extended in future releases. IBM remains committed to the Informix platform, and we're backing up that commitment by investing to support and enhance the Informix software portfolio as technology evolves. We are basing this investment on the positive feedback we've received from Informix end users, our business partners, and the analyst community.

A proof point of that commitment was the release of Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) Version 10.0 last year. In addition, we launched a new product IDS Express v10 in to the market place. We have built superior feature and function enhancements into IDS v10. It’s the fastest, most reliable and most scalable IDS database ever. In short, IDS is a strategic full featured pure OLTP data server.

Delivering high quality IT services today is harder than ever; requiring development and management of highly complex systems. IBM is simplifying this task for our Informix customers by providing a broad spectrum of industry-leading business integration, systems management, collaboration, application development and information management software that is integrated and certified with Informix products.

The current Informix enhancement plan outlines product strategy through the year 2011. Looking at a five year view is consistent with other IBM software products. This plan includes work on the future version of Informix Dynamic Server (IDS), the follow on to the currently available IDS V10 product. One of the keys to our strategy is R&D investment for integrating Informix across the IBM software portfolio—Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, WebSphere, and, of course, IBM Information Management software.

We've based this strategy on what you've been telling us. We understand that you want to be able to use Informix solutions to make your business On Demand. As a result, IBM will continue support for the worldwide ecosystem of Informix application providers, solution providers and resellers. And you'll continue to enjoy the flexibility of running Informix on your choice of hardware and operating system platforms.

IBM has the largest R&D organization in the world. Since Informix software became part of the IBM family, IBM R&D has delivered significant improvements to Informix's overall capabilities. IBM's depth of innovation, superior service and support, solutions integration,adherence to standards, strong business partnerships, and solution value remains unmatched. I am personally committed to the success of your business, and to delivering the best available technology to support your current IT investment.

For more information and details on Informix (IDS) please visit our website at

Thank you for continuing to work with IBM. We will keep working hard to deliver you leading edge technology in support of your business objectives.

Sincerely,

Ambuj Goyal

General Manager, Information Management Software

IBM Software Group