Digital, Informix Link in Asia To Increase Database Sales
May 17, 2011
SINGAPORE -- U.S. information-technology companies Digital Equipment Corp. and Informix Corp. have formed a partnership in the Southeast Asian region that they believe will help boost sales of high-end database packages. The two are working together in the expectation that they can jointly tackle what they see as a booming market for database technology in the region, particularly in the area of data warehousing and Internet applications, executives of the companies said. Data warehousing is a powerful form of storing, retrieving and manipulating information, in forms ranging from pure numbers to text or video, that allows users to identify patterns. Data-warehousing technology currently is used mostly by large multinational banks and airlines, but its appeal is spreading to governments and smaller local companies, said Lavergne Riffe, director for sales and marketing for Digital's Systems Business Unit in Southeast Asia. Pressures From Growth ``Increasingly this is addressing quality-of-life issues,'' he said. Given the social and technological pressures created by the booming growth in the region, ``if we can't master the technology of data management, we will come to a standstill,'' he added. Digital has worked with the governments in Singapore, Thailand and Bangladesh on projects ranging from traffic planning to water management. Asian companies, such as local banks trying to compete with their international counterparts, are increasingly interested in data-warehousing technology in order to match competitive mortgage rates, for example. In an attempt to show more clearly the possibilities that Digital's hardware and Informix's software provide together, the two companies have built a demonstration unit at Informix's Singapore office, which runs a variety of their top-end products. Digital invested $500,000 in the center, which is equipped with its Alphaserver 8000 equipment. The companies are assembling a smaller center in Thailand. The companies chose to work together in part because Informix built many of its software products specifically to run on the technology involving 64-bit memory chips that Digital's hardware uses. Dialing In Potential clients, or the so-called systems integrators that assemble whole computer systems for companies from individual component makers, can test the Digital-Informix package, said Winford Morrell, managing director of Informix for Southeast Asia. Potential clients also can dial into their own computer systems with the model and test it using their own data, and can send employees for training at the center. ``We're creating a rare environment where all the pieces are already in place, and the systems integrator can bring a customer to show them what they would be getting,'' says Mr. Morrell. The companies appear to be off to a strong start together, with revenue from combined business in the region increasing sixfold in the second quarter. But they declined to provide further figures. ``This rate of growth should continue for the next 18 months,'' said Mr. Morrell.
