Why Informix is going to outlive all of us
Jon Wood
Data Practice Lead
Informix is going to outlive all of us. I can make that prediction with confidence.
It’s a bold statement. But if any database has earned that kind of longevity claim, it’s Informix.
For more than three decades, Informix has been the quiet constant in industries that can’t afford downtime, delays, or data inconsistencies. It isn’t showy. It doesn’t trend on tech blogs. Yet it powers systems that millions of people interact with every day, who don’t even realise it.
Informix is the power behind the curtain: unseen, unfaltering, indispensable.
The power behind the curtain and what makes Informix tick
IBM describes Informix as:
“A high-performance, object-oriented and relational database that seamlessly integrates into applications, effectively capturing data of any size or complexity.”
In plain terms, that translates into one thing above all: resilience at scale.
Informix can process millions of transactions per second with full consistency, concurrency, and reliability, even under immense pressure.
That’s why it underpins mission-critical platforms across industries, including:
- Online gaming and sports betting platforms
- Retail and e-commerce websites with relentless transaction volumes
- Financial services and trading environments
- Transport and logistics networks processing live operational data
- Manufacturing plants managing industrial-scale IoT sensor streams
If you’ve ever placed a last-minute bet, tracked a parcel, or swiped your card during the Saturday rush, Informix may well have been working behind the scenes.
They say, we say: two perspectives on Informix
IBM’s definitions are accurate, but Claranet sees how Informix behaves out in the wild.
Here’s how the two viewpoints line up when compared directly.
What IBM Says | What We See (Claranet’s Take) |
Autonomics: Informix automates many operational tasks, reducing day-to-day manual intervention. | Informix’s autonomics keep it running smoothly most of the year. But when something significant happens, like major upgrades, replatforming, or complex performance issues, you need a deep Informix specialist. Because their expertise is critical, the rarity of Informix specialists can be challenging for many organisations. |
Scalability: Informix runs everywhere, from Raspberry Pi to enterprise-grade servers, supporting massive transaction throughput. | Informix isn’t just scalable, it’s deployment-agnostic. It can run on any cloud, any platform, any architecture. For businesses juggling hybrid environments, that flexibility is a huge advantage. |
Availability: Informix provides industry-leading high availability through four native replication technologies. | Informix’s high-availability cluster options are exceptionally strong, but designing, maintaining, and testing these architectures requires niche experience. With IBM committed to long-term support, organisations can invest confidently, as long as they have access to the right technical expertise. |
Why Informix has stood the test of time
Databases come and go. Informix remains. Why?
- It excels at demanding transactional and analytical workloads.
- It supports SQL, NoSQL/JSON, BSON, time series, spatial-temporal data, and custom types, all in one engine.
- It can run on-prem, virtualised, public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud.
- It forms a strong foundation for modern AI and ML applications.
IBM has repeatedly reaffirmed its long-term commitment to Informix, with a roadmap shaped around evolving enterprise needs. This is not a legacy product waiting for retirement, it’s a platform built to endure.
Informix in the age of AI
Informix isn’t just being maintained, it’s being modernised.
It now integrates with IBM watsonx™, enabling governed, zero-ETL access to Informix and other data sources. It also supports real-time data processing across hybrid cloud environments, ensuring that AI models have access to the freshest possible data.
Planned enhancements also include deeper AI and ML workflow integration, reinforcing Informix’s role not just as a transactional engine but as an active participant in data-driven innovation.
Where complexity demands expertise
Informix is remarkably self-sufficient day-to-day. For months at a time, it may require minimal hands-on management.
But when complexity arrives, it arrives all at once.
The biggest challenges come during:
- Major version upgrades
- Infrastructure migrations or replatforming
- Designing new HA/DR architectures
- Severe performance or stability issues
- Expanding workloads into cloud environments
These aren’t everyday tasks, but when they happen, they matter. And because most organisations don't need Informix expertise on hand at all times, they rarely have it in-house when a high-impact moment emerges.
Alongside this, Informix licensing, and optimising the system once it's running, is a specialist discipline in its own right
To get maximum ROI, organisations need two things:
- Reliable, expert management when it matters most
- Smart, compliant licensing optimisation
Both are difficult to achieve without support.
A database built to endure, with the right support
At Claranet, we don’t see Informix as “old technology.” We see it as a proven foundation for mission-critical workloads that simply can’t fail. Its longevity isn’t an accident, it’s the result of resilience, adaptability, and performance at scale."
You may want to combine the two, saying that its resilience, adaptability, and performance at scale causes it to outperform in places where performance matters most.
If it’s running your business-critical workloads today, it doesn’t need replacing, it needs the right care and attention. With specialist guidance, Informix becomes, not a legacy burden, but a long-term competitive advantage.
With the support of Claranet’s Informix experts, you can keep your mission-critical systems running smoothly, while focusing on your business, not your database.
Find out more how we can help you get more from your data, or contact us below.