| IBM Informix | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | IBM / HCL Technologies |
| Stable release | 15.0.0.1 / March 15, 2025 (2025-03-15)[1] |
| Type | Multi-model database |
| License | Commercialproprietary software |
| Website | www |
| HCL Informix | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | HCL Technologies |
| Stable release | 15.0.0.1 / March 31, 2025 (2025-03-31)[2] |
| Type | Multi-model database |
| License | Commercialproprietary software |
| Website | www |
| OneDB | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer | HCL Technologies |
| Stable release | 2.0.1.3 / May 12, 2023 (2023-05-12)[3] |
| Type | Multi-model database |
| License | Commercialproprietary software |
| Website | www |
Informix[4][5][6] is a product family within IBM's Information Management division that is centered on severalrelational database management system (RDBMS) andmulti-model database offerings. The Informix products were originally developed byInformix Corporation, whose Informix Software subsidiary was acquired by IBM in 2001.
In April 2017, IBM delegated active development and support toHCL Technologies for 15 years, with a number of IBM employees working on Informix also moving to HCL. As part of this arrangement IBM will continue to market and sell it as IBM Informix to their customers, with HCLTech able to market and sell it as HCL Informix.[7]
The Informix database has been used in many high transaction rateOLTP applications in the retail, finance, energy and utilities, manufacturing and transportation sectors. More recently the server has been enhanced to improve its support fordata warehouse workloads.[8] Through extensions, Informix supports data types that are not a part of theSQL standard.
On December 29, 2021,Actian (formerly Ingres Corporation) became fully owned by HCL America.[9] Actian remained a separate entity, now acting as theData, Analytics and Insights division of HCLSoftware.[10] It is expected that the Informix portfolio will be transferred from HCL to Actian, with HCL Informix and OneDB already available for download at Actian's Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) portal.
As of 2025, the current version of both IBM and HCL Informix is 15.0. The major enhancement in v15.0 over previous releases is the removal of most internal limits including limits on the number of rows per data page, the number of data pages in a table partition,availability of additional larger page sizes, and the total storage that can be managed by a single Informix instance.
IBM Informix is offered in a number of editions, including free developer editions, editions for small and mid-sized business, and editions supporting the complete feature set and designed to be used in support of the largest enterprise applications. There used to be an advanced data warehouse edition, including the Informix Warehouse Accelerator (IWA), but it was deprecated in favor of the Advanced Enterprise Edition (which give entitlement rights to IWA).
As of February 2026, there are 6 available editions of IBM Informix:
For information about the kind of support available for a specific product version, go to theIBM Informix Product Lifecycle page athttp://www.ibm.com/software/data/support/lifecycle/.
HCL Informix is offered under a single commercial version, which is compatible with the IBM Informix Advanced Enterprise Edition, also having rights to IWA. There is also a trial version available, with no known limits, except for an expiration date. HCL Informix 14.10 and later versions provides functional parity with IBM Informix for on-premises deployments.
On July 24, 2020, HCL announced OneDB Database Server V1.0.0.0 as a multi-model (relational, object-relational, and dimensional) DBMS based on Informix.[17] On August 19, 2021 HCL released OneDB 2.0 as a cloud native, multi-cloud, Kubernetes-orchestrated offering.[18]
| HCL Informix Version | General availability | End of Enterprise Support | End of Extended Support | End of Obsolescence Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latest version:HCL Informix 15.0 | November 14, 2024 | November 31, 2029 | November 31, 2030 | November 31, 2033 | This release focuses on massive scalability and performance improvements by removing most internal limits. Key enhancements include support for 8-byte row identifiers, allowing single fragments to grow up to 140 trillion pages, and 8-exabyte chunks. It also features enhanced Informix HQ monitoring, JSON compatibility, and better resource utilization. |
| Supported: HCL Informix 14.10.10 (and later) | March 31, 2023 | March 31, 2027** | March 31, 2028 | March 31, 2031 | The major enhancements made in v14.10 over previous releases were adding built-in index compression, integration of JSON collections with support forMongoDB JSON drivers into the server, and an enhancement permitting database objects to be partitioned across multiple servers in a cluster or grid (akasharding). Queries can optionally return data from the locally connected server instance or from an entire grid with the same SQL. All on-premises releases prior to HCL Informix 14.10.10 reached end of support on July 1, 2025. New dates have been published for 14.10.10 which does not contain Flexnet and has full lifecycle dates from the base 14.10 release. |
| Unsupported: HCL Informix 14.10.01 - 14.10.05 | March 14, 2019 | March 31, 2024 | March 31, 2025 | June 30, 2025* | Informix 14.10 introduced support for partial indexing where only a subset of the rows in a table are indexed and for multi-valued key indexes which support indexing the elements within multi-valued data types such as LIST, SET, MULTISET, and BSON array fields. Heterogeneous clusters are fully supported, and there are several deployment options that are available, including some that provide very high levels of data redundancy and fault tolerance. This feature is marketed by IBM as Informix Flexible Grid. |
| Unsupported: HCL Informix 12.10.x | July 11, 2018 | July 31, 2023 | July 31, 2024 | June 30, 2025* | Informix 12.10 introduced enhanced JSON support, including direct loading into TimeSeries via TSL_PutJson(), alongside security updates like PAM authentication for DRDA and new configuration parameters for improved memory and lock management. Later fixpacks (xC4+) enabled automatic JSON compatibility, with improved BTS indexing and SQL packages for better application compatibility. |
| OneDB Version | General availability | End of Enterprise Support | End of Extended Support | End of Obsolescence Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latest version:OneDB 2.0.1.3 | May 12, 2023 | May 31, 2026* | May 31, 2028 | May 31, 2030 | All on-premises releases prior to OneDB 2.0.1.3 reached end of support and cease to function on July 1, 2025. New dates have been published for 2.0.1.3 which does not contain Flexnet and has full lifecycle dates. |
| Unsupported: OneDB 2.0 – 2.0.1.2 | August 19, 2021 | August 31, 2024 | June 30, 2025* | N/A | HCL OneDB 2.0.1.1 addressed an Apache Log4j vulnerability (December 2021). HCL OneDB 2.0.1.2 added enhanced integration for HCL Commerce and HCL Unica, as well as wew Capabilities in Helm Chart better deployment experience in cloud native environments. |
| Unsupported: OneDB 1.0.x | September 15, 2020 | September 30, 2023 | June 30, 2025* | N/A | HCL OneDB is a derivative of the Informix database server, and so it shares a high degree of functionality with the Informix products. It is compatible with all current Informix versions at the SQL and application levels. |
[*] HCL Software deprecated usage of the Revenera Flexnet license management tool.
NOTE: The above dates apply to both the on-premises and marketplace versions.
For more information about the kind of support available for a specific product version, go to theHCL Informix Lifecycle Dates page athttps://communities.actian.com/s/supportservices/lifecycle-dates/hcl-informix-lifecycle-dates?language=en_US.
Informix is generally considered to be optimized for environments with very low or no database administration, including use as an embedded database. It has a long track record of supporting very high transaction rates and providing uptime characteristics needed for mission critical applications such as manufacturing lines and reservation systems. Informix has been widely deployed in the retail sector, where the low administration overhead makes it useful for in-store deployments.
With the ability to deeply embed Informix in gateways and routers, timeseries support, small footprint, and low administration requirements, Informix is also targeted at Internet-of-Things solutions, where many of the data-handling requirements can be handled with gateways that embed Informix and connect sensors and devices to the internet.
In addition to the products based on the version 15.0 engine the Informix family also includes a number of legacy database products which are still supported in market. These include Informix OnLine, Informix Standard Edition (SE), and Informix C-ISAM. These products are simpler and smaller footprint database engines that are also frequently embedded in third party applications. Collectively these products are often referred to as the "Informix Classics".
The Informix family also includes:
Obsolete and non-IBM Informix heritage products can run via emulation on modern hardware.[citation needed]
IBM Training includes a complete set of core Data Servers Training courses that apply toInformix. These courses delve into many essential Informix concepts, from fundamentals to advancedSQL topics.[22]
As part of IBM's Academic Initiative, IBM is offering Informix software, documentation and training to higher education institutions worldwide through its new Informix on Campus program. IBM is offering an inclusive package of Informix materials to college faculty called "Informix In a Box",[23] which offers hands-on labs and PowerPoints to use in lessons, recorded training for teachers, DVDs with class material and VMware virtual appliance images, as well as T-shirts for students.
HCL Informix training is provided byActian, the Data & Analytics division of HCLSoftware, who is in charge of commercializing this product line within the group. Actian provides HCL Informix learning courses through Actian Academy[24] and Actian Partner Academy[25], which also has a HCL Informix® 14.10 Certification.[26]
Users groups remain active[27] in Belgium,[28] Croatia,[29] France, Germany, the United States, and many other countries. TheIIUG (International Informix Users Group) acts as a federation of those user groups and provides numerous services to its members.
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