Informix stands by Illustra integration

Database vendor Informix has firmly rebutted accusations that it would fail to integrate its own database with Illustra's, the company it took over earlier this year.

Mike Harrison, Informix UK MD, said its technology, used by the RAF in the Lits contract, would emerge in October. He was responding to statements by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison which called attempts to unite the databases absurd. 'These are the sure signs of anxiety,' said Harrison. 'From where he sits, perhaps it looks hard. We have the strongest software team in the industry.'

Ellison said: 'I'm not calling Informix a liar but the idea is nonsensical and hard. If you owned a boat and wanted it to fly and bought a plane would your boat fly?'

He claimed that the Informix database and the Illustra database would need gateways to make them work, which Harrison denied.

'These two products were both engineered and built in the last four years and they're engineered similarly, as opposed to products developed in the 1980s,' he said.