Informix Software Inc., a leading supplier of data base technology, has opened a New York development facility geared toward financial services.
This site, an "information superstore," lets customers "come in and work with Informix and our software partners to design and prototype solutions for the financial industry," said Steven R. Sommer, vice president of enterprise solutions at the Menlo Park, Calif., company.
Informix, which spent more than $5 million on the new facility, has over 30 software partners participating, Mr. Sommer said.
"We believe it is a tremendous way to increase all of our productivity and to validate things that you are trying to do before you have to go out and install them," said Phillip White, Informix's chairman and chief executive officer.
Informix operates 10 other superstores around the world, but the one in New York is the first dedicated to financial services.
The company uses the stores to make better use of its partners, but whether the strategy improves sales remains an open question, said Andrew Brosseau, managing director at Boston-based Cowen & Co.
Financial industry customers speak positively about the newest facility. "We are very interested in the superstore," said Cynthia Meyn, chief information officer of Fuji Capital Markets Corp. "We think it will be an asset to the financial services industry."
Fuji Capital, based in New York, has been an Informix customer for five years and uses its technology "to help expedite our risk management process," Ms. Meyn said.
Mr. Sommer said developing a prototype at a vendor's facility is an attractive option for many financial companies.
"A lot of our customers don't want to spend six to 12 months working by themselves picking at a solution and potentially going down the wrong path," Mr. Sommer said.
Other expected benefits for banks include exposure to new technologies and reduced research and development risk, Mr. Sommer said.
In a superstore's laboratory environment, banks can experiment with different software and system configurations-a difficult feat to pull off in-house. "Typically, it's not a great idea to experiment on production systems," Mr. Sommer said.
Mr. Sommer listed five core technologies that he expects will drive the next-generation data base solutions: the World Wide Web, object-relational programming, data marts and warehouses, smart cards, and "push" technology.
One of Informix's customers, Security First Network Bank, places a lot of stock in the warehouse applications. "We think that the financial services company of the future is really going to be oriented around a giant data warehousing capability," said Michael McChesney, chief executive officer and co-founder of Security First Network Bank.
In the warehouse model, a centralized data base accommodates real-time information feeds from a bank's transaction systems. Such feeds give rise to data mining applications that can help banks serve customers better and sell more products.
Some have availed themselves of Informix's superstores even before the company opened its New York facility.
For instance, Barclays Bank PLC visited the superstore in London. "I certainly wouldn't be here if we didn't think it was a useful approach," said Andrew Culshaw, head of information management at Barclays.
The bank worked with Informix for about three months and spent a week in the superstore, Mr. Culshaw said.
For Barclays, a lot of the experience "was just getting exposure to the new software ... they were able to try the software, to take a hands-on training course," Mr. Sommer said.
Mr. Culshaw had one word of advice for financial institutions interested in using the superstore: "prepare, prepare, prepare."
