Information Management Software

An important aspect of installing and using any software is getting help fast. There is a wide selection of online help available from IBM. Here is a list of the recommended links when using DB2 Universal Database: Please take a moment to become familiar with each site.

	DB2 Information Center for DB2 V8
	DB2 UDB support main page
	DB2 Express-C Support Forum
	DB2 Information Center for DB2 9
	Informix Dynamic Server Information Center for v10

To help you decide which database product suits your needs, please refer to the following chart:

	DB2	DB2 Express-C	Informix Dynamic Server
Target market	Multi-purpose, multi-application, and multi-structure data server (XML and relational data server)	DB2 developer and user development community (multi-structure data server - XML and relational data server)	Embeddable, full feature pure OLTP relational data server
Availability	Faculty members of IBM Academic Initiative can download to use for teaching and non- commercial research See Academic Initiative Downloads	Available to faculty and students through Express-C product site Download Express-C	Faculty members of IBM Academic Initiative Program can download fully functional software to use for teaching and non-commercial research. View all Available Downloads In addition, faculty and students can download a free developer version of IDS 11. Download IDS 11 Compare the Informix Dynamic Server Version 11 editions
Support	Installation and setup support through IBM Academic Initiative (via email)	Available through DB2 Express-C Online forum	Installation and setup support through IBM Academic Initiative (via email) or direct with IDS Developer and User Forum
Job market	Build skills that can be used by employers today	Build skills that can be used by employers today	Build skills that can be used by employers today

Important: Please be aware that there are many ways to obtain software downloads within the IBM Internet sites. These sites will present you with beta code only, unless you download the software from the IBM Academic Initiative Software Catalog.