Mr. Consolidation visits the database market

C|Net is reporting that IBM will purchase the Informix database unit for $1 billion. IBM plans to continue marketing and development of the product, giving them a two pronged path. Having lived through this scenario when Sun bought NetDynamics and then partnered with AOL on iPlanet, I have serious doubts that this will do anything but hurt IBM. The biggest questions will be:

– Customer uncertainty, regardless of IBM statements, that Informix will continue to be supported and enhanced; and,

– Salesforce uncertainty over which product to sell, especially (but not only) to new customers. If they stop selling Informix to new accounts, eventually the business will wither away.

All in all, while initial analyst reaction is positive, I doubt this will be sucessful.