Informatica Introduces PowerCenter For Mainframe

New release provides high-performance platform for improving reliability, reducing costs of data integration on the IBM mainframe

IBM PARTNERWORLD 2005, LAS VEGAS, February 28, 2005—To help companies better leverage the ever-growing amount of corporate data residing on IBM eServer zSeries mainframe systems, Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA) today introduced PowerCenter for Mainframe, a new release of its market-leading PowerCenter data integration platform designed to integrate data directly on the mainframe.  The combination of PowerCenter for Mainframe with Informatica PowerExchange's unique data access and changed data capture technology creates an industry-leading end-to-end data integration platform, which can help enterprises extend the value of their mainframe investments with near-universal mainframe access and a holistic view of enterprise information, while maximizing the reliability and reducing the costs of data integration processing. 

"PowerCenter for Mainframe brings data integration to zSeries mainframes via open standard technologies, thus helping solidify the mainframe's position in the enterprise," said John Entenmann, executive vice president of corporate strategy and marketing at Informatica. "Our aim is to provide increased flexibility and opportunities for customers with mainframe investments-enabling them to avoid unnecessary expense, effort and risk when integrating mainframe data, and to make the most of ongoing advances in mainframe storage, performance, security and reliability without requiring custom coding."

Analysts estimate that more than 70 percent of enterprise data currently resides on mainframes. A growing number of companies are moving to consolidate their increasingly complex data and operations onto these highly reliable systems.

Running on IBM zSeries servers, PowerCenter for Mainframe directly addresses this trend with a unified data integration platform that leverages the business-critical aspects of mainframe computing while providing the same time-to-value and cost-of-ownership advantages that PowerCenter brings to non-mainframe environments. These include PowerCenter's metadata-driven architecture for defining integration tasks once and deploying them anywhere on or off the mainframe, and Informatica PowerExchange's ability to access real-time, changed-only and batch data.

"We have numerous clients who want to better leverage their existing mainframe investments, and see tremendous market opportunities for PowerCenter for Mainframe," said R. Kalyana Raman, regional practice manager of the BI-EAI-KM Practice at Tata Consultancy Services, a leading systems integrator. "TCS has tested the product extensively and finds it to be not only a high-performance platform, but also an extremely flexible solution for a broad range of enterprise data integration needs that rely on mainframes."

In harnessing the IBM zSeries server for data integration, PowerCenter for Mainframe automatically inherits its scalability, availability, security and manageability advantages, as well as the ability to leverage substantial mainframe processing power. Data integration processing is performed natively on the zSeries mainframe servers, at the point where the data resides, as opposed to off-loading data to another platform for processing. This further enhances IT's control over its critical mainframe data and eliminates costly data transfers and conversions.

PowerCenter for Mainframe will be available early in the second quarter of 2005.

About Informatica
Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA) is a leading provider of enterprise data integration software. Using Informatica products, companies can access, integrate, migrate and consolidate enterprise data across systems, processes and people to reduce complexity, ensure consistency and empower the business.  More than 2,100 companies worldwide rely on Informatica for their end-to-end enterprise data integration needs. For more information, call 650-385-5000 (800-970-1179 in the U.S.), or visit http://www.informatica.com/.

Note: Informatica, PowerCenter and PowerExchange are trademarks or registered trademarks of Informatica Corporation in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other company and product names may be trade names or trademarks of their respective owners.