This year has been the most exciting in recent memory for the Informix community. Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) is back on the front page with the press, users, and IBM. And the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) will continue that fanfare with a conference run by and for technical users called "The Power Conference for Informix Professionals."

The event is set for April 27-30, 2008 in Overland Park, Kansas. Sunday features at least six half-day tutorials that provide an opportunity to meet with the best minds in the Informix community. More than 50 technical sessions with a strong emphasis on IDS 11 and application development (and a few parties) take place Monday through Wednesday.

An IIUG Board member once told me that the best thing she ever saw at an Informix conference was the renowned Jonathan Leffler sitting on the floor explaining the ins and outs of IDS to a few users. This is the kind of event we've created.

Famous Informix developers including Leffler (we'll make sure he has a chair this time) will be there. IBM's Kevin Brown and John Miller can tell you how to optimize your IDS database like no one else in the world. Madison Pruet, the father of modern IDS replication, can tell you how to set up replication in 15 minutes. Scott Lashley will tell you all about IDS internals and then some. And Carlton Doe and Scott Pickett can tell you about real-life IDS situations. I've always said that you can learn more in one hour from these presenters than in a full-day training class.

Tracks for this inaugural event include: The Informix Edge, Informix for DBAs, Informix for Application Developers, and the Advanced Support Track.To learn more, go to www.iiug.org/conf. Sign up early to get the best registration price (less than $500).

In other Informix news, the IIUG Member area now has two special downloads: IDS 11.1 Developer Edition, which can be used at no charge for development environments of up to 10 users, and the new Open Admin Tool (OAT).

Finally, I need to mention IBM's SWAC (Solutions, Whitespace Acquisitions, and Channels), a global teleWeb lead generation program designed to reach out to potential midmarket prospects using IBM reps in call centers around the world. SWAC has worked with Informix partners in the past and could always use more. If you're interested, contact William Freiwah (wfreiwah@ca.ibm.com) and tell him Stuart sent you.

Stuart Litel [iiug.org/president] is CTO of Kazer Inc. and president of the International Informix Users Group.