<s>
Illustra	B-Application
was	O
a	O
commercialized	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
Postgres	B-Application
object-relational	O
database	O
management	O
system	O
(	O
DBMS	B-General_Concept
)	O
sold	O
by	O
Illustra	B-Application
Information	O
Technologies	O
,	O
a	O
company	O
founded	O
in	O
1992	O
and	O
formed	O
by	O
Michael	O
Stonebraker	O
,	O
Gary	O
Morgenthaler	O
and	O
several	O
of	O
Michael	O
Stonebraker	O
's	O
current	O
and	O
former	O
students	O
including	O
:	O
Wei	O
Hong	O
,	O
Jeff	O
Meredith	O
,	O
Michael	O
Olson	O
,	O
Paula	O
Hawthorn	O
,	O
Jeff	O
Anton	O
,	O
Cimarron	O
Taylor	O
and	O
Michael	O
Ubell	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
technology	O
's	O
extensibility	O
model	O
centered	O
on	O
DataBlade	O
modules	O
that	O
defined	O
types	O
and	O
associated	O
index	O
methods	O
,	O
operators	O
,	O
and	O
functions	O
for	O
purposes	O
and	O
data	O
domains	O
that	O
included	O
Web	O
publishing	O
,	O
search	O
and	O
manipulation	O
of	O
text	O
,	O
and	O
management	O
of	O
geospatial	B-General_Concept
information	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1995	O
,	O
NASA	O
decided	O
Illustra	B-Application
would	O
be	O
the	O
right	O
tool	O
to	O
store	O
and	O
manipulate	O
millions	O
of	O
satellite	O
photographs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
only	O
stumbling	O
block	O
was	O
the	O
company	O
size	O
:	O
with	O
only	O
150	O
employees	O
,	O
Illustra	B-Application
did	O
n't	O
have	O
the	O
manpower	O
or	O
the	O
scale	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
NASA	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
was	O
sold	O
to	O
Informix	B-Application
Corporation	O
in	O
1996	O
by	O
$400	O
million	O
in	O
stock	O
,	O
40	O
times	O
revenue	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Stonebraker	O
's	O
share	O
was	O
$6.5	O
million	O
,	O
and	O
he	O
became	O
CTO	O
of	O
Informix	B-Application
after	O
the	O
merger	O
,	O
a	O
position	O
he	O
held	O
until	O
September	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
technology	O
was	O
folded	O
into	O
the	O
Informix	B-Application
7	O
OnLine	O
product	O
line	O
,	O
shipped	O
in	O
December	O
1996	O
,	O
leading	O
eventually	O
to	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
unified	O
Informix	B-Application
Universal	O
Server	O
(	O
IUS	O
)	O
product	O
line	O
,	O
or	O
more	O
generally	O
,	O
Version	O
9	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
entire	O
Informix	B-Application
product	O
line	O
was	O
sold	O
to	O
IBM	O
,	O
which	O
continued	O
to	O
extend	O
Informix	B-Application
,	O
offering	O
several	O
editions	O
for	O
use	O
under	O
various	O
license	O
metrics	O
(	O
including	O
two	O
editions	O
which	O
are	O
free	O
of	O
charge	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
