The breakup follows Informix's March acquisition of Ardent Software Inc., a data warehousing vendor in Westboro, Mass. The as-yet-unnamed business intelligence and e-commerce venture will be headquartered at Ardent's facility, while the database company - to be called Informix Software - will be based in Silicon Valley.

Informix previously said it would have 3,900 to 4,000 employees after last month's layoffs and the planned hirings of some new sales and support workers. Last week, the company said the two separate companies will have a combined workforce of about 3,400 people.

In addition, the company warned that it expects to report a third-quarter operating loss of $15 million to $24 million, which will be widened by restructuring charges and other one-time expenses totaling as much as $90 million.

Meanwhile, the Informix Software database operation will try to breathe new life into the company's core database technology. The database company, which expects revenue of $780 million to $800 million this year and will start out with 2,300 employees, is expected to be run by Jim Foy, another former Ardent executive who was named a senior vice president at Informix last month.

In an attempt to revitalize its database sales, Foy said, Informix has a new technical architecture on the drawing board, after having recently completed a detailed analysis of its existing technology.

One More Chance

Consulting firm AMR Research Inc. in Boston described Informix's breakup move as "a last-ditch effort to reinvigorate" the company's database business.