Control-M by BMC is engineered to manage hybrid cloud workflows, offering orchestration capabilities starting at $29,000 annually. Aimed at helping growing teams, it efficiently supports cross-environment scheduling and automation needs.
Control-M offers robust cross-platform scheduling, automation, and integration with applications such as SAP and Informatica. Users appreciate its ease of use with a graphical interface, centralized management, and monitoring capabilities. Advanced features, including Managed File Transfer, automated error handling, and real-time alerts, enhance productivity. The ability to unify workflows and support diverse environments makes Control-M a trusted tool in many sectors. While improvements in reporting flexibility and API integration with tools like ServiceNow are needed, addressing performance issues during upgrades could enhance its value. Offering improved support for new technologies and cloud environments is beneficial, with cost-effectiveness being a consideration.
What are the key features of Control-M?
- Cross-Platform Scheduling: Facilitates seamless task management across various OS environments.
- Automation: Provides efficient workflow automation for complex processes.
- Third-Party Integration: Ensures smooth integration with applications like SAP and Informatica.
- Graphical Interface: Simplifies job management and monitoring with user-friendly design.
- Managed File Transfer: Enhances data transfer processes with structured handling.
- Real-Time Alerts: Offers notifications for immediate response to workflow issues.
What benefits should organizations expect from Control-M?
- Increased Efficiency: Streamlines operations and reduces manual workload.
- Enhanced Productivity: Automation and monitoring features boost operational output.
- Improved Compliance: Supports SLA achievement and regulatory requirements.
- Operational Agility: Provides flexible and adaptable task management across platforms.
Control-M is leveraged in industries like finance for enterprise scheduling and data management, supporting mainframe, Linux, Unix, Windows, and cloud platforms. It contributes to workflow orchestration and workload automation, improving operational efficiency and enhancing IT infrastructure across those environments.
IBM's Sterling Connect:Direct is a software product that offers security-hardened, point-to-point file transfers to reduce reliance on insecure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) transmissions. It is designed for high-volume file distribution within and between businesses. The solution guarantees more reliable file movement, from batch integration and movement of large images or catalogs to synchronization with distant sites. Sterling Connect:Direct also enables hybrid cloud deployment through certified containers, allowing for simple and consistent deployment lifecycle management.
Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Features
Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
- Performance capabilities such as extraordinary scalability and low latency.
- Automated, dependable file transmission that permits unattended, round-the-clock operations.
- Designed to run on a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, IBM z/OS, OpenVMS, i5/OS, and HP NonStop.
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Advanced security features with cutting-edge encryption to meet regulatory and industry standards.
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IBM certified containers for Sterling Connect:Direct are enterprise-grade, secure product editions that are scalable, secure, easy to install, and manage update and rollback processes. They also have integrated common software services for consistent deployment lifecycle management.
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Boosts transfer speed for large files over high-speed networks by up to four times the previous speed while reducing latency.
- Gives existing FTP transfers the ability to retry, checkpoint, and compress existing transfers.
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Supports a variety of network protocols, including TCP/IP, Systems Network Architecture (SNA), and an optional high-speed add-on based on Aspera FASP technology.
Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
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High performance: Takes care of your most demanding workloads, including multi-gigabyte files to large volumes of small files.
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Reliable file delivery: To help ensure predictable, assured file delivery, it offers automated scheduling, checkpoint restart, and automatic recovery.
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Secure transmission of files: Maintains the confidentiality of customer information and supports regulatory compliance measures.
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Speed up patching and installation: By deploying your solution with a certified container that contains all necessary components, you can drastically cut installation and patch time from hours to minutes.
Reviews from Real Users
Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its robust file processing and its security for file transfers. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:
Michele I., Business Unit Manager at Innovery, writes of the solution, “The file processing is done very well. By default, there are a lot of configurations that can be customized. Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is one of the stronger MFT solutions in the market, it is available in each type of installation, and offers SaaS, PaaS, YaaS, on-premise.”
Camilo M., Pre-sales Engineer at Dell EMC, mentions, “It's a great tool because it offers secure file transfers and it has a fast and efficient protocol for very large files.”
