IBM InfoSphere Optim Reviews

My current use case for IBM InfoSphere Optim is just for doing backups.

We are using IBM InfoSphere Optim specifically for backup purposes.

The compression feature is valuable because it achieves around 80% compression.

The potential room for improvement for IBM InfoSphere Optim is usually its cost, as it is too expensive.

Currently, there are no issues with IBM InfoSphere Optim; the only problem is the cost, which is why we are already looking for an alternative.

We have been using IBM InfoSphere Optim for around 4 years.

We have not contacted technical support from IBM for almost 3 years, so I cannot comment on that.

Neutral

The initial setup of IBM InfoSphere Optim is simple. The implementation is easy to understand and straightforward.

I am still working with IBM and we are transitioning to other tools rather than using IBM InfoSphere Optim.

We use other tools, but I cannot recall the name because I am not the one currently handling it. It has transitioned to other architects.

For IBM InfoSphere Optim, we are still currently using it, but we have transitioned to the newer version, the latest one with support for AWS S3.

I cannot identify a main competitor for IBM InfoSphere Optim because we have transitioned to other architects, and they are the ones looking for other tools. The last comparison I did was almost 4 years ago.

I am not using any AI technology with IBM InfoSphere Optim.

I rate IBM InfoSphere Optim a seven out of ten. The tool is good, but the price is not favorable as it is the most expensive part.

I can recommend IBM InfoSphere Optim for enterprises.

We use the solution for refreshing the data, one of the two types being a bulk refresh, which is an exact replica of what there is in production. We subset the data based on business needs, not on theta production volume. We also use the solution to mask specific PA data, such as the SSN's address, data work and phone number. We also deal with master data. 

I feel the solution to be a bit faster than the traditional methods, which makes it easy to customize. This is because it is very easy to tailor to one's requirements,  instead of needing to write the sequels. Even when it comes to the process, we find the solution to be faster than those involving traditional methods. 

We work on two different types of databases, one being IMS and the other Db2. While the solution is very supportive of Db2, it is not so friendly when it comes to IMS databases. 

When we had questions for the support team conerning the IMS database, we found their knowledge to be lacking, likely owing to lack of experience on their part. 

I would not say that the initial setup is complex. Neither would I say that it is straightforward. Certain features require technical knowledge. 

I have been using IBM InfoSphere Optim for the last three years.

While we have only been using the solution for the past three years, I have yet to encounter any issues with it. So far, it has proven itself to be stable. 

As we have only been dealing with the solution for the last three years, I am not in a position to comment on its scalability. We have not made much of an increase in the data volume or data basis.

We contacted Optim tech support for several issues concerning the initial setup. While we found them to be very supportive with all Db2-related issues, their knowledge and, likely, experience was lacking as regards those relating to IMS. 

Neutral

We did not use a different solution prior to the current one. Beforehand, manual use was employed.

We are talking about a good tool. It is neither straightforward nor complex and certain features require technical knowledge. Once the initial setup has been taken care of, the solution is fairly straightforward. 

The initial deployment lasted nearly half a year. 

There are only two or three people involved in the maintenance and management of the solution. This is handled by actual developers who are responsible for the refresh. 

I am not familiar with the licensing terms. 

Only a few people use the solution, but the consumptive output numbers nearly 200 resources. 

Going forward, we wish to use the solution for all future data researches and data masking. 

I rate IBM InfoSphere Optim as a seven out of ten. 

We use it for archiving Db2 and Oracle databases.

We like that we can easily restore the database with just a few clicks. The database is linked as well.

The cost needs to be reduced. It is a very expensive solution.

We're looking for a solution that can be implemented on AWS. IBM InfoSphere Optim can be implemented on AWS, but it costs more than double what we're currently paying. So, it's not really of good value for us.

We've had this solution since 2016.

When it comes to stability, we haven't encountered any problems so far, so I think it's very stable.

We currently have two users. It costs a lot to scale, so we're just using it on level one, top tier products.

On the Optim side, the technical support is quite good, but on other products, it's not that good.

Overall, IBM technical support could be improved.

The initial setup was a simple process because we only have a database to archive.

It took us around two weeks to deploy.

We implemented it in-house.

The maintenance is carried out by the infrastructure team.

IBM InfoSphere Optim is a very expensive solution. Actually, it's the most expensive archiving solution that we have.

The cost is per license and per gigabytes.

There are much better, cheaper alternatives such as Informatica. However, Optim has an edge when it comes to databases. I think it's better to benchmark before deciding to use a product.

If you are going to the cloud, I would suggest consulting with the provider first.

If I were to rate this solution, I would rate it at five on a scale from one to ten.

The most valuable feature of this product is the in-line masking feature for Oracle & Teradata, which works just like normal DB functions, thus giving us a lot of flexibility to mask the data & designing the overall masking process & routines.

The biggest improvement we achieved via the Optim in-line masking process is to enable an automated data masking process, by which we have minimized the manual intervention to mask PII information after every data refresh in lower environments. In addition, using the in-line masking process helped to reduce the time required for masking a huge amount of PII information & ensured similar masked data all over the organization.

• The masking process in SQL Server using Optim still requires using the Extract-Convert-Load process via a GUI tool, which again consumes lot of manual hours to set up & scramble PII information in the DB. The ECL process is also more time consuming than in-line masking.
• Also, Optim does not have a direct XML masking feature [we can still mask the data with a combination of native DB XML manipulation language using SQL and the OPTIM inline feature], which they could improve.
• Optim also cannot mask/redact BLOB, images & PDF data.

The client has been using this product for two years.

Optim 11.3 for distributed systems is a pretty stable product [both the Extract-Convert-Load process via GUI and the inline masking feature]. But we did face some issues in our z/OS system last year, which was fixed by IBM pretty quickly by introducing some new patches in their latest version.

While masking PII information in huge tables [more than 500 million record count with more than five PII columns present] the Extract-Convert-Load [ECL] process becomes extremely slow and can take a huge amount of time.

On a scale of 1 to 10 [1=worst to 10=best], I would rate technical support a 9.

The client used to use a different tool for masking, which currently is moving out of the company after they had started using Optim. The switch happened because the older tool took more time to mask PII information, and is not ideal for creating an automated masking process.

The initial setup process is quite straightforward. We have not faced any hassles during setup till now.

As the product pricing & licencing is maintained by the client's software team, I do not have enough information to comment on this subject.

I do not have much information about this subject.

Optim is an excellent tool for masking PII information in both distributed & z/OS systems. IBM is also trying to include data security & masking for big data environments. If someone is looking for masking the data on the fly after DB refresh happens on lower environments, Optim inline masking would be a very easy, scalable solution which can be easily automated.