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it_user631668 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager Z at BBVA
Vendor
It is the main component of our systems for delivering service to our customers.

What is most valuable?

It allows us to process online transactions for our customers and we can connect between open system platforms and CID platforms. I think this is the most important.

How has it helped my organization?

This is the main component of our systems for delivering service to our customers. Without MQ, we would not be able to work or offer our services.

What needs improvement?

I am not working on the solution directly, but my team does, so technically I don't know the solution at the level where I could provide information about areas with room from improvement.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I'm satisfied with the stability.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sometimes scaling is not easy because we are trying to connect open systems with mainframe and it's not easy. It is difficult sometimes. I'm not sure about that.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is great. We are satisfied. We call them every time we need. I would rate them a nine on a scale of one to ten.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Our support from IBM recommended the solution from the beginning, so this is what we use.

How was the initial setup?

In some places, setup is very easy and in others, it is a little bit complex. When we are trying to deliver all of our transactions from web to system CID, it's a little bit complex because the workload is not the same in both platforms. To make this work is sometimes difficult.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did look at alternatives, but our main platform is from IBM. We were thinking about other vendors but they are smaller, such as Compuware.

What other advice do I have?

Well, I think you should try to use MQ. It's a great solution. I like it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

PeerSpot user
it_user631704 - PeerSpot reviewer
DB2 Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Even if systems are down, when they come back up, it resends the messages.

What is most valuable?

Specifically for MQ, the most valuable feature is the ability for us to deliver messages between applications using the MQ message queuing.

How has it helped my organization?

It's more of a guaranteed delivery. So, even if some of our systems are down at that time of delivering messages, when our systems come back up, it goes ahead and resends the messages, so we ensure that the messages are guaranteed.

What needs improvement?

I haven't seen any features that we could exploit today that's not currently available. I think everything that's in there today in terms of features; it meets all of my requirements. Everything that were shortcomings in the past, they've already been addressed from different users. The current version 8 is very stable and contains everything that we need to run our operations.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's one of our more stable products on the CMS platform. We really haven't had any issues with that in terms of severity incidents, at least of what I'm aware of for the last three years.

It's very stable; we've not had to dedicate a lot of resources to support the product and that's a plus.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have always had some unexpected workload coming in and we haven't had any issues of scaling up or down as and when we need to, so as to handle larger message workloads.

How is customer service and technical support?

The only time that we have used support is when we do upgrades. We'll talk to IBM and maybe resolve some of the discrepancies in the product. IBM is very helpful. They are very responsive and if they can't answer the question, they find the person that can.

What other advice do I have?

Look at the use case and verify that this product, i.e, the IBM MQ, can meet all of those requirements. If not, then go back and say that this is the feature that we probably may need, because every company may be different in terms of requirements for the product. If they have something that is beyond what this product is capable of delivering, then go ahead, open up a price quote for it.

It has always delivered and met all of our application requirements. Due to this, it has no shortcomings that I've experienced.

The criteria we look for while selecting a vendor are stability, where they are in the market place, what other research firms have placed them for the area we are looking for like Forrester and RAD group. We depend on them a lot to narrow down the number of vendors that we are looking for.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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IBM MQ
May 2025
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it_user523143 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It provides content security and delivery from the network protocol perspective.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are content security and content delivery, from a whole network protocol perspective.

It's adapting itself to get into every single component throughout the entire world being Java enabled.

How has it helped my organization?

We are able to transport data across any platform in a secure fashion, be it internal or external.

From the send and forget perspective, MQ allows you to – on your own – manage your data, collect your data, and manage your data perspective.

What needs improvement?

The barrier to success is basically the engine behind the collection of the data.

I also think the administration could be a little more straightforward. Right now, we have to develop our own truly distributed administration system. There's a GUI that's really not manageable; not that easy to use.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It’s very scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is responsive; it comes out of Hursley, which is their main support and development location. There is a direct line to their development; it's very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were previously using all kinds of solutions, including SCP, SFTP, FTP and proprietary APIs. MQ allowed standardization to port data.

We decided to use WebSphere MQ because we needed data transport from all kinds of systems.

Responsiveness is the most important criteria for me when selecting or working with a vendor.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward and flexible.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not really consider any options other than MQ.

What other advice do I have?

My advice is to lay out your infrastructure in a fashion you can support.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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AdelAmer - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration developer at Central bank of Egypt
Real User
An easy-to-deploy solution for exchanging information between applications
Pros and Cons
  • "It is useful for exchanging information between applications."
  • "It could always be more stable and secure."

What is our primary use case?

I am an integration developer at a bank, and we use IBM tools to develop our solutions. We use IIB (version 10), IBM App Connect (version 11), IBM MQ (version 9.1), IBM web servers, and IBM ODM. We use IBM MQ for exchanging messages between applications.

What is most valuable?

It is useful for exchanging information between applications. 

What needs improvement?

It could always be more stable and secure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about three years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I didn't use anything before IBM MQ.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward. It took less than a minute.

What about the implementation team?

We didn't use any integrator. We have a team of about five people who work with this solution. We have developers, a team lead, and a project manager.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others. I would rate it an eight out of 10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

PeerSpot user
Lead Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Reduced various footprints of the database but it is expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "IBM MQ deals mainly with the queuing mechanism. It passes the data and it publishes it. These two abilities are the most valuable features."
  • "It is expensive. The cost is high. There should be more improvement in the new age of technologies."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for pushing data as a queuing mechanism for all the applications to send out messages. We use it as a pipeline. We also use it to publish data and for the application to extract it all.

How has it helped my organization?

In terms of runtime, we just push data. We have reduced the various footprints of the database and for transmitting the data from one location to another. MQ is reliable and more structured and it's helped us a lot in pushing the data. The data can be pushed and it will be persistent. It helps us and the connectivity between the data as two separate applications and our middleware interactions are much faster and more reliable.

What is most valuable?

IBM MQ deals mainly with the queuing mechanism. It passes the data and it publishes it. These two abilities are the most valuable features. 

What needs improvement?

IBM MQ has a lot of room for improvement. It's an older solution but they are improving the product. It's wider and it's a heavy application so it supports clusters also. 

It is expensive. The cost is high. There should be more improvement in the new age of technologies. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM MQ for ten years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is high.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their support is very good. IBM MQ is around 20 years old. The technicians have a lot of expertise with it.

How was the initial setup?

MQ is has a straightforward implementation. There is not much configuration required. It is more complicated for a cluster implementation and the active-passive implementation. You'll need more technical knowledge 

A regular deployment will take around five to 10 minutes. If it's for a cluster implementation, it will take at least 15 to 30 minutes.

We have an internal team that does the implementation. We asked IBM to do the deployment. 

What other advice do I have?

If you use it for evaluation purposes, it's good but if you're using it for freeware, it's not so good. 

Multiple fault tolerance and partition tolerance are great. 

I would rate it a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

PeerSpot user
it_user631665 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Director at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
It's reliable, forward compatible, and scalable.

What is most valuable?

It's good for messaging, very reliable, and forward compatible, so it makes our life easy when it comes to upgrades.

How has it helped my organization?

It's reliability really enables us to do our interfaces. Additionally, it scales really well, so when our needs grow, it grows with us.

What needs improvement?

We would like to see more capabilities with MQ over the internet. It would be very helpful to us to expose our API and web services. We want to see that a little bit more and we want to continue to see that it's a secure means for us to protect our data.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We are absolutely happy with the stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are absolutely happy with the scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

We did use technical support mostly when doing upgrades. I would say that we have used this solution for about 15 years already. We only encountered production problems two or three times. It is a very reliable, very solid solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've been involved with integration for a long time. When we first talked about our need to do queue messaging, MQ was the first one that came up. It proves itself.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved in the initial setup. It was straightforward.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I don't recall whether we evaluated alternatives. I think IBM was the first and the last one we reviewed a solution with.

What other advice do I have?

Do the same thing we did. Make sure that you give it a small test first to make sure the solution really works well. Then, make sure it scales.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

PeerSpot user
it_user631707 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Middleware Architect at a media company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Data is sent only once, asynchronously as well as synchronously.

What is most valuable?

WebSphere messaging, clustering and security are the most important and most valuable features.

Security is the most important thing right now. Nowadays, you can see people are hacking into systems to steal customer data. MQ has very good security features and it supports very good protocols.

How has it helped my organization?

The biggest advantage about us using messaging is that we can connect to most of the financial customers across the globe securely and data is always sent only once, asynchronously as well as synchronously.

What needs improvement?

We are moving toward the cloud. How can we migrate the existing customers to a private cloud? That's what I'm trying to figure out. Maybe it's already there. I need to know.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable product. We have been using it for more than ten years. It is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's pretty much scalable, but I'm looking to see if we can scale to cloud using the existing infrastructure. It’s like picking up buckets. It’s very lax.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have used technical support. Not for the solution, but for problems or issues. I would say that they are okay. If you want me to rate between one to ten, I would rate them four.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not previously use a different solution. This is something that we started using and it has grown tremendously in eight or ten years. It is one of the most widely used messaging solutions, internally and for external customers.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved in the initial setup. It is straightforward. Since I'm familiar with this tool and been working with it for 12 years, it was straightforward.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate any alternatives.

What other advice do I have?

I think it all depends on the business need or the price. If the budget is strict, then they go with other solutions. They compromise on the business need. If they are OK with the budget, then they just go with it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

PeerSpot user
it_user631779 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Assistance Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Real User
The message synchronization and high availability is valuable. I'm looking for improved collaboration with Message Broker and DataPower.

What is most valuable?

They keep on increasing the solutions such as for message synchronization. They have really improved it a lot, with major clustering and the high availability that it can do now. I'm still deep diving into the latest version right now. We have been using this solution for a really long time.

How has it helped my organization?

Basically, we are using the messaging part of the solution, collaborating with other technologies on the WebSphere platform. Once you do everything, then you don't really need to worry if the network is available or not. Once you are delivering the message, it's going to be sure delivery for you.

What needs improvement?

I must check this in depth. I can't really comment on areas with room for improvement, because they already introduced a lot already. I'm still new and need to explore what exactly the latest version has in it. So, only after that I can say what more we need exactly.

I have not had any issues but I'm looking for more collaboration with the Message Broker and DataPower. I feel that the MQ takes a longer time when DataPower is trying to connect to the MQ part, so I'm looking for that. But, I don't have a really good point to bring out right now.

For how long have I used the solution?

The reason we have been using the solution is because we have it for a really long time, i.e., for more than a decade.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product's stability is really good. I have recently heard that they're introducing a separate appliance for this. That's going to be a very good step for everyone.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'm so positive about it's scalability. Other than Walmart, I am working with other companies and I work with the same solution. The scalability is going to be really good and I support it to it's extreme.

How is customer service and technical support?

IBM technical support is always very great and we have a really good opportunity to talk with them, each and every time that we need support. They give us special attention. So, we're happy with the support provided.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved in all the possibilities. In the past, I have carried out the implementation process from scratch. With my current employer, I have started supporting and building more for the already existing environment.

What other advice do I have?

It's stable and they keep on just increasing the facilities they are providing in regards to clustering and the public supplied options. They're really doing good there.

IBM is doing really good and they're still growing. IBM should keep the work up in the same way and eventually they'll get there.

We have multiple offers out there from competitors, to beat out the open-sources and the competitors comparing with the license cause and the product-support cause. However, they aren't competitive enough and IBM is way above. In the end, you will get what you pay for.

It all depends on the budget. If you have the budget, then I always prefer IBM.
IBM is the more expensive solution out there, but it's worth it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM MQ Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM MQ Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.