Cloud Integration Leader - Cloud Migration Leader at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
We like the solution for our synchronous communications and transactional applications that require a lot of CPS
Pros and Cons
  • "We like IBM MQ for our synchronous communications and transactional applications that require a lot of CPS."
  • "It's not always easy for applications to connect to IBM MQ, but I think it's fine in general."

What is our primary use case?

We use MQ for our transactional layer in conjunction with IBM Bus. We use MQ for our web application servers and many of our processes.

What is most valuable?

We like IBM MQ for our synchronous communications and transactional applications that require a lot of CPS.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using IBM MQ for about 10 years, but we are currently in the process of migrating our IBM workload to the integration layer in AWS.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM MQ is highly stable.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The portion of IBM MQ that we have in the cloud is scalable, but the on-premise part isn't so much. However, we are working on sending our loads to cloud.

How are customer service and support?

IBM support is good. I would rate it nine out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

It's straightforward to set up IBM MQ because we can use it in lightweight modules, like containers, for example. It's not always easy for applications to connect to IBM MQ, but I think it's fine in general.

What other advice do I have?

I rate IBM MQ nine out of 10. It's a good solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sr. Solution Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easy to use and compatible with many languages, but could be easier to integrate
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found that the solution scales well."
  • "The integration capabilities could be even easier."

What is our primary use case?

Mainly we are using MQ to pass the orders in the format of messages. We use MQ mainly for all the asynchronous messages that we pass.

What is most valuable?

It's easy to use and also quite compatible with all the language technologies where they can read messages and they can push messages to Java. It's easy to integrate and compatible with most coding languages.

The solution is stable.

I have found that the solution scales well. 

What needs improvement?

The integration capabilities could be even easier. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for a while now. It's been maybe ten or 15 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been good. The performance is reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so. It's easy.

We have a team of about five on the solution right now. 

We do not have plans to increase the number of users at this time. 

How are customer service and support?

IBM technical support for any product is pretty much the same across the board. I have no complaints. They are okay. They are fast and knowledgeable. 

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

We have been using MQ for a long time. In the past we were using a custom-developed framework instead of MQ, however, that was ten to 15 years ago.

How was the initial setup?

I can't speak to how the initial setup went. Those kinds of tasks are handled by the technology team. Therefore, I can't say if it was an easy or complex process.

I'm not sure, ultimately, how long the deployment process was.

What about the implementation team?

I wasn't a part of the process. I can't say if we enlisted outside help or not. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You do need to pay a licensing fee in order to use this product. We pay it on a yearly basis. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm not following the versioning part. I'm not sure which version we are using currently. 

I'd advise new users to try it out as it is easy to integrate, scalable, and stable. 

I'd rate the solution, in general, at a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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March 2024
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Technical Specialist at a maritime company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Offers very good performance as well as scalability and stability
Pros and Cons
  • "Offers good performance as well as scalability and stability."
  • "Should have more integration in the monitoring tools."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a technical specialist and we are customers of IBM. 

What is most valuable?

This solution offers good performance as well as scalability and stability. It offers a template that's beneficial for any company.

What needs improvement?

I'd very much like to see more integration in the monitoring tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for nine 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 solution offers very good scalability. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. It's all about planning because we have multiple application teams involved. Deployment takes somewhere between half an hour to an hour, but for the coordination to check and perform from the application side, takes almost a full day because we have critical, multiple applications. It needs to be coordinated and we need to be sure they are able to connect perfectly with our environment or with the MQ.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay an annual license fee. 

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this product and rate it a nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Assistant Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
The architecture provides assured delivery
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the architecture it provides seamlessly for assured delivery."
  • "They have provided a Liberty Profile in the Web Console for administration, and that could be further enhanced. It is not fit for use by an enterprise. They have to get rid of their WebSphere process and develop a front-end on Node.js or the like."

What is our primary use case?

It's predominantly for message queuing, to assure delivery.

Our team manages messaging aspects with this product, among others.

What is most valuable?

I like the architecture it provides seamlessly for assured delivery.

What needs improvement?

The monitoring could be even better by building it into the product. The disaster recovery mechanism could also be built-in. 

I would like to see them not rely on third-party tools for everything.

Finally, they have provided a Liberty Profile in the Web Console for administration, and that could be further enhanced. It is not fit for use by an enterprise. They have to get rid of their WebSphere process and develop a front-end on Node.js or the like.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with IBM MQ for almost seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable, for sure.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are facing some issues with the scalability in some of the components. That can be improved.

How are customer service and technical support?

We are satisfied with the technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It takes a few minutes.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We started with IBM but we have recently been looking at Kafka and Solace.

What other advice do I have?

If you have mission-critical applications that rely on an exchange of data, and the data is very valuable, then I would suggest using MQ.

We have a team of people of 50 to 60 people using it, in middleware admin.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user632733 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant
It allows data transmission from multiple platforms in a fault-tolerant manner.

What is most valuable?

It allows data transmission from multiple platforms in a fault-tolerant manner, that's the biggest feature. It is important for us because we do a lot of data transformation and data transmission between different systems; that's one of the biggest things that we do.

How has it helped my organization?

It's the backbone of all our data transformation and integration. Thus, this solution is our main integration platform.

What needs improvement?

Maybe, there should be a containerized version of the application, that can be deployed on the enterprises. So, there is need for a Docker container version of this product.

They need to do a better job of getting it into the open-source world, so that other people, who are more dependent on open-source technologies, start using it as well.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've been using it for ten plus years now, so it's been good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It has scaled to all our needs.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have used technical support. I can't think of any issues with technical support. We've received the support that we needed, on time.

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

We've been using it for a long time. We were not using any other solution before.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We probably looked at IBM and Red Hat solutions. The reason as to why we chose IBM is because they are more mature in that area.

Longevity, deep support and technical depth are my most important criteria in selecting a vendor.

What other advice do I have?

You should take a look into this solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sudipta Datta - PeerSpot reviewer
Sudipta DattaMarketing Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
MSP

IBM MQ can be shipped in Docker www.youtube.com

it_user631719 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Architect at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
It scales and does guaranteed delivery. It can handle messages in various formats and structures.
Pros and Cons
  • "It's ability to scale, it's ability to do guaranteed delivery and it's ability to do point-to-point of what we subscribe are the most valuable features."
  • "I would like the ability to connect with some of the more recent offerings, such as API Connect; being able to publish our MQ endpoints, the queues, the messaging infrastructure as IT assets."

How has it helped my organization?

The benefit would be scale. Because of the way it works, you can really have many, many users who use the solution at the same time. Other benefits would be the ability to send messages between systems and do systems integration, without interrupting their run-time behavior.

What is most valuable?

It's ability to scale, it's ability to do guaranteed delivery and it's ability to do point-to-point of what we subscribe are the most valuable features. And finally, it's ability to handle messages in various formats and structures.

What needs improvement?

I would like the ability to connect with some of the more recent offerings, such as API Connect; being able to publish our MQ endpoints, the queues, the messaging infrastructure as IT assets. To control them, govern them and manage them and being able to publish non-functional requirements around it. For example, we support this size of the payload, we support this much throughput. Making it known and available to the rest of the organization, because this technology is so technical in nature, business management doesn't understand it. I would really like a business-friendlier or end-user friendly information layer, and some kind of simple ability to communicate what we have with the users.
I want an information layer that I can publish and tell the whole rest of the organization this is what you get.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, it has worked for us. It is an old technology and it has always worked well for us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

You can really have many, many users who use the solution at the same time.

How are customer service and technical support?

We haven't had to use support much, because we have really good people. So, it has worked for us the way we wanted.

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

We did not have a previous solution. We always knew we needed something that worked asynchronously, something that did the messaging in the background. The reason we knew we needed MQ is, it's one of the integration backgrounds we supported and this was an obvious choice.

When selecting a vendor, the knowledge and the experience that the vendor has is most important. For example, IBM has had MQ for forever. So, that's definitely helpful. It's finding resources that know the product and technology and obviously the ability to support the platform. And, when necessary, be able to guide the customer through various usages and integrations with the rest of the IT infrastructure.

How was the initial setup?

In the latest installation that we are talking about right now, I was not involved. But, for other installations in the past, I was involved in the set up and it was pretty straightforward. I'd consider MQ one of the simplest products to use.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't look at many alternatives. We considered the Microsoft platform for a little bit, but we almost always knew we wanted to do this with MQ.

What other advice do I have?

If they're thinking about a solution similar to this, I would say, look at your requirements and not just the business requirements. People often stop at that point. Look at your ability to support and run the platform, and the cost of running the platform, because, depending on your need, it could be very expensive to run a large messaging infrastructure. Also, think about what non-functional requirements you want to support now, but what you might have to support three, five, or ten years down the road. Think about it from the bigger picture perspective. And don't implement the solution for one small single requirement. People often make that mistake. They commit to a big licensing and support cost but what they're running is very small and there is not very much value added. That’s a problem there. So look at whether can you put a lot of solutions on it. Can you use it as a platform rather than a points solution is what I would look for.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user631695 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Programmer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
The messaging and the security are the most valuable features.

What is most valuable?

The messaging and the security are the most valuable features. We can find everything in queue, because that's the basis of our business.

How has it helped my organization?

It is hard to say how it has improved the way my organization functions because it's been here since the beginning. I'm not sure I have an answer.

What needs improvement?

Right now, I can't think of anything that needs improving.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is great. We have not had any issues recently. Version 7 was a tough one, but since then, they've improved it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is great. We use it on Unix, Linux, z/OS, Windows, everything.

How are customer service and technical support?

We use technical support, the PMR, all the time and it's great. It's usually really quick.

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

It was too long ago; it wasn't my decision to switch.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved with the initial setup. It wasn't quite straightforward because the original versions used CICS and that was a little tricky sometimes. But, then they went and made the agent as part of the package of using the CICS.

What other advice do I have?

Go for MQ. It will solve your problems for interconnectivity and just whatever you need to do; scalability wherever you need to go.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user632730 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
We can track work orders and requests, so as to provide better customer service. A more graphical user interface is required.

What is most valuable?

We use the WebSphere and also use the IBM Maximo Enterprise Management System. The most usable functionality for us is just for tracking work orders and work requests, so that we can provide better customer service.

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved the way my organization functions by just being less paper, and more efficient with timing; again, going back to the customer service, with clients being able to close their work orders within a shorter time frame.

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see a more graphical user interface type of configuration for the application.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Normally, the system is very stable but we've actually just got a call, "Part of it's down!" So, at the moment, we have got a bit of downtime.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is enormous, which creates issues as well as has benefits. The scalability adds complexity to it. It is scalable, but with some caveats.

How is customer service and technical support?

We honestly don't utilize IBM for tech support. We have an independent partner that we use for all of our IT support for this product.

What other advice do I have?

It works well, but I think that the overall scale of what you can do with this product adds, again, to the level of complexity, as to what you need in-house for support.

Definitely, you should go out and really try and define your requirements before you actually go out to look at other products. You should know exactly how you're going to use it, and what you hope to get out of this product. Thus, you will have better information to actually go out and compare different products.

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: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM MQ Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.