IBM Sterling File Gateway Reviews

We exchange many files with our partners. So our primary use case for this product is for our partners to securely send us files for processing.  

The most valuable feature is really the same as our main use case: secure file transfer. I would need to consult with my operation team for any other valuable features.  

I think it would be good if IBM continues to focus on the primary use of Sterling File Gateway which is file transfer. They can continue to expand those capabilities. We can already get the files securely and we can work with the partner on some of the schedule. But the solution might also cover working with different aspects of the workflow. We have quite a big spectrum of customers in our portfolio, and having more options could help us to better work with them. The workflow capabilities are some of the key features as to why I believe IBM Sterling has been picked as a solution for this type of product in the past.  

I have been exploring whether we can expand API capabilities. I am studying what they have to offer now, but I would like it if the solution could offer even more support of API usage. It would be good to be able to make API calls yourself to do more with integration. With a more open API trend, we could place more focus on this area. That would be something I would really be looking for in future releases.  

The version that we are using will be going through some changes in support from IBM. I want to start the long term roadmap to look at how that affects our usage.  

I just joined the company, but I think they have been using the product for more than 10 years. I have been using it personally for more than five years.  

IBM Sterling is quite scalable per my experience. We cover the whole sector of a broad industry and that is a lot of users. I think it is hard to say exactly how many end-users there are. But entity-wise, we are working with more than 200 companies through our instance.  

I have had the opportunity to contact technical support and I think that the technical team is okay. We just want to be sure that the product will be good for our long term roadmap.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate this solution as a ten-out-of-ten. In the past, it seems the whole industry adopted this solution because it was the leader in the field. Whether their whole architecture will be adaptable enough for the cloud is something that needs to be studied further.  

We are using this solution for file management within our organization, and in different outlets as well.

It's highly configurable and there is no need for standalone scripting. It's adaptive, functional, and it's quick and easy to set up interfaces. It's similar to the Oracle product switch and Fusion Huawei.

The areas that need improvement are user management, user interface, and the segregation of users. These are the areas that I am battling with at the moment. It's not geared towards your user community. If you're an administrator of the system, it's fairly easy, but then to segregate the configuration and give the availability to it, it's a bit of a nightmare.

In the next release, I would like to see upgraded user segregation, user management, and looking into auto-deploys. Once you need to deploy a new bundle of software, you need some service downtime. I would like to see auto-deployment without service disruptions. That is what this industry is always looking at. 

When you deploy something, you want your service to always be on, and with this solution that is not the case.

I have been using this solution for ten years.

It's fairly stable. 

Over the years, we have only encountered one or two bugs, which were introduced through new software releases.

This solution is scalable, but there are always licensing cost implications. 

You can scale it, but it depends on how you scale it. If you scale it horizontally, there will be license implications.

It's an enterprise solution and we have just under 2,800 interfaces on the system. Every interface would count as a user.

The initial setup is straightforward. It takes approximately three months to deploy.

Within our company, we have a team of four, plus two integrators to deploy this solution. 

To maintain this solution we have our team of four.

We used an integrator to deploy this solution.

It is now something that is an off-the-shelf solution. It's not something that we custom develop. When it comes to a roll-out, it's fairly easy.

It's reasonably priced at $800,000. That's the annual maintenance cost.

You have to pay to expand your additional platform.

The only limitation of this solution is that you have to pay to expand it, other than that it's stable and flexible.

Plan your upgrades very carefully, and go through the documentation.

It's a fairly stable product, but there are always other products on the market.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

The most valuable aspect is that it has good functionality. 

I have been using IBM Sterling File Gateway for eight years. 

Scalability is a bit complex. 

The technical support is very good. 

I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

Not a ten because  it's a bit complex, not so simple. It's one product but there are many screens.