Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Reviews

We use Sterling Commerce ConnectDirect for limited transfers where the third party only wants to use this protocol. 

Currently we have five administrators that manage, maintain and set-up the exchanges with other partners.

We are actually looking to decommission this product to migrate to IBM's Sterling B2B Integrator because it is has a built-in Connect Direct and is easier to manage.

The most valuable feature of this solution is the security.

The product could be improved by making the user interface more user-friendly. Adding nodes, connections and managing the support is too complicated. 

Sterling Commerce ConnectDirect would be better if it had a reverse proxy integrated into the DMZ because usually the nodes are installed directly on secure sites internally. We need to put them through additional servers, which is not easy to do. If the product came with its own DMZ portion server it would be helpful.

I have been using this solution for five years.

Sterling Commerce ConnectDirect is a stable product and has never gone down or had maintenance issues.

This solution is used for high volume transfers so scalability is not an issue.

The technical support is the number one problem. Every time there is an incident or ticket opened, the first response from IBM is to send you a link to a page that is a similar problem. They do not take the time and effort to actually read your problem.

We did not use a previous product, Sterling Commerce Connect Direct is only used when a third=party vendor indicates that it's the only option for security.

The initial setup of Sterling Commerce was complex. Troubleshooting an issue has too many possibilities of multiple failure points. To diagnosis, a problem is extensive and takes too long to find the issue.

The deployment did not take very long. The installation of the product itself was simple, however, the integration of clients and transfers to put in place was complicated.

We implemented the solution ourselves.

We have not seen a return on investment. It is an additional cost to overhead to use Sterling Commerce ConnectDirect. The knowledge and support required is something you need to learn. To use this product you need special expensive licenses.

The licensing is on a yearly basis.

At the time, there was no other option available or acceptable to the third-party vendor.

IBM B2B Integrator could easily answer the Connect Direct need instead of having pure Connect Direct.

I would rate this solution a 5 out of 10.

We mainly use this solution for node-to-node file transmissions.

The Security Plus feature of this solution is excellent, and allows you to send encrypted files very securely to remote destinations.

This solution cannot be deployed on a root_squash NFS, which limits superuser privileges.

I have been working with this solution for three and a half years.

This is a very stable solution, in our experience.

We have found that scalability is possible with this product, but it is not straightforward.

The setup of this solution is very simple, and deployment only took 10 minutes.

I would encourage any organization implementing this solution, to give access to every potential user during the initial configuration; scaling up with this product is complicated, once the initial implementation has been carried out.

I would rate this solution a 10 out of 10.

We primarily use the solution for file transfers.

The solution effectively reduced large transfer file transit time across global regions by over 50%.

The solution's most valuable aspect for our company is the Checkpoint Restart. We also appreciate the capabilities of the FASP technology. 

The initial setup was very straightforward. 

The product has been very stable. 

The solution is highly scalable. 

The solution is very secure. 

The user interface needs to be improved. It's very rarely used.

Technical support is difficult to work with.

I would like to see more adapters created that allow other protocols to send to it.

I've been using the solution for a very long time. it's been 15 years. It's been well over a decade at this point.

The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.

The scalability of the solution is very good. It's highly scalable. A company should have no trouble expanding it. We have many customers that use the solution. It would be hard to pinpoint the exact number.

The solution is being used extensively. It's a part of our ecosystem. We will continue to use it going forward.

We've been in touch with technical support and have found them to be difficult to work with. I wouldn't say that we are fully satisfied with their level of support.

I wasn't at the company when they originally decided to use the solution. I cannot speak to any other solution the company may have previously used. However, likely the company switched to move to this product, which likely was more secure. I'm sure the other thing that swayed their decision was the Checkpoint Restart capability for large files and the fact that originally it connected directly to mainframes.

The initial setup was not difficult. It was not complex. It was very simple and quite straightforward. 

That said, the implementation depends upon how your security is. It can be very complex, depending upon what you have to do for your guidelines. However, the general base install is pretty simple.

The deployment generally takes a few hours.

I have three people that manage the solution, and there is 24/7 support. They are systems engineers. They're also there to add users to the system and to user groups. 

We didn't need an integrator or consultant to help us. We managed the implementation by ourselves in-house.

I would say that the company has noticed an ROI. For example, the solution has reduced large transfer file transit times by over 50%.

This is the cheapest of the product's line of solutions.

Their licensing model is based upon the size of the hardware that it's sitting on. Therefore, the more robust hardware, the bigger your license costs will be.

Companies can try to get into negotiations with them. However, that's not simple. That's not a reflection on the product. That's a reflection of the relationship with the company.

We're a customer. As far as I know, we're not a reseller. We were talking to them about coming to an arrangement where we could offer their product for our customers who don't have a relationship with them already. However, that's not in place just yet.

We're using the latest version of the solution. We're always constantly dealing with version control and updates.

We use multiple deployment models, including the cloud and on-premises. When we use the cloud deployment model, we tend to use more than one cloud provider.

I would recommend that other companies look at this product as opposed to the other major file transfer products - even for small files - due to the high-speed capability. By far, it could be the biggest workforce of your systems. Large or small.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

We use this solution for the secure internal transfer of information. We also use it as a way of introducing people to the different products that we offer. I'm a presales engineer and we are customers of Sterling Commerce Connect.

It's a great tool because it offers secure file transfers and it has a fast and efficient protocol for very large files.

The user interface could be more user-friendly. The internal protocol for NEO file on file transfer could be improved because the user can sometimes find themselves lost.

I've been using this solution for a year. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is scalable. 

The customer support is good. 

For anyone with experience, the initial setup is relatively straightforward and simple. 

This is a good solution and I rate it 10 out of 10.