The developer portal should be an integrated part of IBM DataPower Gateway to improve it. I think it is fine as is, and maybe no other additional features should be included in the next release. My experience with the pricing of this product is that pricing is too high and should be reduced.
I have significant experience with the IBM DataPower Gateway. As a security product, it is very good. However, from the development perspective, it has limitations because it only supports the XSLT language. It does not support multiple languages. We can't modify it because this is a custom OS. We can't customize the given product. Whatever feature is available on the IBM DataPower Gateway, that feature is the only one we can use. If we require additional features, we can't configure them on the IBM DataPower Gateway. We do not utilize IBM DataPower Gateway's caching capabilities.
The DCDR process should be less complex. AI should improve developer efficiency and effort. Whenever I am writing code, it should give recommendations automatically by incorporating AI so I can write the code in a few minutes or seconds. The monitoring and troubleshooting should be improved. The backups cannot be made automatically and should be improved. I have to use external tools to trigger automatic backups, the secure backup of the DataPower device, and this should be improved. At least I should configure SAP Defender to set automatically. There are other backup locations that need improvement. For API Connect, API Connect only supports S3, object storage, for analytics backup. But all remaining components, like management portals, support the SFPB backup. Most of my Indian customers or other customers are unwilling to take backup to the object storage in the cloud. So there should be some improvement. At least there's a workaround, some workaround to take analytics backup to SAPTPUR local, any other thing that has to be improved. It only integrates with others, however, it does not allow anybody to install the cloud on us. Answering the customers on these issues is difficult. They have their own compliance, however, DataPower asks us to install CloudStrike or some other antivirus tools and monitoring tools, but it will not allow any agent installation.
DataPower isn't the most user-friendly tool. It is not an easy tool to use. Some things could use better wizards to guide you through processes. Also, the SSL key management is a bit convoluted because keys need to be managed in multiple places. It can be tough at times. Better organization there would be nice.
One area that could be improved is the integration with Postgres and SQL databases. Currently, IBM DataPower Gateway only integrates with Oracle databases. So it doesn't integrate with Postgres.
An area for improvement in IBM DataPower Gateway is its price point because it's a relatively expensive product. Sometimes, when the customer use case is just a very small subset of what's being offered in IBM DataPower Gateway, then the product can be expensive, making my company lose some of the opportunities because of the expensive pricing. A lower price point for IBM DataPower Gateway, even if that results in a less feature-rich version, would be appreciated. In terms of additional features that I'd like to see in the next release of IBM DataPower Gateway, nothing specific comes to mind because IBM constantly improves its standards and provides quarterly updates to the product, so it's quite fine.
Right now, the programming language is only supported in XSLT and Gateway script. Offering another programming language like Python would be better for all. We had one difficulty with signing and encryption, which it doesn't support in the data pool but does in Java programming language. It wasn't contained in the latest algorithm, so that's an issue we faced with one customer.
Business Development Manager at a insurance company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Jan 24, 2022
The IBM community does not have much engagement from the IT community in Saudi Arabia and developers for this solution are difficult to find. They have to enable the location subscribe using Message Queue which could be improved.
Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Nov 17, 2021
IBM DataPower Gateway is quite big for smaller organizations, looking at different types of clients who are virtually assisted in this, I would say it's not really a good product for smaller firms.
Business&Integration Arch Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Jun 3, 2021
Traceability could be improved, especially for business operations. The traceability of the transactions could be an improvement point for DataPower to work on. It would be better if they provided JSON support. JSON protocol data has changed format. It started performing internal transformation to JSONx. This might be an additional complexity.
There is quite a lot that needs improvement. It's a very complex product and it takes time to get to control it and to know it. It's all about gaining knowledge in it. Also, the maintenance procedure of the physical machines and physical appliances is quite complicated, and there are some issues with it. Sometimes, when we deal with the maintenance process because the machine isn't booting, it comes down to working with support in the middle of the night. The two biggest issues of this solution are the complexity and the maintenance procedures. In the next release, I would like to see it easier to deeply, easier automated processes, easier maintenance, easier control, better monitoring, and I would like the information or knowledge documentation to be more accessible.
Middleware Applications Specialist at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Dec 18, 2020
It would be great if the CI/CI and DevOps components were part of this offering. Having some pre-packaged proposals or integration solutions would be helpful, like many of the iPass providers are now supplying. Some pre-packaged connectors for integration with various applications, such as SaaS offerings, would be a useful addition.
New users just starting with this product find it a little complex or difficult to use, compared to other products such as AWS. Making it more user-friendly would be an improvement.
Independent Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
Mar 29, 2020
Care needs to be taken when applying firmware upgrades, as they often fail. Also, the components that they include in the product that are, in fact, a WTX, really need to be removed from the product because they tend to fail. It's got some native capabilities and it's gotten some imported capabilities and you need to know the history of the product to understand the difference between the two. Most notable is the COBOL copybook handling, which is really straight out of WTX. It's poorly supported and often leads to failures.
Partner, cyber security at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Mar 3, 2020
The solution is quite expensive. They should work to help make it more affordable for more companies. Right now, I wouldn't consider the price point to be very competitive. The solution requires a lot of training manuals in order to get to know it better and to be able to use it effectively.
IBM DataPower Gateway provides advanced security, multi-protocol transformation, and API management, ensuring appliance-based stability and performance. It supports enterprise-level traffic, facilitating seamless integration and deployment, though it may pose challenges in terms of pricing and user complexity.IBM DataPower Gateway integrates as an enterprise service bus and API management platform, effectively securing APIs and managing authentication and authorization. Serving large banks...
I noticed that the Gateway Script libraries could be improved, as they are not covering everything I need.
The developer portal should be an integrated part of IBM DataPower Gateway to improve it. I think it is fine as is, and maybe no other additional features should be included in the next release. My experience with the pricing of this product is that pricing is too high and should be reduced.
I have significant experience with the IBM DataPower Gateway. As a security product, it is very good. However, from the development perspective, it has limitations because it only supports the XSLT language. It does not support multiple languages. We can't modify it because this is a custom OS. We can't customize the given product. Whatever feature is available on the IBM DataPower Gateway, that feature is the only one we can use. If we require additional features, we can't configure them on the IBM DataPower Gateway. We do not utilize IBM DataPower Gateway's caching capabilities.
The DCDR process should be less complex. AI should improve developer efficiency and effort. Whenever I am writing code, it should give recommendations automatically by incorporating AI so I can write the code in a few minutes or seconds. The monitoring and troubleshooting should be improved. The backups cannot be made automatically and should be improved. I have to use external tools to trigger automatic backups, the secure backup of the DataPower device, and this should be improved. At least I should configure SAP Defender to set automatically. There are other backup locations that need improvement. For API Connect, API Connect only supports S3, object storage, for analytics backup. But all remaining components, like management portals, support the SFPB backup. Most of my Indian customers or other customers are unwilling to take backup to the object storage in the cloud. So there should be some improvement. At least there's a workaround, some workaround to take analytics backup to SAPTPUR local, any other thing that has to be improved. It only integrates with others, however, it does not allow anybody to install the cloud on us. Answering the customers on these issues is difficult. They have their own compliance, however, DataPower asks us to install CloudStrike or some other antivirus tools and monitoring tools, but it will not allow any agent installation.
The price could be more flexible for different clients.
DataPower isn't the most user-friendly tool. It is not an easy tool to use. Some things could use better wizards to guide you through processes. Also, the SSL key management is a bit convoluted because keys need to be managed in multiple places. It can be tough at times. Better organization there would be nice.
One area that could be improved is the integration with Postgres and SQL databases. Currently, IBM DataPower Gateway only integrates with Oracle databases. So it doesn't integrate with Postgres.
The product's cost for data appliances or hardware is quite high. It needs improvement.
It is a costly product. So, it is not an open-source solution, making it costly. In the future, I would like to see an open-source version.
I would like the tool to improve its training.
Additional documentation needs to be provided for complex automations.
An area for improvement in IBM DataPower Gateway is its price point because it's a relatively expensive product. Sometimes, when the customer use case is just a very small subset of what's being offered in IBM DataPower Gateway, then the product can be expensive, making my company lose some of the opportunities because of the expensive pricing. A lower price point for IBM DataPower Gateway, even if that results in a less feature-rich version, would be appreciated. In terms of additional features that I'd like to see in the next release of IBM DataPower Gateway, nothing specific comes to mind because IBM constantly improves its standards and provides quarterly updates to the product, so it's quite fine.
Right now, the programming language is only supported in XSLT and Gateway script. Offering another programming language like Python would be better for all. We had one difficulty with signing and encryption, which it doesn't support in the data pool but does in Java programming language. It wasn't contained in the latest algorithm, so that's an issue we faced with one customer.
The user interface or the application development perspective and customization of the tool could be a little better.
The admin and user interfaces could be improved.
The IBM community does not have much engagement from the IT community in Saudi Arabia and developers for this solution are difficult to find. They have to enable the location subscribe using Message Queue which could be improved.
IBM DataPower Gateway is quite big for smaller organizations, looking at different types of clients who are virtually assisted in this, I would say it's not really a good product for smaller firms.
Traceability could be improved, especially for business operations. The traceability of the transactions could be an improvement point for DataPower to work on. It would be better if they provided JSON support. JSON protocol data has changed format. It started performing internal transformation to JSONx. This might be an additional complexity.
There is quite a lot that needs improvement. It's a very complex product and it takes time to get to control it and to know it. It's all about gaining knowledge in it. Also, the maintenance procedure of the physical machines and physical appliances is quite complicated, and there are some issues with it. Sometimes, when we deal with the maintenance process because the machine isn't booting, it comes down to working with support in the middle of the night. The two biggest issues of this solution are the complexity and the maintenance procedures. In the next release, I would like to see it easier to deeply, easier automated processes, easier maintenance, easier control, better monitoring, and I would like the information or knowledge documentation to be more accessible.
In the next release, I would like to see the product price reduced. It should be cheaper.
It would be great if the CI/CI and DevOps components were part of this offering. Having some pre-packaged proposals or integration solutions would be helpful, like many of the iPass providers are now supplying. Some pre-packaged connectors for integration with various applications, such as SaaS offerings, would be a useful addition.
New users just starting with this product find it a little complex or difficult to use, compared to other products such as AWS. Making it more user-friendly would be an improvement.
Scripting needs improvement. It's hard for our customers.
Care needs to be taken when applying firmware upgrades, as they often fail. Also, the components that they include in the product that are, in fact, a WTX, really need to be removed from the product because they tend to fail. It's got some native capabilities and it's gotten some imported capabilities and you need to know the history of the product to understand the difference between the two. Most notable is the COBOL copybook handling, which is really straight out of WTX. It's poorly supported and often leads to failures.
The solution is quite expensive. They should work to help make it more affordable for more companies. Right now, I wouldn't consider the price point to be very competitive. The solution requires a lot of training manuals in order to get to know it better and to be able to use it effectively.