What is our primary use case?
There are several use cases because IBM B2B Integrator is an integrator that allows our customers to process files. I have use cases depending on the industry. For example, in logistics and retail, it's been used above all for EDI file transfer to connect our customers with their third party in order to interchange purchase orders, file advisements, and so on. In IBM B2B Integrator, it's normalized to standard EDI messages.
In banks, IBM B2B Integrator has had a new mapper added in the platform for the last six or seven years, which is IBM Transformation Extender. For example, in the financial environment, it supports SWIFT messages. It's used with the B2B communication layer. It's possible to interchange files with several different communication protocols, with security, and so on. With the translator, it's possible to adapt the format incoming from the third party, the external third party, to SWIFT messages. Financial customers typically work with mainframes, and in mainframes, they use flat files. The new standards that are on XML must be normalized to this flat file, and we accomplish this with IBM B2B Integrator.
What is most valuable?
The main feature of IBM B2B Integrator is that it's the most complete integrator on the market. You can integrate every type of protocol, every type of custom layer, and every type of security level. You can integrate or interchange with external third parties using different layers of security. It's the most secure product in the market.
The platform is comprehensive but tends to be the most expensive on the market. It can do whatever is needed with every type of file, but it has been expensive for small-medium customers. It's focused primarily on medium enterprise and large enterprise customers. The new versions are very REST-API-oriented, making it very easy to integrate with external applications to expose processes. The hybrid version is quite powerful because the use of containers is very dynamic.
The support for various communication protocols and data formats in IBM B2B Integrator is the power of the platform. It can expose every type of protocol. The platform out-of-the-box supports more than 40 protocols. Additionally, customization is possible. For example, one of the proprietary protocols in the market is XCOM. While XCOM is not supported out-of-the-box, we can create a custom layer to support it using external scripts or Java classes and integrate this other protocol in IBM B2B Integrator.
What needs improvement?
Based on my experience and my clients' feedback, there are a few points IBM can improve for IBM B2B Integrator. One of these is the graphical user interface. For several years, IBM has been promising to renew this interface, which has an ancient, old aesthetic, though it contains many functionalities. Creating a new interface would incur a very high internal cost with no new profitability for IBM. This is one of the points where customers say it feels like working in the 1990s with this interface.
Another significant issue is that the platform is not multi-tenant. It's not possible to have different tenants in the cloud. This creates problems when trying to create SaaS offers based on IBM B2B Integrator, as there is the possibility that some workflow for a customer can be visible to another one. Since it's not multi-tenant, it's running on the same tenant of the platform. This is the main issue that the platform has.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with IBM B2B Integrator for approximately 18 years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Out-of-the-box, IBM B2B Integrator is not a product that allows you to have good reporting and analytics. While it has some analytics engine embedded, this is a platform that works with files, so it's not oriented to get statistics, reports, optimization, and so on. It needs to be integrated with other products of the IBM Sterling suite that work with the platform to get these analytics. From this perspective, when a customer asks for analytics on the file transfer or reports, I suggest other products, such as IBM Control Center or similar products that are more oriented to the performance of the end-to-end file transfer.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The initial setup for IBM B2B Integrator is not very easy. It's not a simple process because it implies a specific configuration for the operating system and for the server. It needs an external database that has to be handled by an external team. While it's not a very easy implementation or basic installation, including the patching, once it's installed, it's a very stable platform. It doesn't usually suffer from performance problems.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For scalability, IBM B2B Integrator deserves top marks. If it's properly configured and installed with the right infrastructure, it's the best product for scalability. We have customers who started working on a cluster of two nodes, and with increasing business and volume, the same customers are now working on 16 nodes with no issues with development.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from IBM varies depending on the country. In Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and the USA, and until last year, Italy, the support quality differs. The support in Spain and Italy is quite good, deserving an eight or nine out of ten.
However, in Mexico, the support is not as good, especially at the first level. The first level support often doesn't comply with the SLA. They answer very late, and their responses are often limited to requesting logs. In Europe, the support is typically excellent and fast. In Mexico and Latin America, the support quality would rate at a four or five out of ten, while in Europe it would rate at an eight or nine.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for IBM B2B Integrator is not straightforward. It's not a simple process as it requires specific configuration for the operating system and server. It needs an external database that must be handled by an external team. The implementation, basic installation, and patching process are all complex tasks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Regarding pricing, IBM B2B Integrator rates in the middle range. This integrator has embedded all the functionality needed to handle files and messages. It tends to be very expensive because the IBM license model is oriented toward paying for the power of the machine where you install the platform. Customers have to purchase the whole platform, as it's not possible to purchase only specific components such as communication, file transfer, or transmission separately. The cost depends on the power of the machine, making it relatively expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
IBM B2B Integrator compares mainly with Axway, which has a platform that is practically the twin of IBM Sterling, with a different point of view and focus.
For pure file transfer with no translation of the file, GoAnywhere from Fortra is one of the stronger competitors in the market, as it's a very cost-effective and useful platform. There are other challengers, but the main competitors are Axway and Fortra GoAnywhere. MuleSoft can also be considered a competitor, but only for some of the IBM B2B Integrator features. A customer using MuleSoft can replace it with IBM B2B Integrator, and conversely, IBM B2B Integrator can be partially replaced by MuleSoft.
What other advice do I have?
The automation capabilities of IBM B2B Integrator effectively streamline business processes. Starting this year, Sterling B2B Integrator is under the layer of the automation area in IBM. This is the automation integration because you can set up and customize several business processes to handle files as needed. After that, you can set up internal schedules or integrate with external schedulers to have extreme automation, both on the normal workflow and error handling. The platform provides ways to restart processes automatically and in some cases self-adjust errors, depending on the developers. It's a platform that guarantees extensive process automation capabilities.
IBM B2B Integrator's compliance management features are very comprehensive. IBM prioritizes compliance as it's one of the main ways to attract new customers. The platform is very open to implementing and being compliant with third-party normatives, European or US normatives. It's a very good product for compliance management.
Based on my experience, I rate IBM B2B Integrator an 8 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other