IBM WebSphere Message Broker Reviews

I'm part of the company middleware, and we are managing things with Spheres, IHS, and also HU and EAZ. I've just become involved in trying to sort out a roadmap to migrate the EAZ from IAB to ACS Enterprise App Connect, that's the latest IBM technology. I'm a solution designer and we are partners of IBM. 

I mostly like the integration which is the component feature.

I haven't completely tested the solution. I have a CMM BPM background, and recently moved to work on this so I'm only now getting exposure in this particular area. It's difficult to comment at this early stage but I find the installation configuration is quite difficult compared to other solutions. The other issue is that I don't have cloud, and we can't get any cloud where IBM is moving. I'm not sure whether we can move this application to the Azure or AWS cloud solutions. It's a major challenge and we still haven't had any kind of official documentation from IBM as to how we can move forward on that. 

I've been using this solution for seven years. 

We do sometimes get bugs and hardware glitches that require a memory reboot but overall, in comparison to other solutions specific to the banking domain, this product is quite good. It's able to handle a lot of applications and has a high capacity level. 

The scalability is fine. We don't just have the direct users, but there are a lot of applications and things sitting on the ESB, and a lot of integration points. We probably have more than a thousand people using the function user ID, and the personal user ID.

IBM technical support is pretty good. Sometimes it's difficult to simulate issues, or reproduce the issue to make them understand the problem. It can sometimes also take quite a while to resolve an issue. Overall, we are happy with the IBM support.

The solution was already set up when I joined the team, but we still get requests regarding all the applications sitting on ESB which is a bit of challenge. Otherwise things are fine. 

I think it's a reasonably good solution but I also believe it has some good competitors like MuleSoft which has good incubation points and has a cloud solution. ESB is still in the data centers, not the extenders, and they're mostly on a non-cloud based platform. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

We use this solution to assist our customers with their core business challenges. The main purpose of this tool is to connect several applications together. My experience is based on two medium-sized projects that I have completed using this solution.

We have an on-premises deployment, as do many SMB in the Middle East.

This solution has improved the way our organization functions. We are using three or four services in the backend for reformatting messages, and it is straightforward to use.

This solution has many adaptors for convergence support. We need different messages formats for connection with files, databases, Excel sheets, etc.

It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format.

Performance-wise, this is a good solution.

The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is. The administration console is ok because it's used by the administration team or the technical team.

The external interfaces have limitations compared to vertical technologies such as JS frameworks like React or Angular that have lots of capability for UI and UX design.

This tool can be challenging when you use it for a really complex solution, or if you try to use it for a purpose other than what it is designed for. For example, using it as a BPM tool will be challenging.

This is a stable solution.

This solution is easy to scale. There is no limitation with respect to the number of applications that we can integrate.

I have also used Oracle Service Bus for these types of projects, and I feel that this solution is better. It is easier to use and it has better features.

The licensing costs for this solution are paid by the customer-side, and not by my employer.

IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost.

At this point, I only use twenty to thirty percent of the facilities or services that are offered by this tool. For the main purpose of the suite, I have no specific concerns about it.

This is a good product, but there are still some challenges.

If I were rating Oracle then I would give it a six out of ten.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We integrate messaging from the core banking systems to other systems via MQ.

The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution.

The solution can add container engines such as docker.

The solution is very expensive and has room for improvement.

I have been using the solution for three years.

I give the stability a ten out of ten.

I give the scalability a nine out of ten.

We use the solution for enterprise businesses.

The technical support is good.

Positive

I give the initial setup an eight out of ten.

Some of the mechanisms are a bit complex. The deployment took two years.

The solution is expensive. I give the cost a one out of ten.

We pay for an annual license.

I give the solution a ten out of ten.

I recommend the solution.