IBM B2B Integrator Reviews

It offers us an opportunity to communicate both internally and externally with data, and transformation and integration in general.

It gives us high visibility and the ability to transform data. We can move it between different platforms, transform it from one format to another, do encryption and decryption. It is very flexible.

With Sterling Integrator, as it comes out of the box, there's not a lot of things that have been developed. A lot of it you have to develop yourself with BPML, and developing of APIs and things like that for web solutions and front end. So I would like to see some other things come out of the box.

I've been using it since 1994-95, starting out with Gentran:Server. It's been around forever and it's very stable, very portable, very flexible.

We can grow it as big as we need it.

On a scale of 1-10, there are times technical support is a 9; other times it's a 5.

I've used a number of different tools. We had Connect:Enterprise, which is a tool that is no longer supported; Gentran:Server on mainframe; and we had a Control Center on Linux and Sterling Integrator on another Linux. So we had a number of tools in different categories of our business and just knew that we needed to consolidate and bring everything under one piece of software so that we could manage it better with Connect:Direct, Connect:Enterprise, with encryption and decryption. So it was just a smart solution to put it all under one tool.

There are some gaps that need to be filled in the initial setup. Especially when you're working in a multi-node environment. The issue is with port identification. We have latency issues with the application sometimes and there needs to be more customer visibility from the knowledge side with ways to overcome the latency issues. It took a couple of weeks to get support to provide us with alternatives for using extended ports in a clustered environment.

There are many other vendors. You have GXS and Data Masons, which is a Microsoft tool that was the vantage point for EDI.

We looked at all of the opportunities out there and came to a decision based on what it offered us now and in the future for integration; what kind of migrations would need to take place, what the timeline would be, how long it would take, how much consulting would be required. So, we looked at all aspects of it.

When selecting a vendor, stability is most important. There are a lot of vendors out there that offer solutions that are gobbled up or they go away or the solution they provide is no longer available. So, IBM offers a lot. Of course, they purchased the B2B application as a part of their portfolio from Sterling Integrator, but IBM is an excellent solution because of the stability of the company.

Really look at what your business needs are and make sure that your business needs and the tool that you are purchasing fits those needs. Just because you've used it in the past, just because you know somebody who's used it in the past, doesn't mean it's a good solution for you. It has to be something that fits the business needs. Where's your business going? What are your future needs? You have to think out of the box. You can't stay in the box in this environment because it is constantly growing and evolving.

• It has a number of different components that can fit together.
• People can use or not use certain things.
• It integrates with some of the tools like IBM Transformation Extender.
• It is a B2B gateway rather than just an EDI translator.

They have modernized the solution recently and added some things. EDI translators have been around for a long time, so they've added things like advanced coms and global mail-boxing to make it much more real-time and with high availability. It is a good value.

Visibility would probably be the most important thing, so I can see the transactions points through and start to do some analytics from them.

I think it's pretty stable. It needs some additional things like visibility. That's why we look to partners who provide that kind of visibility. That is something that could be changed.

The product is stable. There are some things that they can do to enhance it, to make it a little bit more stable in terms of visibility of transactions.

The scalability is pretty good. It scales pretty well.

I have used technical support. Sometimes, it's hard to get through to the right people. It takes some time. My questions tend to be beyond level one, so I may really need to get to the higher levels of support. That can take some time and it can be a little frustrating.

Be careful with the visibility. I think they are going in the right direction in a lot of things. Depending on the transformation that you need, we've got that built-in to the Sterling B2B product, which is good for basic transformation and mapping, but anything advanced would probably need Transformation Extender.

When selecting a vendor, I look for company stability and the direction of the product.

I know a lot of tools in this area have kind of been around for a long time and they didn't really change that much. IBM has done a lot to modernize it a fair bit, so it's been a pretty important bit.

Make sure you are keeping up with changes in the industry.

It is a decent solution and it has room for improvement.

I am a consultant and B2B Integrator is one of the products that I implement for my clients.

This tool helps with understanding the products by improving communications.

The most valuable features assist with understanding data formats and transforming data.

The tool requires you to write a lot of code in Java and XSLT, which makes development tough. There are other tools such as Dell Boomi that do not need as much coding.

The initial setup can be made a little easier.

Support for microservices is somewhat lacking.

I used IBM B2B Integrator for about one year.

The stability of IBM products is better than other vendors.

I think that scalability is good. Two or three people might be required to work on a small project, whereas larger projects may need between five and ten users.

I have experience with a few similar solutions from different vendors. One of them is MuleSoft, which is leading in the support for microservices but are concentrating on API-related tasks.

The initial setup was a little bit complex.

In summary, this is a good product but I would prefer one that requires less code.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

I find the codeless communications, SFTP or FTP, valuable.

The mapping, visibility, deployment, and the dashboard could be improved and updated.

The communication logs are very poor. They are not easily understood, and we need to navigate to many places for many reasons. You can't just pull the information; it's very tough.

I've been working with this solution for 16 years.

We have an on-premises license, but it is installed in the cloud.

It's a stable solution. The stability is the best part.

There are no problems with scalability. We have 10 users.

Technical support is very slow. They do not seem to understand the situations we encounter and their severity.

The initial setup is pretty simple.

I would rate IBM B2B Integrator at six on a scale from one to ten.

We use the product for EDI transactions. Another use for us is for managed file transfer.

The initial setup is straightforward. 

The solution has been stable.

Technical support is very good overall. 

It's a very powerful tool.

The solution offers good integration capabilities. 

The reporting features could be better. right now, they are lacking a bit.

In the future, we would like to see daily reporting capabilities and improvements in the dashboards.

We've been using the solution for a while. We've used it for sure over the last 12 months.

The solution is very stable for us. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. the performance has been reliable. 

I'm not sure how many people are on the solution at our organization. Usually, it is just accessed by administrators. 

We do not use technical support a lot, however, when we do need it, we find them to be helpful and responsive. We are satisfied with their level of service.

I find the initial setup to be quite straightforward and simple. It's not overly complex. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process. 

We used an integrator to help us with the deployment process. They were great. 

There are just standard licensing fees. It's my understanding there are no other costs beyond that.

We didn't really look into other solutions. We were familiar with its one, which is why we ultimately chose it. 

We're a reseller.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten overall. In general, it's a very good solution.