4 Advantages IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer Has Over FTP
Get Better Reliability, Security, and Control Over Your File Transfers
The ability to transfer files quickly and securely, whether in-house or B2B, is crucial for most large businesses. For many years, FTP (file transfer protocol) was the technology of choice for these tasks, but recently that has changed.
IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer is a newer tool that vastly improves on the technology of FTP. File transfers are now more reliable and significantly more secure while providing users with more flexibility and visibility when it comes to tracking and managing transfers.
IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer provides:
- Accelerated transport
- Advanced security
- Centralized control
- Regulatory audit
- Regulatory compliance
In this article, we cover four advantages IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer has over FTP.
1. Better Reliability
FTP is not as reliable as IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer for a few reasons. The first reason is that FTP does not have checkpoint restart, which means files can get lost.
Another issue with FTP is that transfers can terminate without notification or even a record. As a result, partial files or corrupt files might accidentally get used.
Finally, due to the lack of character set conversion, file data is sometimes unusable after transfer with FTP. Fortunately, these issues are not a concern with IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer because it has all the necessary tools for reliable B2B communication, including checkpoint restart.
2. More Flexibility
While FTP is fairly user-friendly, there are several areas where it no longer shines compared to newer technology. For example, in many cases, only a single FTP transfer can run at any given time, which can create a hassle when you need to send several FTP transfers at once.
Plus, all resources typically need to be available at the same time to run FTP transfers. To make matters worse, FTP transfers usually cannot be prioritized either.
The worst part is that changes to file transfers typically require updates to multiple FTP scripts located on various different machines. These scripts each require skills specific to that platform to make the necessary changes.
IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer allows you to prioritize transfers, send multiple file transfers at once, and make changes to file transfers quickly and easily.
3. Better Security
A major concern with using FTP in the digital age is its lack of basic security features, such as non-repudiation, authentication, encryption, and other privacy measures. As an example of how insecure FTP can be, usernames and passwords are often sent with a file in plain text, which is incredibly unsafe given the ease of which that information could be stolen by a third party.
IBM Managed File Transfer encrypts all data during transit, protecting usernames, passwords, payment information, and other sensitive data. It also uses SSL certificates to authenticate users on both the sending and receiving end of a transaction.
4. Increased Visibility
Modern technology allows us to keep a close eye on everything in our business operations. Unfortunately, FTP does not.
You cannot monitor or manage FTP transfers from a central location or remotely through an application you access online. You also cannot track the entire journey of files transferred through FTP – only from one machine to another. Logging capabilities are also limited and often only log transfers between two systems that are directly connected.
On the other hand, IBM Managed File Transfer is completely auditable, providing full logs of file transfers. You can monitor and manage transactions from a central hub, allowing you to see all file transfer activities at any time.
If your business is interested in IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer, we can help you get started! We have installed and configured IBM Sterling Managed File Transfer for many of the top Fortune 100 companies. Plus, as an IBM Business Partner, we can get you a lower price on any IBM application or service.
