From the 2009 Sterling Commerce Customer Conference – Part 3

Day 3 and part of day 2 sessions covered the Sterling integration solutions where the various GENTRAN product lines are concerned, basically most things non-Sterling Integrator (GIS).

As you can imagine these sessions were very well attended and contained folks concerned about preserving their investment in traditional GENTRAN products and integrated infrastructure.

In past conferences, it was not uncommon for these sessions to become heated, from an audience perspective, with curiosity as to the future of the GENTRAN product line. GENTRAN sessions this year were well formulated and delivered along with the assurance that there is no traditional sunset in the foreseeable future.

Here is the summary on the future of GENTRAN…

Future of Gentran:
-In sustain mode, new releases approximately every 12 to 24 months, mainly to support Operating System enhancements and minor client enhancement requests
-No traditional sunset in foreseeable future
-Gentran zSeries: next release, TBD
-Gentran iSeries: next release, TBD
-Gentran Server for UNIX: next release, projected 2nd half of 2009
-Gentran Server for Windows: next release, projected 2011
-Gentran Director: next release, projected 2nd half of 2009


This wraps up the 3 part series on the conference. Please contact me if you have further questions about the conference.

*Information obtained through Sterling Commerce Customer Connection 2009, Sterling Commerce Product Brochures, and Sterling Commerce Press Releases.

From the 2009 Sterling Commerce Customer Conference – Part 2

It is day 2 and we had a chance to learn some more, as well as meet several clients and business partners we have worked with around the country.
The focus of the sessions attended today were the integration solutions components of Business Integration Suite, particularly the Sterling Integrator product that covers the B2B Integration and Enterprise Integration portions of the suite.

The overview in short…

Sterling Integrator v5.0 (Formerly Gentran Integration Suite, GIS)
-Released April 28, 2009, part of Sterling Business Integration Suite

Enhancements from GIS v4.3:
-New communications and security capabilities
-Enhanced web services stack
-Support for newer communications protocols
-Extends its secure sockets layer, SSL, support
-Enhanced password encryption and certificate handling
-Adds Sterling Community Manager which assists with on-boarding and managing trading partner communities

*Information obtained through Sterling Commerce Customer Connection 2009, Sterling Commerce Product Brochures, and Sterling Commerce Press Releases.

From the 2009 Sterling Commerce Customer Conference – Part 1

Reviewing day 1 notes from here in San Antonio, the conference is off to a good start. The focus from Sterling appears to be a repackaging of its product sets into two solution themes, the Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite, and the Sterling Business Integration Suite. Of course we business integration folks are more interested in the latter. The below is the first of what I believe will be a three part summary of the conference. Here is my high level take away for day 1.

Sterling Business Integration Suite
Comprehensive set of Sterling’s products that provide security, communications, data management, and process automation and visibility:

Business-to-Business Integration
· Secure and seamless execution of multi-enterprise business processes with external trading partners

Managed File Transfer
· Controlled and secure movement of critical corporate data found in large file transfers

Enterprise Integration
· Secure and seamless integration between disparate internal systems and applications

This suite is a compellation of current Sterling products. As a licensee of Sterling business integration products you have tools that fit into this integration suite.

*Information obtained through Sterling Commerce Customer Connection 2009, Sterling Commerce Product Brochures, and Sterling Commerce Press Releases.

Attending the Sterling Commerce Customer Connection 2009?

The Sterling Commerce Customer Connection 2009 conference in San Antonio is just around the corner. I am attending the conference and will be there to get the latest information regarding Sterling Commerce’s products and plans for the future. I have found this is a great conference to see how Sterling is expanding and evolving their integration tool sets and acquired applications. Knowledge learned in these sessions helps us advise our clients who have Sterling products installed, and those who are seeking to implement Sterling Commerce Solutions. If you will be attending drop me an email, I would welcome the opportunity to meet you at the conference.

If you are unable to attend, but are interested in certain product information (enhancements, release information, planned functionality, etc.), let me know. I would happy to inquire on your behalf and report back my findings. I was able to do this as well as offer a conference summary report after Sterling Customer Connection 2007. Many have mentioned to me that this was of great value for those who could not attend the conference.

Contact me if you are unable to attend but would like a conference summary report, if you would like me to seek out specific information for you, or if you would like to meet up at the conference.