EOL 2025

End of life for several versions of the IBM Sterling Data Exchange family of products

As of the following dates, the following IBM Sterling products will no longer receive official support:

30th April 2025:

  • Sterling Secure Proxy 6.0.x
  • Sterling Connect:Direct 6.1.x
  • Sterling Control Center 6.2.x
  • Sterling Partner Engagement Manager 6.1.x

   30th September 2025:

  • Sterling B2B Integrator 6.1.x
  • Sterling Connect:Direct 6.2.X
  • Sterling File Gateway 6.1.x
  • Sterling Transformation Extender Advanced 10.1.x 

The end of support entails:

  • Inability to access IBM expert assistance in case of problems: If you need to use IBM support through a PMR, you will first be advised of the need to upgrade to a supported product version.
  • Products without updates: Your Data Exchange infrastructure will not receive new security patches, vulnerability fixes, or new features and enhancements designed to maintain your competitive advantage.

To benefit from new enhancements, vulnerability fixes, security updates, and ongoing support from IBM, we encourage you to migrate to the latest versions of the products.

Why is it important to migrate to the latest versions?

Ongoing Support

Take advantage of
Technical Support and
regular updates.

Advanced Security

Protect your infrastructure against emerging threats.

New Features

 Optimise processes with the latest innovations.

Regulatory Compliance

Ensure that you are compliant with current regulations.

Improved Performance

Increase the efficiency of your critical operations

What risks am I running if I do not update my products?

  • In the worst case scenario, an incident could occur in a highly critical production environment. Fixing the problem could result in serious disruptions and high costs.
  • In addition, working with outdated versions carries a number of risks:
    • Legal and financial risks for non-compliance with data exchange regulations or standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001, which only current versions keep up to date.
    • Risk of disruptions: Lack of support can severely impact your operations.
    • Damage to reputation in the event of security incidents. Migrating to the latest versions ensures that your infrastructure is aligned with current regulations.
    • Unforeseen expenses: repairing obsolete systems can be costly.

B2B Solutions is the perfect partner to accompany you throughout the migration process, ensuring minimal impact on service and the lowest possible cost.

In addition, we offer you our Migration Assessment Study at no cost.

In this study, carried out by certified professionals, we analyse the infrastructure, architecture, applications and critical services in order to propose improvements and draw up a migration roadmap, with an initial estimate of timescales and costs, and the best way to approach the project.

Do my IBM Sterling solutions have vulnerabilities?

Over time, security gaps and weaknesses appear in all software products, and manufacturers correct them in new versions released to the market. Known system vulnerabilities are published, numbered and classified according to their criticality. Some of them only affect certain versions of the product, while others have remained throughout several versions.

What do I get with the new versions?

The latest versions of IBM Sterling Data Exchange offer:

  • New features for more efficient operations.
  • Modernised interfaces for a more intuitive user experience.
  • Performance improvements to optimise processes.
  • Expanded compatibility with other platforms and systems. These innovations will enable you to optimise B2B operations, improve efficiency and adapt more quickly to market changes.

The graph is an example of the features added to IBM Sterling B2B Integrator between versions 6.1 and 6.2.0.4.

The Migration Project

From a licensing perspective, migration does not involve any costs, although it does require time and specialised personnel who can plan the project correctly to minimise risks and ensure business continuity.

At B2B Solutions, we have years of experience in migrating IBM Sterling Data Exchange ecosystems. This experience has enabled us to design an Action Plan to carry out the migration in the shortest possible time, ensuring the lowest cost and the least impact on service, so that none of your customers are affected during the migration process.

 

We structure the Sterling product migration project based on the following phases that make up our method, backed by numerous successful projects in major companies around the world:

  • Initial analysis. We identify the versions of IBM Sterling products in use, assess critical dependencies, integrations and customisations to ensure they are maintained or even improved after migration, and document potential risks and areas for improvement. This phase, also known as Migration Assessment, will be at no cost to your organisation.
  • Migration Strategy Design. We define a detailed migration roadmap, aligning timelines and strategies with business needs. We design the target architecture and plan the deployment, create the operational continuity plan, and establish a detailed testing plan.
  • Installation and Configuration of the New Environment. We implement and configure the infrastructure with test and production environments. We migrate data, configurations and workflows, and apply security and performance improvements.
  • Testing and Validation. We perform integration and connectivity tests, functionality tests, performance and load tests, security and compliance tests, and resolve any incidents before go-live.
  • Go-Live and Production. We carry out the final migration based on a detailed roadmap, monitor system performance in real time, and make the necessary adjustments to configurations, permissions, or workflows, as well as infrastructure tuning adjustments to ensure maximum efficiency.
  • Post-Production Support and Optimisation. We supervise the implementation of the system in production to ensure a smooth start-up and offer ongoing support for an agreed period to resolve any incidents or queries. We also train the client’s team to operate the new infrastructure.

Why should migration be carried out by certified technical experts?

1

Expert Knowledge and Official Certification

IBM Sterling products have an advanced architecture that requires detailed understanding for proper configuration and optimisation.

An IBM-certified team ensures that the migration is carried out in accordance with IBM’s best practices, avoiding critical errors.

2

Risk Reduction and Impact Minimisation

A poorly executed migration can lead to service interruptions, data loss, or integration failures with other systems.

A specialised team plans and executes the migration using proven methodologies, ensuring zero impact on operations.

3

Post-Migration Performance Optimisation

Migrating without optimising the new version is a common mistake that can lead to performance issues and higher operating costs.

IBM Sterling Data Exchange experts configure the new version to maximise efficiency and reduce resource consumption.

4

Integration with Existing Systems

IBM Sterling solutions are often integrated with multiple business systems such as ERPs, CRMs, EDI platforms, WMS, or payment gateways. A poorly executed migration can weaken these connections and cause errors in data transmission.

A migration carried out by expert technicians guarantees the compatibility and continuity of integrations. In addition to optimising the configuration so that communication between systems is more efficient and secure.

5

Support and Incident Resolution

Unexpected events are common in any migration, and a slow or incorrect response can cause significant losses.

An experienced team offers immediate support, with rapid incident resolution and contingency plans.

6

Long-Term Cost Reduction

A migration carried out by technicians with little experience often results in errors that increase maintenance and error correction costs.

A well-executed migration avoids additional costs, ensuring stability and efficiency from day one.

Please contact B2B Solutions if you have any questions or require further information about our migration services.

We will be delighted to assist you.

Let´s tall to Migration!