A top-tier financial services provider delivers retirement and investment solutions to professionals in education, research, healthcare, cultural institutions, and government sectors. Supporting more than 5 million active and retired members across 15,000+ organizations, this Fortune 100 enterprise oversees $1 Trillion in assets spanning 50+ countries worldwide.

Business Problem

The organization needed a secure, dependable, and streamlined approach for exchanging files. These transfers often include payment transactions and highly sensitive personal information, making it critical to ensure data protection, regulatory compliance, and customer trust.

File exchanges involving financial and confidential data must be fast, resilient, and safeguarded against risks.
To achieve this, the solution had to protect sensitive information, align with industry standards, and meet expectations for reliability.

Solution

The company standardized all file exchanges between lines of business through IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for z/OS as the primary protocol. IBM Z infrastructure underpins the solution with unmatched security, agility, reliability, and processing power. This approach ensures regulatory compliance, maximum security, and operational resilience for mission-critical data transfers. Handling both NPI (non-public personal information) and public data across multiple lines of business, the solution is the company’s enterprise standard for internal file exchange, demonstrating its versatility and trusted role within the company’s infrastructure.

For external data transfer, the Connect:Direct adapter within Sterling File Gateway is a preferred protocol for external partner transfers. The company has standardized on Connect:Direct technology due to a high degree of confidence in its reliability for business-critical external exchanges.  

Connect:Direct Secure+ adds an SSL layer for data in transit, providing an additional security option when heightened protection is needed. Combined with Connect:Direct's inherent peer-to-peer architecture which eliminates intermediate storage points, this reinforces why Connect:Direct was deployed to deliver robust security.

Benefits

• Connect:Direct for z/OS enables high-volume, with thousands of automated data exchanges every month.
• Transfers between the organization’s core systems are virtually fail-safe, ensuring data integrity and compliance.
• The solution provides confidence in secure, uninterrupted operations, even under heavy workloads.