IBM® Sterling Connect:Direct provides security-hardened, point-to-point file transfers to lessen dependency on unreliable File Transfer Protocol (FTP) transfers. It is optimized for high-volume delivery of files within and among enterprises and is heavily adopted across many industries to handle their mission-critical managed file transfer needs. The two use cases below show how IBM Sterling Connect:Direct z/OS is utilized.
Use case #1: UK Banking Organization – Banking Industry
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct z/OS provides security-hardened, point-to-point file transfers throughout the bank. It is optimized for high-volume delivery of files within and among enterprises and is heavily adopted across many industries to handle their mission-critical managed file transfer needs.
This United Kingdom (UK) banking organization is one of the UK's largest financial services organizations with tens of millions of customers and tens of thousands of employees, processing a significant share of the UK’s retail payments. Although the bank is primarily domestic, it has overseas operations in the US and Europe.
The bank has requirements for file transfers with customers, agencies, and partners including financial payment data and sensitive personal data. Therefore, file transfers must be efficient, reliable, and secure, to protect customer information and meet industry regulations and customers’ expectations.
The bank must ensure that the handling of payment data meets regulatory requirements for high availability performance, security, and resilience set forth by the following regulators:
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards
- UK Financial Conduct Authority
- The Bank of England
- General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
- Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)
All files exchanged with external parties are routed through IBM Sterling File Gateway with IBM Sterling Connect:Direct as the preferred protocol to meet industry regulatory compliance, providing the highest levels of security and resilience.
The bank runs Connect:Direct across all their main operating systems: IBM z/OS, IBM i, IBM AIX, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and HP Nonstop. It has standardized Connect:Direct for internal transfers to move files efficiently and reliably from systems that create data to the ones that consume it. To further enhance workflow processes and integrations for business operations, the bank has started to deploy Connect:Direct using Kubernetes to support new containerized applications.
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct z/OS provides an efficient, reliable solution to move high-volume data to and from the bank’s core systems with the highest levels of security. Security and resilience are integrated into the bank’s mainframe. This allows file transfers connected to the mainframe, to be controlled by the bank’s automation solutions to seamlessly support the exchange of critical data between disparate systems e.g. The automatic translation of data between the different coding requirements of different operating system platforms.
The bank also utilizes other IBM Sterling Data Exchange solutions for end-to-end visibility and lifecycle management, to address the ever-changing security landscape.
IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor helps the bank improve efficiency, optimize business operations, and address a lack of resources:
- Monitoring, reporting and alerts, for all its file transfers between 1,000+ Connect:Direct instances.
- Automated routing of real-time alerts to its central operations dashboard
- Allows one team with limited specialized knowledge to support all platforms
IBM Sterling Control Center Director removes manual process overhead and increases efficient use of the bank’s Connect:Direct estate with:
- Standardized configuration management of Connect:Direct across all operating system platforms, including z/OS
- Easy-to-use license management
- Capability to push upgrades, patches, and new installations from a central console
Use case #2: Irish Banking Organization – Banking Industry
This Irish banking organization uses IBM Sterling Connect:Direct z/OS for security-hardened, point-to-point file transfers within their organization and with external partners.
This bank is one of the largest financial services organizations in the Republic of Ireland, spanning its overseas reach for doing business in the U.S. and Europe (EU). Its banking operations are primarily domestic in Ireland, providing banking services and insurance products to 3.2 million customers nationally and in the United Kingdom.
This banking organization has earned the designation as a Significant Institution and is directly supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB). This designation adds a layer of complexity with an additional set of regulatory requirements that the bank must be compliant with iEnsure the handling of payment data meets regulatory requirements for security and resiliency established by the ECB.
A list of governing bodies that have their own set of regulatory requirements which this bank must be compliant with (based on the jurisdiction of where business transactions occur):
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SSM Regulation and the SSM Framework Regulation, European Central Bank
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Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), EU
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General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), EU
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Regulatory requirements, UK Financial Conduct Authority, UK
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Regulatory requirements, The Bank of England, UK
This bank trusts and depends on IBM Sterling Connect:Direct on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and IBM z/OS, for transfers requiring the highest levels of security and ensures it meets all the regulatory requirements across all the governing bodies. The banking organization leverages the proprietary “never been breached” protocol to increase security, reliability and performance when compared to common open-source protocols.
This bank uses IBM Sterling Connect:Direct z/OS to exchange files with its largest partners, driven by the IBM Workload Automation software on the bank’s mainframe through these primary connections:
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Directly over the internet via Virtual Private Networks
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Over leased lines for an added layer of security
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct is also integrated with the bank’s security and authentication software to enforce strict user-level access management and control data accessibility.
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Standardizes configuration management of all Connect:Direct nodes across all operating system platforms the bank uses.
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Centrally rolls out upgrades across its Connect:Direct distributed estate eliminating repetitive manual processes, ensures the most current software version, and addresses emerging risks in the ever-changing security landscape.
This banking organization continues to modernize its technology to optimize business operations and protect the organization by strengthening its security e.g. It is exploring Connect:Direct Plex to further enhance the resilience of its critical transfers within its mainframe sysplex.