12 To 18 Months To Stand Up
Basic partner integrations on Sterling routinely take a year or more to deploy. Files.com is live in days, with our team running the migration.
IBM Sterling Is The Gold Standard, Built In Another Era
IBM Sterling is the category leader, with the deepest install base in managed file transfer and a pedigree that goes back decades. That pedigree is also the problem. Today a Sterling customer is carrying aging infrastructure, seven-figure licensing plus a consulting tail, 12-to-18-month deployments to stand up basic integrations, and a dedicated Center of Excellence whose whole job is keeping Sterling running.
A full deployment is three products, not one: Sterling File Gateway for the partner-facing exchange, B2B Integrator for transformation and routing, and Control Center for monitoring. Each is licensed, deployed, and maintained separately.
Files.com does the same job as one cloud-native platform. SFTP, FTP, FTPS, WebDAV, AS2 and EDI, Automations, transformation, the on-premise Agent, and the REST API in a single product we run for you. No Center of Excellence, no consulting tax, no three-product stack to keep in sync.
“Our previous solution was on-prem, so we had to allow a third-party vendor onto the entirety of our network. What’s great with Files.com is that this isn’t the case. Everything is being handled at the cloud-based level, whether it’s inbound or outbound on our network.”
What Running IBM Sterling Looks Like Today
Seven-Figure Licensing, Plus Consulting
Sterling runs on seven-figure, quote-driven contracts with a consulting tail on top. You never see a price while you are deciding.
A Center Of Excellence To Keep It Running
Sterling customers staff a dedicated team whose job is operating the platform. Files.com is run by Files.com; your team logs in and uses it.
Three Products To Do One Job
A full Sterling deployment is Sterling File Gateway plus B2B Integrator plus Control Center, each licensed, deployed, and maintained on its own.
Why The Architecture Is The Entire Decision
Sterling makes you run the software. You license it, you stand it up over a year or more, you staff a Center of Excellence to operate it, and you pay IBM or a partner to deploy and upgrade it.
Files.com does the opposite. We built the platform for the cloud, and we run it, patch it, and keep it secure. Your team logs in and the file transfer works. There is a self-serve trial if your IT team wants to validate the technology before the procurement conversation.
That is the entire decision: do you want to run this software, or do you want to use it?
Where Files.com Wins
One Platform, Not Three Products
SFTP/FTP, Automations, Inboxes, AS2 and EDI, the on-premise Agent, and the REST API in one product. Sterling does the same job with File Gateway plus B2B Integrator plus Control Center.
Live In Days, Not 12 To 18 Months
Files.com is cloud-native and deployed by us. A first workload moves in days, not the year-plus a Sterling integration takes to stand up.
No Consulting Tax, No Center Of Excellence
Files.com support engineers run the migration and operate the platform. There is no dedicated Sterling team to staff and no IBM professional-services line items to fund.
Published Pricing
Files.com publishes its pricing. Sterling is quote-driven, seven-figure, and negotiated deal by deal.
Transformation Built In, DataWeave-Compatible
Files TransformScript uses DataWeave-compatible syntax, with File Extraction as declarative metadata, all in one platform. Sterling separates this across its Map Editor, Application Integrator, and Process Modeler.
#1 In Gartner Peer Insights For Managed File Transfer
#1 across every G2 rating in the category, 4,000-plus organizations, and 15-plus years of operation with zero publicly disclosed breaches.
Files.com Vs. IBM Sterling FAQ
What buyers ask most when comparing Files.com to IBM Sterling.
The Decision
Stop carrying enterprise MFT as a seven-figure legacy stack with year-long deployments, a permanent Center of Excellence, and three products to keep in sync. Run the same partner exchange on one cloud-native platform, priced transparently, with the migration run by our team and nothing torn out before its replacement has proven itself.
Sterling is a legacy tax. Files.com is freedom.
Move Off IBM Sterling
4,000+ organizations run mission-critical file transfer on Files.com instead of legacy MFT. Talk to our team or validate the technology on a free trial.
No pushy sales process