IBM Sterling Connect:Direct is part of the IBM Sterling Data Exchange portfolio of products designed to provide secure, compliant, and reliable file transfer solution between and across enterprises. Sterling Connect:Direct provides high-volume, security-focused managed file transfer (MFT) across a broad set of distributed platforms, IBM z/OS, and cloud environments.

IBM Sterling Connect:Direct 6.5 introduces enhancements across both the z/OS and distributed platform editions, addressing the evolving security landscape with Post-Quantum Cryptography readiness, strengthening operational resilience through high availability enhancements, and extending automation capabilities for modern hybrid cloud architectures.

Connect:Direct for z/OS 6.5

• Automation of Secure+ updates: Enables bulk insertion, update, and deletion of remote trading partners to reduce manual effort and minimize configuration errors across Secure+ settings.
• Synchronous file backup with Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM): Triggers an HSM backup within the same process flow immediately after file transfer to strengthen data protection and improve recovery readiness.
• Enhanced SMF logging: Richer transfer metadata and diagnostics improve auditing, monitoring, SIEM integration, and compliance reporting.
• Hard-fail security enforcement: Provides an option to automatically flush file transfers stuck in queue due to Secure+ configuration issues, reducing transfer backlogs and maintaining queue hygiene.
• Update reliability improvements: Resolves known issues with dynamic network map (netmap) updates to improve stability and predictability in complex workflows.

Connect:Direct Distributed 6.5 (UNIX, Windows, and containers)

• Post-quantum cryptography (PQC): Introduces quantum-safe cryptographic capabilities to support future security requirements.
• Integrated Connect:Direct Web Services for UNIX: Built-in REST APIs simplify deployment, administration, and upgrades by eliminating the need for a separate CDWS installation.
• High availability for Integrated File Agent: Active-passive high-availability support eliminates single points of failure and ensures continuous file monitoring.
• Arbitrary user ID support for containers: Enables containers to run by using a dynamically assigned UID from the namespace UID range, ensuring out-of-the-box compliance with Kubernetes Pod Security Standards (PSS) and Red Hat OpenShift Security Context Constraints (SCC) in restrictive environments.
• CD Performance health check: Provides proactive, rule-based monitoring that gives advance warning of degrading throughput and failing transfers caused by declining product health.
• Cloud object storage automation: Automates post-transfer delivery and workflows for IBM Cloud Object Storage, AWS S3, and Azure Blob Storage to simplify hybrid cloud data pipelines.
• SSPI-based passwordless authentication: Eliminates the need to store, manage, or rotate database passwords for PostgreSQL connections by using the Windows service identity through SSPI-based authentication, removing a common attack surface and simplifying compliance with secrets-management policies.

Upgrade and migration considerations

IBM Sterling Connect:Direct 6.5 supports in-place upgrades from versions 6.3 and 6.4 on all distributed platforms except Windows. On Windows, IBM Sterling Connect:Direct 6.5 requires a side-by-side installation rather than an in-place upgrade. If you are running IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for z/OS 6.3 or 6.4, you can upgrade directly to 6.5. A complete set of migration guides, pre-upgrade checklists, and compatibility matrices will be available in IBM Documentation at General Availability.

If you are running IBM Sterling Connect:Direct versions prior to 6.3, review the IBM Software Support Lifecycle for your current version and plan an upgrade path to 6.5 to ensure continued access to IBM support and security fixes. Contact your IBM account team or IBM Business Partner for upgrade planning assistance.