Safe-T Secure Application Access vs Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct vs Zscaler Internet Access comparison

Safe-T is a provider of Zero Trust Access solutions which mitigate attacks on enterprises’ business-critical services and sensitive data, while ensuring uninterrupted business continuity. 

Safe-T’s cloud and on-premises solutions ensure that an organization’s access use cases, whether into the organization or from the organization out to the internet, are secured according to the “validate first, access later” philosophy of Zero Trust. 

This means that no one is trusted by default from inside or outside the network, and verification is required from everyone trying to gain access to resources on the network or in the cloud. 

Safe-T’s wide range of access solutions reduce organizations’ attack surface and improve their ability to defend against modern cyberthreats. As an additional layer of security, our integrated business-grade global proxy solution cloud service enables smooth and efficient traffic flow, interruption-free service, unlimited concurrent connections, instant scaling and simple integration with our services. 

With Safe-T’s patented reverse-access technology and proprietary routing technology, organizations of all size and type can secure their data, services and networks against internal and external threats. 

At Safe-T, we empower enterprises to safely migrate to the cloud and enable digital transformation.

IBM's Sterling Connect:Direct is a software product that offers security-hardened, point-to-point file transfers to reduce reliance on insecure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) transmissions. It is designed for high-volume file distribution within and between businesses. The solution guarantees more reliable file movement, from batch integration and movement of large images or catalogs to synchronization with distant sites. Sterling Connect:Direct also enables hybrid cloud deployment through certified containers, allowing for simple and consistent deployment lifecycle management.

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Features

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

• Performance capabilities such as extraordinary scalability and low latency.

• Automated, dependable file transmission that permits unattended, round-the-clock operations.

• Designed to run on a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, IBM z/OS, OpenVMS, i5/OS, and HP NonStop.

• Advanced security features with cutting-edge encryption to meet regulatory and industry standards.

• IBM certified containers for Sterling Connect:Direct are enterprise-grade, secure product editions that are scalable, secure, easy to install, and manage update and rollback processes. They also have integrated common software services for consistent deployment lifecycle management.
  
• Boosts transfer speed for large files over high-speed networks by up to four times the previous speed while reducing latency.
  
• Gives existing FTP transfers the ability to retry, checkpoint, and compress existing transfers.
  
• Supports a variety of network protocols, including TCP/IP, Systems Network Architecture (SNA), and an optional high-speed add-on based on Aspera FASP technology.

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

• High performance: Takes care of your most demanding workloads, including multi-gigabyte files to large volumes of small files.

• Reliable file delivery: To help ensure predictable, assured file delivery, it offers automated scheduling, checkpoint restart, and automatic recovery.

• Secure transmission of files: Maintains the confidentiality of customer information and supports regulatory compliance measures.

• Speed up patching and installation: By deploying your solution with a certified container that contains all necessary components, you can drastically cut installation and patch time from hours to minutes.

Reviews from Real Users

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its robust file processing and its security for file transfers. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

Michele I., Business Unit Manager at Innovery, writes of the solution, “The file processing is done very well. By default, there are a lot of configurations that can be customized. Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is one of the stronger MFT solutions in the market, it is available in each type of installation, and offers SaaS, PaaS, YaaS, on-premise.”

Camilo M., Pre-sales Engineer at Dell EMC, mentions, “It's a great tool because it offers secure file transfers and it has a fast and efficient protocol for very large files.”

Zscaler Internet Access is a cloud-native security service edge (SSE) platform. Its main purpose is to provide AI-powered protection for all users, all applications, and all locations. The solution replaces other legacy network security solutions to stop advanced attacks and prevent data loss by using a comprehensive zero trust approach.

Zscaler Internet Access Features

Zscaler Internet Access has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

• Proxy (native SSL)
• IPS and advanced protection
• Cloud sandbox
• DNS security
• Cloud firewall
• URL filtering
• Bandwidth control
• DNS filtering
• Cloud DLP w/EDM and IDM
• Cloud access security broker (CASB)
• Cloud security posture management (CSPM)
• CloudBrowser isolation
• Cloud secure web gateway (SWG)
• Zero trust network access (ZTNA)
• Digital experience monitoring

Zscaler Internet Access Benefits

There are several benefits to implementing Zscaler Internet Access. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

• Fast access with zero infrastructure: Zscaler Internet Access creates a fast, seamless user experience because of its direct-to-cloud architecture. With no infrastructure, Zscaler Internet Access helps you eliminate backhauling, which improves performance and simplifies network administration.

• Threat intelligence: By using threat intelligence, Zscaler Internet Access can stop ransomware, zero-day malware, and advanced attacks via Inline inspection of all internet traffic, including SSL decryption, and a suite of AI-powered cloud security services. 

• Consistent security: With Zscaler Internet Access, your security policy goes everywhere your users go. When you move security to the cloud, all users, applications, devices, and locations remain protected and secure based on identity and context.

• Hybrid workforce: Zscaler Internet Access enables secure access to all external and internal apps from anywhere, so remote work is not an issue. You can also enforce business policies that follow the user, making security identical regardless of location.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Zscaler Internet Access users.

A Service Manager at a construction company says, "There are a bunch of different capabilities that are valuable within the platform. We use quite a lot of them, but not everything. The ones that are most important to us are the URL Filtering and the application control. For our needs, the cloud-native proxy architecture is a very good solution. This architecture helps with cyber threats because we inspect most of the traffic and we can see that a lot of threats are stopped directly in the secure web gateway."

Owen N., Security Architect at Claro Enterprise Solutions, explains that the solution’s most valuable features include “The integration of the gateway that inspects all ports and protocols. So, there is threat prevention; The cloud sandbox; VNS security; Access control that will protect URL filtering and the cloud firewall; Data protection that will protect your gateway, like your CASB or your cloud DLP; The capabilities of this will point your traffic to Zscaler Cloud.”

An Architecture Senior Manager at an insurance company mentions, "The data loss prevention feature is the most valuable. It stops our users from inadvertently leaking our customers' data to the Internet or anywhere else it shouldn't go." He also adds, “The solution provides quick access to cloud services, securing our data and allowing us to inspect all our traffic.”