Item: IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a financial company and, as such, are in the midst of a multi-year project to modernize our trading applications while having to maintain legacy applications with little downtime. We use it to bridge the gap between legacy on-prem and the latest cloud-based deployments. It helps us manage multiple applications across environments and manage multiple users. We host Java-based applications that provide real-time trading data from a variety of upstream systems.

Pros and Cons

Scalability
Integration with on prem and variety of cloud platforms.
Easy deployment.

Support and documentation.
Suitable for larger organizations. May not be efficient for smaller teams.
Logging
Licensing costs are steep.

Return on Investment

High performance an availability. We have not had any performance issues and have met our 99.9% uptime SLA.
Cost pricing is not great and not good sales support here.
Initial setup and config takes longer - hence more suited for larger teams

Alternatives Considered

Oracle WebLogic Server

IBM Websphere was better suited for our needs as we are a primarily Java shop, and it provided better customization and potential ROI. It also requires less downtime, and support is easier than Weblogic. Also, Websphere is better suited for a hybrid environment.

Key Insights

Do you think IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Apache Tomcat, Google Cloud Platform

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Websphere Hybrid Edition is suitable for all J2EE applications in an enterprise environment. It is highly suited for industries that have robust security and compliance requirements. Its also suitable to firms that have DevOps teams as supporting applications using Websphere becomes easier. IBM Websphere is a bit complex and has an initial learning curve and thus may not be suitable for smaller firms. Also, the costs are high. Some root cause analysis requires expensive consulting with IBM.

Users and Roles

100 - Software Development in Wealth Management, Corporate and Investment Bank. Corporate function focuses on creating applications focusing on aggregating, processing and rendering large amount of data in near real time to risk managers and compliance amongst others.

Support Headcount Required

20 - Support team is global and works around the clock in different locations - Singapore, India, London and US. We have a team with diverse skillset in DevOps, scripting, cloud & container knowledge and technical background.

Business Processes Supported

Risk reporting tool for firmwide audience
Client prospecting applicaiton
Trade analysis and reporting application for middle office
PNL portal for traders, middle office and compliance

Innovative Uses

Combine it with multiple cloud deployments (AWS, azure and on prem solutions)
Integrate with custom CI/CD pipelines
Integrate existing control and audit requirements with user permissions

Future Planned Uses

Make full use of containerization and scaling
Reduce compute cost by removing static allocations to resources
Improve on SLA - up time and performance metrics across critical applications
Integrate with existing monitoring systems (Geneos)

Likelihood to Renew

Mostly we will be renewing unless the strategic direction changes drastically or there are other complelling external circumstances. We've been on a multi year project to modernize our legacy applications and that effort will continue for the foreseeable future.

A great solution for Java applications.

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition