Sterling B2B and order management, kept current and off the critical path.
We upgrade and support IBM Sterling B2B Integrator and File Gateway, and we build and fix the EDI maps and business processes they run. For retailers and distributors we also take on Sterling Order Management System upgrades and customizations.
On the B2B side we upgrade B2B Integrator and File Gateway to 6.2.2, move them to containers, and work on EDI maps, business processes and trading partner onboarding. On the commerce side we upgrade, extend and integrate Sterling Order Management System 10.0. Certified engineers work onsite in the US, nearshore or offshore, in any time zone, on contract, contract-to-hire or permanent terms.
you probably need this if
One person knows how to onboard a trading partner, and they're often on vacation.
AS2 certificates expire and partners find out before you do.
B2B Integrator runs on an old release and the upgrade keeps getting deferred.
no date yetB2B Integrator 6.2.26.2.2.0 comes with a deprecated-features list and a new File Gateway UI 2.0. IBM documents five levels so far: 6.2.2.0, 6.2.2.0_1, 6.2.2.1, 6.2.2.1_1 and 6.2.2.2.source ↗
no date yetB2B Integrator 6.2.1Fix levels run through 6.2.1.3. If you're coming from 5.2.0.x, 5.2.5.x or 5.2.6.x, IBM publishes upgrade considerations for each. There's also a support policy for container delivery models.source ↗
no date yetSterling Order Management System Software 10.0Delivered through continuous delivery updates, with an operator-based container install (online or air-gapped) or traditional installs on WebLogic, WebSphere or WAS Liberty.source ↗
the story · ibm sterling estate
From the first call to a setup your own team can run.
Here's what usually prompts a call about your IBM Sterling estate, what we do about it and in which order, and where you end up.
01 · where it hurts02 · what we change03 · how it runs04 · where you end up
incident board · ibm sterling estate3 open
openOne person knows how to onboard a trading partner, and they're often on vacation.
recurringAS2 certificates expire and partners find out before you do.
blockedB2B Integrator runs on an old release and the upgrade keeps getting deferred.
exposure
B2B Integrator and File Gateway…Container movesEDI maps and business processesTrading partner onboardingSterling Order Management…Sterling staffing
B2BiS/4ERPz/OS
startrehearsehandover
Inventory
Test pack
Rehearsed upgrade
Cut-over and handover
we are here
ready to hand over
The distributor is on a supported release now.
Updates go in regularly, and within a day the team can tell whether one affects their…
Inventory of business processes, maps, custom services and adapters
Trading partner register with protocol, certificate expiry and contacts
chapter 01 · where it hurts
Why teams reach out
One person knows how to onboard a trading partner, and they're often on vacation.
AS2 certificates expire and partners find out before you do.
B2B Integrator runs on an old release and the upgrade keeps getting deferred.
chapter 02 · what we change
How we solve it
B2B Integrator and File Gateway upgrades
Container moves
EDI maps and business processes
Trading partner onboarding
Sterling Order Management upgrades and extensions
Sterling staffing
chapter 03 · how it runs
Our approach
Inventory
Test pack
Rehearsed upgrade
Cut-over and handover
chapter 04 · where you end up
What changes
The distributor is on a supported release now.
Updates go in regularly, and within a day the team can tell whether one affects their customizations.
Inventory of business processes, maps, custom services and adapters
Trading partner register with protocol, certificate expiry and contacts
what we do
Our IBM Sterling work
6 kinds of IBM Sterling work, each run by engineers who have done it on live tenants.
Upgrades from 5.2.x or 6.x to 6.2.2, including Global Mailbox, with custom services, adapters and business processes retested and the deprecated features list checked first.
B2B Integrator moved from traditional installs to IBM's container delivery model, with persistent storage, certificates and adapter ports planned around your cluster.
X12 and EDIFACT maps, business process models and envelopes built or fixed, with test files from each trading partner kept as regression cases.
AS2, SFTP and Connect:Direct partner set-up with a repeatable checklist, certificate tracking and a partner-facing test plan.
Sterling OMS 10.0 continuous delivery updates, user exits and extensions reviewed for each update, and container or traditional deployments kept in step.
B2B Integrator developers, EDI analysts, OMS developers and Sterling administrators, onsite, nearshore or offshore, on contract, contract-to-hire or permanent terms.
capability 01 / 06in production
B2BiS/4ERPz/OS
B2B Integrator and File Gateway upgrades
Upgrades from 5.2.x or 6.x to 6.2.2, including Global Mailbox, with custom services, adapters and business processes retested and the deprecated features list checked first.
B2B Integrator moved from traditional installs to IBM's container delivery model, with persistent storage, certificates and adapter ports planned around your cluster.
Sterling OMS 10.0 continuous delivery updates, user exits and extensions reviewed for each update, and container or traditional deployments kept in step.
B2B Integrator developers, EDI analysts, OMS developers and Sterling administrators, onsite, nearshore or offshore, on contract, contract-to-hire or permanent terms.
We pieced these together from IBM Sterling situations that come up a lot. They're patterns. You won't find a specific client in them.
case file 01
B2B Integrator 5.2.6 with 800 partners and one EDI analyst
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
A distributor runs B2B Integrator 5.2.6 with about 800 trading partners on AS2 and SFTP. One analyst handles onboarding and map fixes, and certificates expire without warning.
What we dothe work
We build a partner register with certificate expiry dates, collect real files from the top partners as a test pack and rehearse the upgrade to 6.2.2 on a copy. Onboarding moves to a written checklist a second person can run.
Afterwhere you end up
The distributor is on a supported release now. Certificate expiry shows up before partners notice it, and the work no longer rests on one analyst.
case file 02
Sterling OMS updates that break user exits every quarter
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
A retailer runs Sterling OMS 10.0 with dozens of user exits and extensions. Every continuous delivery update breaks something in sourcing or inventory, so updates get skipped.
What we dothe work
We register every exit and extension with its purpose, add automated tests for sourcing and inventory flows, and apply the next update on a test environment with those tests in place.
Afterwhere you end up
Updates go in regularly, and within a day the team can tell whether one affects their customizations.
We don't start a step until the last one has produced something you can check.
step 01
Inventory
We list business processes, maps, custom services, adapters, trading partners and certificates, and check them against IBM's deprecated-features list for the target release.
step 02
Test pack
Real files from each trading partner become regression cases. After any upgrade, every map and business process is retested against what partners actually send.
step 03
Rehearsed upgrade
We upgrade a copy of production to 6.2.2 or the target OMS update, replay partner traffic through it and write down how long everything takes.
step 04
Cut-over and handover
We move production in a partner-agreed window, then do hypercare. Your team keeps an onboarding checklist it can run.
ai on ibm sterling
Where AI fits on IBM Sterling, and where it needs guardrails.
IBM's AI for Sterling sits in Order Management. Sterling OMS ships watsonx-powered agents for Self Service, Order Hub and Call Center, and an MCP server comes with the Agentic Toolkit Add-on. B2B Integrator and File Gateway don't currently have AI agent features. So for us, on the EDI side, AI helps around the platform.
AI agentasks for data or an action
Scoped identityonly the access it needs
MCP serverthe one door into the platform
Logged, approveda person signs off on writes
B2BiIBM Sterlingdoes the work
IBM documents an MCP server for Sterling OMS SaaS at the /ai/mcp endpoint. It's part of the Agentic Toolkit Add-on and authenticates with a Bearer JWT issued by OMS. B2B Integrator is different. For us, agents would call its REST APIs as a dedicated user with narrow permissions, and we'd log every call and want approval before partner or map changes.
Embedded OMS agents
Self Service agents ship now and cover server management, scheduling, queues and logs. Order Hub agents search orders and explain inventory and allocation rules, and Call Center agents help service reps. Those two need enabling first. For us they start on read-only questions.
Agentic Toolkit Add-on MCP server
The MCP server lets custom or third-party agents use real-time OMS data and start governed transactions, under role-based access, audit logging and business rule checks. It comes with the Agentic Toolkit Add-on (Essentials Edition) for OMS SaaS. For us, licensing gets confirmed before we design around it.
AI agent trial
IBM gives OMS SaaS customers a two-month AI agent trial in development or preproduction environments, requested through a support case. For us that's two months of testing agents against your own user exits and sourcing rules.
EDI maps and partner onboarding
For B2B Integrator, AI explains the undocumented maps and business processes for us. We also use it to generate test files for partner changes and to triage failed runs from the logs. Each fix is reviewed by a map developer before it reaches production.
Where Sterling sits between trading partners, orders and fulfillment
EDI and files from trading partners come in through File Gateway and B2B Integrator, which translate them for order management and ERP. Sterling Order Management sources and releases the orders to warehouses and stores. Confirmations flow back to the partners as EDI.
01 · Trading partners
Retail and supplier partnersAS2 · SFTP · VAN → File Gateway · inbound files
Carriers and 3PLsEDI 214 · 856 → File Gateway · status files
These are working documents, written against your configuration, so your team can run them without us.
inventory01
Inventory of business processes, maps, custom services and adapters
yours to keep
inventory02
Trading partner register with protocol, certificate expiry and contacts
yours to keep
tests03
Regression test pack built from real partner files
yours to keep
runbook04
Upgrade runbook to 6.2.2 with rehearsal timings
yours to keep
design05
Container deployment design for B2B Integrator
yours to keep
inventory06
OMS customization register checked for each continuous delivery update
yours to keep
talent and delivery · ibm sterling
Certified engineers, wherever you need them.
Some clients want a project team, some want a couple of engineers on theirs. Either works. Onsite, nearshore or offshore, with handovers across time zones that keep things moving.
Onsite
Engineers at your sites in the US
Nearshore
Overlapping hours with US teams
Offshore
Overnight progress on your backlog
All time zones
Coverage handed over across time zones
24-hour coverage · US Central time
OnsiteUS business hours
Nearshoreoverlapping US hours
Offshoreovernight progress
Combinedhandover, not hand-off
00:0006:0012:0018:0000:00
roles we staff
IBM Sterling B2B Integrator developer
EDI analyst (X12, EDIFACT)
Sterling File Gateway administrator
Sterling Order Management developer
Sterling platform engineer (containers)
due diligence · ibm sterling
Questions to ask any partner, including us.
Put these to anyone bidding on your IBM Sterling work. The ones who've done it answer differently from the ones who've read about it.
Q1
Do any of our custom services or adapters touch features IBM deprecated in 6.2.2, and which ones?
IBM publishes a deprecated-features list for 6.2.2.0. Custom code that leans on those features has to be found and replaced before the upgrade, not at cut-over.
Q2
How will you retest hundreds of trading partners after the upgrade?
Partner traffic is where B2B upgrades fail. A test pack of real partner files makes retesting repeatable.
Q3
What changes for us under IBM's container support policy?
Containers come under their own IBM support policy. You need a design for storage and certificates, and for networking, before you move.
Q4
How will you keep our OMS customizations working as continuous delivery updates land?
User exits and extensions tend to break without telling anyone. A register plus automated tests catches it before production does.
Q5
Who tracks AS2 and SFTP certificate expiry across all partners?
One expired certificate and the orders stop. A partner register with expiry dates and owners means somebody sees it coming.
01What is the current B2B Integrator release?
IBM's documentation covers B2B Integrator 6.2.2, with fix levels up to 6.2.2.2 when we last checked, and the 6.2.1 line up to 6.2.1.3. Support dates differ by version, so look up your exact release on IBM's lifecycle page before you plan.
02Should we move B2B Integrator to containers?
Often, if you already run a container platform and have people who can support it. IBM publishes a separate support policy for container delivery models. The hard parts are persistent storage, certificate handling, adapter networking and how Global Mailbox replicates. We pilot one environment before touching the rest.
03How long does a B2B Integrator upgrade take?
It depends on the number of custom services and adapters, the number of trading partners to retest and whether you change platforms at the same time. We inventory custom code and partner connections first, then rehearse on a copy.
04Can you also support Sterling Order Management?
Yes. We work on Sterling OMS 10.0 updates, user exits, extensions and sourcing rules, and on the integrations out to storefronts, ERP and warehouse systems.
05Can you onboard trading partners for us?
Yes. We use a repeatable checklist for AS2, SFTP and Connect:Direct partners, track certificate expiry and keep each partner's test files as regression cases.
06Do you staff Sterling and EDI roles?
We do. B2B Integrator developers, EDI analysts, OMS developers, Sterling administrators. They can be onsite in the US, nearshore or offshore, across all time zones.
services
Related services
Projects on IBM Sterling usually end up touching one of these, so they're worth a look.
