Changes to IBM Sterling Gentran:Director and Standalone Commerce:Connection

Content

Background regarding IBM governance changes
As part of all acquisitions, IBM requires that the acquired company deliver new product releases that conform to IBM technology standards. Generally, the intent is to have no functional differences between the IBM-compliant version and the last pre-acquisition release. However, where a function in an existing release cannot be brought into compliance with IBM standards, that function is withdrawn.

Installation media for prior versions of IBM Sterling Gentran:Director
In a recent IBM review, it was determined that components of Gentran:Director version 5.3 and 5.4 do not comply with IBM governance requirements. Therefore, IBM can no longer distribute installation media for these versions of Gentran:Director.

Upgrading to Gentran:Director version 5.5 also provides some benefits. This version of the product is fully supported under the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. In addition, Gentran:Director
version 5.5 provides customers with access to all document templates available from the Director Template Library, at no additional charge.

We apologize for any inconvenience, but we believe that the migration will be reasonably simple, and that the migration will be very valuable to Gentran:Director customers.

Standalone Commerce:Connection
Commerce:Connection was previously sold independent of Gentran:Director. Commerce:Connection is no longer sold or distributed as a standalone product.

Existing instances of the standalone version of Commerce:Connection will continue to be supported in compliance with Gentran version lifecycle guidelines. Customers who currently use this product are advised to use another communications client for internet access, and reconfigure your network reports so that they are sent in unencrypted form to an email account of your choosing.

No HIPAA document support for Gentran:Director
Gentran:Director has never officially provided support for X12 HIPAA messages. As part of recent product reviews, IBM determined that it would not be in our customers' best interests to provide HIPAA support through Gentran:Director. The amount of validation required for compliance with the HIPAA regulations and the complexity of the healthcare 999 message are beyond the scope of the functions typically delivered with Gentran:Director. This statement apples to both Gentran:Director and Gentran:Director Professional.

Customers who need to translate HIPAA messages should contact their account representative to discuss a migration to IBM Sterling Gentran:Server.

Functions withdrawn in the new version of IBM Sterling Gentran:Director
Async/Bisync – Starting with version 5.5 of IBM Sterling Gentran:Director, asynchronous and bisynchronous dialup and TCP/IP will no longer be supported communication protocols. We recommend migrating to a more current, supported communication protocol, or using the IBM Sterling B2B Collaboration Network for bisynchronous support.

Communicator – Gentran:Director previously contained a 16-bit version of Commerce:Connection called Communicator. Communicator provided TCP/IP, asynchronous, and bisynchronous communications. This component has been removed from Gentran:Director version 5.5. Customers who are currently using Communicator will continue to be supported in compliance with Gentran version lifecycle guidelines, but new installations of this component will not be available. IBM recommends that customers using this component migrate to a supported communications protocol.

If you have questions
Contact IBM Customer Support.