Connect:Direct

For NDM in decision making, see Naturalistic decision making.

NDM (Network Data Mover) is a file transfer product commonly employed to transfer files between mainframe computers, and mid-range computers. NDM's legacy was that it was developed for the mainframe world, with other platforms being added as the product grew. Originally called NDM, it was renamed to Connect:Direct by its owner, now Sterling Commerce (as of 2008), after Sterling Software purchased the company (see History). While its name is officially Connect:Direct, virtually everyone refers to the product by its old name, NDM. Traditionally, NDM used the SNA protocol via dedicated private lines between the parties involved to transfer the data. In the early 1990's TCP/IP support was added. NDM's primary advantage over FTP is that it provides the controls and production capabilities to make file transfers routine and reliable.

NDM is used heavily within the financial services industry, government agencies and other large organizations that have multiple mainframes, Mid-Range, Linux or Windows systems. In terms of speed NDM typically performs slightly faster than FTP, reaching the maximum that the interconnecting link can support. If CPU cycles are available, NDM has several compression modes that can greatly enhance the throughput of the transfer, but care must be exercised in multi-processing environments as NDM can consume large amounts of cycles, impacting other workloads.

NDM itself is not a secure method of transferring data to a mainframe or between mainframes, however Sterling Commerce offers a product that adds this feature: Connect:Direct Secure+. Encryption can be accomplished with SSL, TLS or STS.

NDM can be invoked at UNIX server prompt by typing in 'NDMRequest'.

NDM file transfers can be done in two formats: Binary mode (where no translation occurs) or ASCII/EBCDIC mode (where translation is used to convert an ASCII file to EBCDIC as it is moved to a mainframe or vice-versa).

History

In the mid 1980's several employees of UCC left to form "The System Center, Inc." in Dallas, Texas. The new company was going to develop a mainframe systems management tool. While researching the requirements of this new software package, it became clear that a more marketable tool would be a high speed file transfer product. Thus Network Data Mover was created. Originally developed to support high speed file transfer between mainframes using IBM's MVS operating system, later support was added for IBM's DOS (mainframe DOS, not PC) and VM operating systems. Recognizing the need to span the diversity of hardware environments, midrange and finally PC support was added. Currently the product is usable on nearly every operating system in common use.

The System Center company had developed a product that was in high demand, but the company needed additional resources to take advantage of the market climate for NDM. It merged with VM Software of Reston, Virginia to form "Systems Center, Inc.", with the new headquarters in Reston. With the additional funding of the merger, NDM was able to be leveraged into the de-facto standard for high speed transfer in the SNA world. The early 1990's were rocky times for the company with wild swings in stock prices, layoffs followed by expansions and hirings just months later. During one of the low times, the company was purchased by Sterling Software of Dallas in 1993. Sterling Software had old ties to Sterling Commerce through Sam Wyly, the founder of UCC. The headquarters then moved back to Dallas. In 1996 the company was split back into two separate divisions, NDM and VM. The two new companies were called Sterling Commerce (the file transfer group) and Sterling Software (all the application software).

Sterling Software had its own file transfer product, Synctrac, which was merged with the NDM division to create a single file transfer centric entity. As the internet boom occurred, the needs for these file transfer systems grew and the value of the division grew. Eventually in the final days of the dot.com boom in early 2001, merely weeks before the crash, Sam Wyly and Sterling Williams made a brilliant business move, selling Sterling Commerce to Southwestern Bell (now AT&T) for $3.9 billion. Days later the other half of Sterling was sold to Computer Associates for another $4 billion.