COMMON POWERUp 2025: Full Schedule

Unlock the Power of IBM i at POWERUp 2025!

Join us in Disneyland, California, for POWERUp 2025, the premier conference for IBM i professionals. Whether you’re an experienced expert or just starting your IBM i journey, this event offers unparalleled education, hands-on workshops, and valuable networking opportunities. Stay ahead of the curve with insights from industry leaders, explore the latest innovations, and connect with a thriving community that shares your passion for IBM i. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge, grow your skills, and power up your career!

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8:00am PDT

The Practical Side of AI: Beyond the Hype, Real-World Applications for Business Value Today

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Magic Ballroom 2

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often portrayed as a panacea for the world's challenges, with futuristic depictions overshadowing its practical, present-day capabilities. This session aims to demystify AI by showcasing real-world use cases that drive tangible business value. We will explore how AI is being effectively deployed across various industries to optimize operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth. By focusing on the here and now, this session seeks to empower businesses to harness the power of AI today, rather than waiting for the promises of tomorrow. Join us to learn how AI can be a practical tool for your business, delivering measurable results and a competitive edge.

Speakers

Sebastian Lehrig

WW AI on IBM Power Leader, IBM

As world-wide leader for AI on IBM Power, Sebastian is the main product manager to drive design, development, and market success of AI offerings & capabilities on the IBM Power platform. Previously, he has brought the open-source AI portfolio (including technology such as Kubeflow... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Magic Ballroom 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

8:00am PDT

Intro to the SQL Procedural Language

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

North Ballroom A

SQL includes a full-fledged programming language, SQL PL. Come learn about the programming constructs, including error handling, that this language contains. You will leave with all the knowledge you need to start writing your own SQL functions and procedures.

Speakers

Kent Milligan

Senior Db2 for i Consultant, IBM

Kent Milligan is a Senior Db2 for i Consultant in IBM Technology Expert Labs. Kent has over 25 years of experience as a Db2 for IBM i consultant and developer working out of the IBM Rochester lab. Prior to re-joining the Db2 for i Expert Labs practice in 2020, Kent spent 5 years... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
North Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

8:00am PDT

IBM Power's Differentiated Memory Roadmap

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Monorail

This session explores the historical importance of Power's memory architecture, reviews recent developments in Power's memory roadmap, and highlights the strengths of Power's memory architecture going forward versus developments in industry memory architectures.

Speakers

Bill Starke

Power Processor Chief Architect, IBM

William Starke is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Chief Architect for Power microprocessors. Since graduating from Michigan Tech University, Bill has been employed by IBM for over 30 years in several roles, spanning mainframe and Power systems performance analysis, logic design... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Monorail 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Hardware

8:00am PDT

Continuous Availability for All

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

South Ballroom A

Is the prospect of downtime causing your business to suffer? What if you could update the PTF, or even the operating system of your production system without taking an outage? The good news, its possible. More and more of our IBM i family are taking advantage of Db2 Mirror. This is the IBM i continuous availability solution, giving you a 2 node cluster giving you an active active platform to protect from planned or un-planned outages. Come learn how this solution works, and how it is for ALL of our IBM i family.

Speakers

Kris Whitney

IBM

Kris Whitney is a Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM Rochester. He has worked at IBM for the last 22+ years and currently is leading the development for Db2 Mirror for i and IBM i Public Cloud enablement.

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
South Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

8:00am PDT

Improving Software Quality via Development and Testing

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Amazon

Do you know all of the things you should be considering when writing and testing your software? In this session, testing expert Yvonne Enselman teams up with programming expert Scott Klement to discuss all of the things you should be considering when testing your software if you want to achieve the highest quality result.

Although examples are provided in RPG, the concepts discussed in this session apply to software development in all environments.

Speakers

Scott Klement

Managing Partner, ORC LLC

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Amazon 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Program Testing

8:00am PDT

A Practical Guide to IBM i Authority Collection

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Safari

This session explores practical applications for Authority Collection, including standard and creative use cases. Authority Collection can be used to reduce the security exposure of privileged user profiles and to lock down objects/libraries/IFS. We will cover these in detail, along with some “outside the box” ways of using this technology to answer questions and solve problems.

Speakers

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco Systems

With over 30 years' experience in the area of IT security, Carol is known world-wide as an expert in the area of computer security. During her career, Carol has architected security solutions for Fortune 100 companies as well as small and medium-sized organizations. Carol is passionate... Read More →

Steve Riedmueller

Certified IBM i Admin - IBM Champion, Speaker, Mentor, and Advocate, Kisco

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Safari 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

8:00am PDT

Pros and cons of using block level replication with IBM i

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Magic Ballroom 4

One of the primary advantages of using external storage with IBM i is that it opens the possibility of using block level replication. This session will cover potential benefits (and disadvantages) of using block level storage replication in lieu of, or in addition to, journal-based replication.

Speakers

John Kinne

IBM i Lead Systems Engineer, ProCern Technology Solutions

John Kinne has spent the past 28 years working for managed service providers after earning a degree in Computer Science from Rochester Institute of Technology. During this time, he has worked with 100+ companies across various industries managing IBM Power servers and IBM storage... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Magic Ballroom 4 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Storage Technologies

8:00am PDT

Fix Managment

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Nile

Keeping your system up to date and secure requires knowledge of the Fixes (formerly PTFs). Here will will discuss what the fixes are, how to get them, and how to apply them. We will also discuss the different types of fixes and how to develop a Fix Strategy for your organization.

Speakers

Sarah Jacob

Agile Tech

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Nile 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

8:00am PDT

Selecting your Power Hosting Environment

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Castle

When virtualizing IBM Power Systems you have two primary choices for the hosting environment, VIOS and IBM i. Each of these offers strengths and each has weaknesses. In this session we'll go over more than 35 comparison points putting the two hosting choices side by side. We'll cover technical capabilities as well as usability and visual items. We'll look at costs and requirements for each host option.

Come and select your choice for a hosting partition or confirm that you've gone down the right track.

Speakers

Steve Bradshaw

Friendly Techie, Rowton IT Solutions Ltd

My latest work as the Friendly Techie, includes assisting IBM i with the design and testing with IBM i 7.6 as both Beta Tester and Redbook Author, and as assistant in the design and testing of the new IBM i Migrate While Active tool and the AI based RPG Code Assistant.I have worked... Read More →

Larry Bolhuis

Cloud and Datacenter Engineer, IBM Champion, Service Express Inc.

Larry has grown up with computers since his father became a CE in 1967. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Calvin College in 1982 and soon after began working on IBM midrange equipment with the S/34 and S/36. Larry began working on the As/400 at its introduction In 1988.After spending many years as a developer Larry began working on communications, networking, and systems management tasks. Years of... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Castle 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Virtualization

8:00am PDT

Setting Up Virtual I/O Server

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Magic Ballroom 3

Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) is an AIX-based operating system that allows you to virtualize your Power Systems hardware. This allows you to fully virtualize IBM i, AIX, and Power Linux partitions. Looking to install Virtual I/O Server or curious about how to do it? Learn all the steps necessary to do so.

Speakers

Steven McIver

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Magic Ballroom 3 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Virtualization

8:00am PDT

Business and IT

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT

South Ballroom B

Join us for a interactive workshop!

We will show you what it is like to work in a business, how a business communicates changes to the IT department and how does IT respond to those changes. We will learn and understand IT place in every company.

Speakers

Marina Schwenk

Innovative Software Solutions inc.

Marina started her career in January 2015 at Everbrite LLC in Greenfield WI after graduating from Gateway Technical College in May of 2014 with an Associate’s degree in IT Software Development. Marina worked for over nine years as a Senior Programmer Analyst/IBM i admin at Everbrite... Read More →

Shelly Petty

Application Support, Profound Logic

I am a Full Stack Developer at Profound Logic. We run our production applications on the IBMi Power Server. Primary languages are CL, RPG, DB2 SQL and Java, and the UI: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Drupple, React, and Sencha.My position is a fast paced job and it includes Help Desk phone... Read More →

Steve Wolk

CTO, PC Richard & Son

Steven Wolk is the Chief Technology Officer for PC Richard & Son, a family owned and operated chain of 66 appliance and electronics superstores located throughout NY, NJ, CT, and PA. Founded in 1909, PC Richard has always been known for honesty, integrity, and reliability throughout... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT
South Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Personal Development

8:00am PDT

IBM i Security Best Practices

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT

Adventure

While the IBM i is an extremely secure system, there are still a variety of attack vectors that can result from administrative mistakes that can cause a breach. In this session, we will review many of the common issues and configuration errors we have seen time and again with our IBM i customers. If you are a system administrator or security officer, this session is a must attend!

Speakers

Robert Andrews

Principal Security Consultant, IBM

Robert Andrews is a Principal Security Consultant, Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM), and Team Lead for the IBM i Security and Authentication Technology Expert Labs team in Rochester, MN. An IBM Certified Thought Leader and The Open Group Distinguished Technical Specialist, Robert... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

8:00am PDT

Integrating classic .NET projects with the Db2 for i .NET Provider

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT

Magic Ballroom 1

If your company is doing classic .NET programming alongside IBM i development, then it is important to be conversant about providing Db2 for i data to Microsoft environments using the Db2 for i .NET Provider. The Db2 for i .NET Provider enables real time data access from a compiled Microsoft or 3rd party OO language, in a manner very similar to SQL Server.

This session seeks to enable you to demonstrate (on your PC) that it is no big deal to get current Db2 for i data without interim data extract steps. The Db2 for i .NET Provider is available in the ACS Windows Application Package for no additional charge for companies who have ACS license(s).

There are many ways and some good reasons to consume and even update Db2 for i data from classic .NET (.NET Framework 2.0 through 4.8), for the betterment of your company, especially in cases where the applications and data continue to reside primarily on IBM i. For our company, we chose the web forms style project types to solve our needs for a website strategy, but the Db2 for i .NET Provider can be used in quite a few other project types and applications or to feed external data stores. This provider can’t be used in the new/latest Microsoft framework known simply as .NET (originally named .NET Core), however there might be more parallels with traditional IBM i development with the older 4.8 Framework and many, if not most, Azure cloud offerings are compatible with classic .NET.

In this 2-hour session, we will also hit upon several admin functions including installation of the Visual Studio Community Edition 2022 as the IDE (some via video on the Tegratecs website). Same thing for installing the provider on Windows Server (again to show how it is no big deal…), in order to help reduce hurdles hindering implementation at a production level.

Speakers

Rexford Smith

Sr. Developer, ERP & Web, Tegratecs Development Corp.

Announcement pdf

GR TCp Pro Intro Module v2.3 Product Contents pdf

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT
Magic Ballroom 1 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Technologies Integrated with IBM i

9:15am PDT

Surfing the Net: The Neural Net

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Safari

Embark on a journey to understand neural networks! This session takes a dive into the math behind neural networks. We will also explores their applications, and demonstrate how they power AI innovations across industries.

Speakers

Jonathan Zak

Staff Software Developer | IBM i app tools, IBM

Working on IBM i application tools, notably Manzan, Mapepire, and Tyrico.

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Safari 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

9:15am PDT

SQL Plan Cache Uncovered

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

North Ballroom A

This session explains how the SQL Plan Cache is used by Db2 for i to support the execution of your SQL & non-SQL queries. In addition, the session will review Plan Cache related tools & services that can help you identify query performance problems.

Speakers

Kent Milligan

Senior Db2 for i Consultant, IBM

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
North Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

9:15am PDT

What is Journaling good for? Beyond journaling for logical HA/DR replication

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Nile

In this session, we will discuss journaling and its role in logical replication, hardware replication and also its benefit to availability when you not using any type of replication. You might think you don't need journaling if you are not replicating, not using commitment control, and not using other advanced DB2 Features, but that's not the case. We will answer questions such as:
What is journaling doing at its core?
What are the benefits for journaling when I'm not replicating to a second system?
Why do I need to journal for Hardware Replication?
Why should I journal if I want to use Flash Copy?
What is remote journaling and how is it used for Logical Replication?
What are the journaling implications for DB2 Mirror combined with long distance logical replication?
How can I improve journaling performance, disk consumption and remote journaling bandwidth?

Speakers

John Vriezen

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Nile 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

9:15am PDT

21st Century Leap: Upgrading IBM i Skills and Systems Efficiently

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

South Ballroom A

Under the strain of demands from upper management, discover how various companies have successfully brought their software stacks into the modern era. This session will explore why adopting 21st-century technologies necessitates a structured training approach. We'll delve into the specific strategies these companies employed to update both their business operations and IT team capabilities, achieving significant reductions in both cost and time compared to a complete platform migration.

Speakers

Jim Buck

CEO & Head Instructor, imPower Technologies

Jim Buck’s career in IT has spanned more than 35+ years, primarily in college education, manufacturing, and healthcare industries. Past president (13 years) of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association (www.wmcpa.org) and has served on several teams developing IBM... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
South Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

IT Leadership & Management

9:15am PDT

How to shift even more left in testing

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

North Ballroom B

Everyone knows that the sooner you find a bug in your application, the less expensive it will be to fix, with bugs in your production environment being catastrophically expensive. Despite this knowledge, we traditionally underperform in this area. Why? Because testing is complex and time-consuming. Join our presentation to learn the techniques to take your testing to the next level, making it easier, faster, and more effective.

Speakers

Herman Rensink

Distinguished Engineer, Rocket Software

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
North Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Program Testing

9:15am PDT

Breaking Up a Monolith

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Castle

Every RPG shop has them. Most developers avoid them like the plague. Large monolithic programs are a significant source of technical debt in all RPG shops. They limit your agility which in turn is detrimental to your business. So, once you are ready to deal with the issue, where do you start? There is no one answer, but there are steps you can take to begin dismantling and repurposing the code within these behemoths.

Speakers

Brian May

Vice President of Product Management, Profound Logic

Professional IT Leader, Speaker and WriterSpecialties:Team Building, Development and RetentionTechnical SalesSolutions ArchitectureSoftware DevelopmentEnterprise Systems Manufacturing ProcessesApparel IndustryAccounting Principles

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Castle 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: RPG

9:15am PDT

Dive Deep into IBM i Security Internals

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Magic Ballroom 4

As only one who's seen (and written!) IBM i OS code can do, Carol Woodbury takes you deep into the internal workings of IBM i Security. Topics of discussion include where and how authority is checked, how security settings affect performance, why and when to use some of the obscure security-related system values such as QUSEADPAUT, a discussion of some of the more hidden features such as validation lists and more.

Speakers

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco Systems

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Magic Ballroom 4 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

9:15am PDT

Automating PowerVS in Hybrid Cloud scenarios

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Magic Ballroom 3

In this session, participants will explore the IBM Power Virtual Servers (PowerVS) within a hybrid cloud environment. The session will provide practical guidance on automating cloud infrastructure configurations to enhance connectivity, security, and performance. You will learn how to effectively manage network resources, optimize data flow between on-premises and cloud infrastructures, and ensure seamless integration with existing systems. By the end of this talk, participants will have gained the skills necessary to deploy and maintain a streamlined PowerVS setup in a hybrid cloud deployment scenario.

Speakers

Jose Pereira

IT Specialist, IBM

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Magic Ballroom 3 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

9:15am PDT

HMC, IBM i, FSP, BMC, and Firmware: Putting all the pieces together.

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Magic Ballroom 2

Join us for a session where we will explore the new components and concepts related to partitioning IBM Power Systems. You will learn how these components are interconnected, how to set them up, and how to manage and upgrade them. We will cover components such as the Hardware Management Console (HMC), the Flexible Service Processor (FSP), and the Advanced Systems Management Interface (ASMI). Additionally, we'll discuss firmware in your machine and how to perform necessary updates in both LPAR environment and standalone machines. You'll also receive tips on upgrading and establishing communication between the HMC and FSP, as well as insights into the role of ASMI. By the end of the session, you will have current knowledge about these crucial hardware features of IBM PowerSystems & IBM i.

Speakers

Pete Massiello

IBM i Advisor, Massiello Holding Corp.

Pete Massiello has been working with the AS/400, iSeries, IBM i since 1989, focusing on systems management and technical support. He has held numerous technical positions through out his career. He is the President of iTech Solutions Group, an IBM Premier Business Partner delivering... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Magic Ballroom 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

9:15am PDT

IBM Navigator for i – As seen by Scott

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Amazon

In this new session, Scott will explore IBM Navigator for i features and demonstrate how this feature rich GUI is built upon the shoulders of SQL. We’ll spend time exploring new Navigator features, as well as the well-established. Finally, Scott will show how users can start with Navigator, but finish with VSCode4i or ACS, for those situations not handled by Navigator.
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-navigator-i

Speakers

Scott Forstie

STSM, Db2 for i Architect, IBM

Scott Forstie is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Db2 for i Architect. He has worked on IBM operating system development since joining IBM in 1989.Scott is a frequently published author, speaker at industry events... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Amazon 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

9:15am PDT

Using Modern Mobile Apps Created with Flutter and RPG Microservices as Backend

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Monorail

There is more than one way to skin a cat - so it is with creating a modern, graphical User Interface for IBM I Applications (and of course for all the other platforms as well).
My Team and I are using multiple ways like Angular, ExtJs, React, .Net (XAML with MAUI), Serverbased Web Applications, IceCap, Swift, Kotlin AND Flutter.
It always depends what you want to achieve and - of course - what kind of resources (human as well as time and money) you have.

One way, which is a very good one from our perspective, is the DART Framework Flutter.

In this Session you will see how you can create platform independent Apps with one codebase using the Flutter Framework and RPG Microservices with JSON as the backend on IBM i with DB2 for i.

Learning Objectives:
Learn about the advantages of the Flutter Framework and how you can use one codebase to run on mobile, Desktop and Browser in combination with RPG Microservices in the backend running on IBM i with DB2 for i.
Quick Look on what a RPG Microservice is, how you can easily create them and why it is a great idea to use it as a backend for any modern Frontend.

Speakers

Markus Litters

CEO, i and me - IT Training and Solutions GmbH

I start working with IBM POWER Servers and IBM i since I was 19 back in 1990 when it was called IBM AS/400 and from the beginning I was focused on Integrating the System with everything else (first of all DOS PC's, then Windows PC's and HP Unix and so on) and to modernize the existing... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Monorail 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Technologies Integrated with IBM i

10:15am PDT

Networking Event

Thursday May 22, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT

TBD

Thursday May 22, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
TBD 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Conference Events

11:15am PDT

AI Trends You Need To Know

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 2

Artificial Intelligence is transforming industries and reshaping how businesses operate, innovate, and grow. This session dives into a diverse mix of hot topics in AI, designed to spark ideas and foster discussion.

Speakers

Charlie Guarino

CEO & IBM Champion, Central Park Data Systems

Charles Guarino believes in the “power” of IBM Power Systems. His career reflects his dedication and interest in bringing the platform and its solutions to others and as a result has been recognized as an IBM Champion.He is a member of COMMON’s Speaker Excellence Hall of Fame... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

11:15am PDT

OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) Functions – much more than running numbers!

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

North Ballroom B

The first OLAP Functions were already introduced with Release 6.1, for building running numbers and ranks, in a specific sequence and even with the ability to restart numbering at a predefined level. At release 7.3 a bunch of additional OLAP functions and enhancements for existing OLAP functions are introduced. With these enhancements it is possible to easily build running totals or averages with or without level breaks. Data cannot only be accumulated over all rows, but also within a specific range. It is easy to access and compare the first, previous, next or last occurrence of the data within a partition. This session will give you an overview over the available OLAP functions and how they can be exploited.

Speakers

Birgitta Hauser

Database and Software Architect, IBM Champion, Birgitta Hauser - Modernization - Education - Consulting

Birgitta Hauser worked on the IBM i and its predecessors since 1992. She graduated with a business economics diploma, and started programming on the AS/400 in 1992. She worked and works as traditional RPG Programmer but also as Database and Software Engineer, focusing on IBM i application... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
North Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

11:15am PDT

DevOps Overview

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Amazon

DevOps is not just about tooling, but rather it is a changed mindset that encompasses Development, Operations, and users/stakeholders as well. This session aims to not only answer many of the high-level questions you might have about DevOps, but also to provide concrete examples of implementing DevOps in IBM i organizations.
Learn about some of the common roadblocks that many organizations have when trying to move to DevOps, and some of the steps that can be taken to overcome those obstacles. Most importantly, this presentation should help to convince you that DevOps is not a passing fad that is going to take resources away from your "real" projects, but rather it is a fundamental shift that will make development faster, more efficient, more responsive, and (most importantly, to many) less costly with minimal investment.

Speakers

Pavan Thute

Senior Software Engineer, Rocket Software, Rocket Software

Pavan is a Senior Software Engineer with 15 years of experience in IBM i technology, has worked as an AS400 developer, team lead, and corporate trainer.He has contributed to companies like IBM, ANZ, Mphasis, CETAS Shipping and conducted IBM i training for organizations such as UST... Read More →

Kuldip Vikram

Principal Architect, Rocket Software

Kuldip is a Principal Architect at Rocket Software responsible for modernizing IBMi applications/workloads and their development through a combination of pure/hybrid Cloud deployments and Generative AI.He has a rich and diverse experience architecting, designing, developing, and deploying... Read More →

Andrew Clark

Andrew Clark has been working on the IBM i platform for more than 30 years, beginning with the "secret Mankato Project" on a pre-release version of os/400, and an internship at IBM Rochester working on the Query team. He has development expertise in more than a dozen languages on... Read More →

John Joiner

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Amazon 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

DevOps

11:15am PDT

End-to-end development: Modern IBM i development stack

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Monorail

In this talk, we’ll look at everything from development tools, build systems, to deployment methods. Finally there is a complete open source stack from IBM to use git and easily deploy ILE code (RPG, COBOL, you name it!) and this will cover them. We will look at the end-to-end lifecycle for IBM i applications when stored in git - all the way from the developers, to the end users machine automatically.

Speakers

Liam Allan

Software Advocate, IBM

I am a developer and open-source advocate. Ask me about Node.js, VS Code, app deployment and CICD :)

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Monorail 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

DevOps

11:15am PDT

Live Demo: Managing PowerHA Solutions

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Nile

PowerHA provides complete high availability (HA) solutions for IBM i customers with both internal storage and external storage environments. This interactive demo session will explain the concepts required to manage PowerHA environments, as well as give live demonstrations of the key management tasks used in a PowerHA environment.

Speakers

Brian Nordland

Director of Development, Fortra

In addition to his role as Director of Development for Power Development at Fortra, Brian Nordland serves as the technical product manager for PowerHA and Robot HA. Brian has spoken at events, webinars, and user groups—including COMMON—since 2014. He is a co-inventor on multiple... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Nile 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

11:15am PDT

Level Up Your IBM i: Redundancy & Robustness in a Hybrid World

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

South Ballroom A

This session dives into the strategic advantages of a hybrid IT approach for IBM i environments, specifically focusing on the seamless integration of PowerVS and on-premises solutions. We will explore how to design a customized hybrid architecture tailored to your organization's unique needs, emphasizing redundancy and resilience.

Key topics will include:

Multi-region disaster recovery and high availability (DR/HA) strategies using PowerVS, ensuring business continuity across diverse locations.
Robust data protection mechanisms such as Logical Replication, Virtual Tape Libraries (VTLs), and journaling with Before/After Imageing to safeguard against data loss and corruption.
Best practices for creating a redundant and resilient hybrid IT infrastructure that optimizes performance, availability, and cost-effectiveness.

Speakers

Dave Wiseman

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
South Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

IT Strategy

11:15am PDT

OS AND POWER SYSTEM UPGRADE TESTING

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Safari

Upgrading an OS or Power system infrastructure can be daunting when approached. This session will review how to analyze needs, manage risk, assign testing tasks, track, and report.

Speakers

Yvonne Enselman

Owner, Yvonne Enselman Professional Services

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Safari 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Program Testing

11:15am PDT

AI Meets Node.js: Unlocking the Power of Large Language Models in JavaScript

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

North Ballroom A

Artificial Intelligence and large language models (LLMs) are reshaping industries and sparking innovation like never before. While AI development has long been associated with Python, the growing demand to seamlessly integrate AI into the web applications that drive the digital world is changing the game. So, do we transform web developers into Python experts—or do we empower them to leverage AI with the tools they already know?

In this talk, we’ll take you on an exciting journey of exploring LLMs with Node.js and JavaScript. Discover how leading AI libraries like LangChain, Ollama, and LlamaIndex are bringing JavaScript into the AI fold as a first-class citizen. Learn how surprisingly easy it is to integrate powerful AI capabilities into your applications with Node.js, and walk away inspired to embark on your own AI journey—no Python required! Whether you’re an AI enthusiast or a JavaScript developer curious about the future, this session is your gateway to building smarter, AI-powered applications.

Speakers

Michael Dawson

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
North Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: General

11:15am PDT

Case Study: Improving performance in RPG programs with SQL

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Castle

In this session, taken directly from my real-world experience, I will show you how I leveraged SQL in my RPG. I will walk you through the thought process, the incremental changes and the amazing results. Included in this session is also some simple code that you can take home and use in your development to compare and fine tune your embedded SQL.

Speakers

Gregory Simmons

Software Engineer, PC Richard & Son

Gregory Simmons is a Software Engineer at P.C. Richard & Son. He is a COMMON certified Application Developer – ILE RPG on IBM I on Power. He is also a registered instructor with IBM’s Academic Initiative and an RPG and IBM i instructor at Scott Regional Technology Center, where... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Castle 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: RPG

11:15am PDT

TLS for ACS and Navigator

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Adventure

The use of encrypted sessions is both an effective way to prevent credential theft, as well as a requirement for numerous laws and regulations.
In this session, you will see how to configure the replacement for Client Access—Access Client Solutions—to use an encrypted (TLS) session.
This session will include an example of using your IBM i as a CA (Certificate Authority). You’ll also see an example of creating a request to send to a well-known CA to create the digital certificate you’ll need to assign to the servers to enable encrypted communications.
Demonstration of securing Navigator for i using a self-signed certificate.

Speakers

Amy Williams

Principal Security Services Consultant, Fortra LLC

Amy Williams is a Senior Security Services Consultant who joined Fortra in 2015. She holds CISSP, CISA, and PCI-P certifications.Amy has worked on the IBM i platform for nearly 30 years and her experience includes application testing, system installation, system administration, and... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

11:15am PDT

Your Next Power System is Just Around the Corner. For Storage, You have Options!

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 4

Do you love you some internal storage? You know it, you’ve used it, and it’s served you well! But times they are a changin’! what do you know about external storage? What can it do that internal storage can’t do? Come and see us compare the current generation of internal storage to the current generation of external storage. We’ll compare relative costs, capacities, and compare which features are available on Internal and external storage.
Come and learn your options from experts in the field who will help you come to a learned decision during your next upgrade.

Speakers

Richie Palma

Senior Solution Consultant, Service Express

A Tech Solutions Consultant for iTech Solutions Group, IBM Champion for Power, IBM Fresh Face, founder of the “Midrange Meetup” in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the steering committee for YIP’s (Young i Professionals), and on the board for SEMIUG (South East Michigan IBM i User... Read More →

Larry Bolhuis

Cloud and Datacenter Engineer, IBM Champion, Service Express Inc.

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 4 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Storage Technologies

11:15am PDT

Navigator for i - An Administrator's View

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 3

IBM Navigator for i is the web based interface for accessing, managing, and monitoring your IBM i. This session will explore how to get started with Navigator and how to leverage it to manage one user or an entire company. The session will focus on administrative features added to help with rolling out Navigator to many users, how to set up TLS for your connections (critical for success in 7.6!), and how to limit user access to areas of the interface.

Speakers

Ann Wilkerson

Software Developer, IBM

Ann Wilkerson is a lead user interface developer in IBM i. She joined the Rochester lab in 2021 and has since worked on Navigator, IBM i Services, and IBM i Migrate While Active. Her focus areas include security, networking, and the IFS.

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 3 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

11:15am PDT

Using SQL in Everyday Life

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

South Ballroom B

There has been a significant strategic shift in how IBM i exposes data and how you can access and leverage that data. No longer are CL command and APIs the best way. Today, its all about SQL. You may go, great… I know nothing about SQL… no worries, neither do I! This sessions is about equipping you with some useful activities, and resources so that even if you are a novice, you can be successful with SQL Services to manage your IBM i today.

Speakers

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM

Tim Rowe is the Business Architect responsible for Application Development and Systems Management for the IBM i operating system. His responsibilities include helping to make sure that the IBM i has what is needed to be successful both today and into the future. He sends much of his... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
South Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

11:15am PDT

IBM i SOC/SIEM deep dive

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 1

Speakers

Justin Loeber

IBM i Security, Kisco Systems

Justin Loeber is the owner and CEO of Kisco Systems, a developer of IBM i security and compliance software. Kisco's mission is to secure every IBM i by helping educate the IBM i community about security, continuously improving its products and delivering the best value in the market... Read More →

Ed Moon

ProCern Technology Solutions Inc.

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 1 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Technologies Integrated with IBM i

1:30pm PDT

Simple Steps to Improving Data Security on IBM i

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

North Ballroom B

During this session we will cover a wide range of security and compliance methods including row permissions and column masks used to control access to data and enforce separation of duties, authority collection used to determine the lowest level of security needed by a user, audit journals used to audit the effectiveness of your security solutions, and IBM i services which can be used to quickly accomplish security tasks, including automating security policies. This session will include many examples that you will be able to take home and use right away.

Speakers

John Westcott

Db2 for i Consultant and Team Lead, IBM

John Westcott is the Db2 for i Team Lead in IBM Technology Expert Labs. John is highyly skilled in SQL, RPG, Data Analytics, Rest API, and both database and application modernization. John has over 35 years of experience on IBM i and it's past family of names. John has a storied career... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
North Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

1:30pm PDT

Integrated File System: Real Life

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 3

The Integrated File System has become more integrated into everyday processing for many customers over the years each with unique environments and specialized workloads. This session will discuss real life scenarios of file system usage and some common problems experienced by customers.

Speakers

Justin Nelson

Staff Software Engineer, IBM

I work on the integrated file system for the IBM i (aka AS400).

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 3 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Integrated File System (IFS)

1:30pm PDT

You're Fired! ... Now What?

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

South Ballroom B

Some of us are lucky enough to have a single job for our entire career, but for most, we will at some point change jobs - either by our choice or our employer's choice. It just makes sense to be prepared for that reality, in case it happens. The irony is that many of the things you can do today to make yourself more employable in the event you ever do find yourself fired also may just make it far less likely that you ever will be fired!

Speakers

Steve Wolk

CTO, PC Richard & Son

You're Fired Now What Steven Wolk pdf

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
South Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Personal Development

1:30pm PDT

How Refactoring Helps Bulletproof Your Application

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Amazon

Old program code creates technical debt and makes it difficult to maintain robust applications. In this session, we will discuss what refactoring is and how it is important to creating applications that are robust and "bulletproof." We will show an example of rewriting an old monolithic program in a new modular style, and explain the different aspects of it and how it allows for better testing and quality assurance.

This is a joint session between programming expert Scott Klement and software testing expert Yvonne Enselman, allowing you to see refactoring from both a tester and programmer perspective.

Although some RPG examples are provided, the concepts apply to any software coded in any environment.

Speakers

Yvonne Enselman

Owner, Yvonne Enselman Professional Services

Scott Klement

Managing Partner, ORC LLC

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Amazon 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Program Testing

1:30pm PDT

Navigator for i from a Developer's Perspective

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Safari

Do you think that Navigator for i is just for system administrators? Think again! Navigator for i is a powerful tool for all IBM i users, including developers. In this session, you will get an overview of how Navigator for i works and learn about specific functions that developers can use to make their day to day work easier.

Speakers

Ann Wilkerson

Software Developer, IBM

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Safari 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programmer Tools

1:30pm PDT

Stored Procedures for Hybrid Development

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

North Ballroom A

Accessing business logic from Open Source application and off platform has evolved a great deal over the years. In this session we’ll look at some of the reasons for centralizing this business logic in the database via Db2 Stored procedures. We’ll look at RPG and SQL procedures and work through examples of how these are used from exhibit languages like PHP and Python.

Speakers

Mike Pavlak

Solution Architect, Perforce Software

Mike Pavlak has been working with IBM midrange solutions since 1992 and IBM Mainframes before that. After years of developing applications using RPG, CL and PHP he managed IT development and IT for power protection manufacturer Tripp Lite. Later Mike was instrumental in developing... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
North Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programmer Tools

1:30pm PDT

VS Code and Code for IBM i Hidden Gems

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Castle

Thanks to the Code for IBM i open source extension, VS Code became an IDE of choice for whoever wants to do some development on IBM i. Less expansive (as in "free") and more modern than RDi, it's already a daily driver for IBM i professionals and enthusiasts alike. But what does it have to offer we barely know? What are the less-known features that can make a developer's life easier? The legend tells that it's even possible to work locally on IBM i source code synchronized with Git or to use Visual Explain right from VS Code. But the best is yet to come and see for yourself! Whether you are a seasoned developer or just curious, join me to discover or rediscover the hidden gems that VS Code has to offer. Don't be a stranger and bring your questions along!

Speakers

Sebastien Julliand

Tech Lead, ARCAD Software

Hi, I'm Seb! I am a Tech Lead & IBM i Advocate at ARCAD Software and an active contributors to IBM i open source projects.Let's talk about anything related to software development, on IBM i or not, it doesn't mater to me. RPGLE, Java, TypeScript...I love them all equally 😁I'm actively... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Castle 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programmer Tools

1:30pm PDT

Web & API Language Shootout

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Nile

Alan will compare and review several open source languages commonly used for web-related development and the role of RPG alongside them. Languages include PHP, Python, and Node.js (javascript). The session contains concrete information about each as well as a lively discussion.

Speakers

Alan Seiden

Principal, IBM Champion, Seiden Group

How to modernize and create something new while leveraging your valuable business logic. Supporting developers, mentoring, staff augmentation, architecture, development and programming.APIs, IBM i, open source, web, PHP, Node.js, Python, RPG, ERPs

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Nile 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: General

1:30pm PDT

Disk-level encryption isn’t enough

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Adventure

As companies look to leverage encryption as part of their security landscape, it can be tempting to just implement disk-level encryption. As security requirements continue to grow and compliance regulations are taken into account for the IBM i environment, administrators are finding they need to implement encryption at the field level versus disk level encryption.

Speakers

Bill Hammond

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

1:30pm PDT

IBM i Authentication Exit Point Deep Dive

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

South Ballroom A

The integrated IBM i MFA solution includes a new single authentication exit point hook. The exit point allows administrators and security software vendors the opportunity to implement tailored solutions that go beyond the basic TOTP solution offered by the operating system. We will discuss when the exit program is called and the information it provides.

Learning Objectives:
Learn information required to write an exit program that leverages the exit program. Learn how to configure the system and users to leverage the authentication exit point support.

Speakers

Tim Mullenbach

IBM i Security Business Architect, IBM

Tim Mullenbach is a Senior Software Engineer at IBM Rochester. He spent his first 20+ IBM years with the IBM i Sockets and System TLS development team prior to transitioning to the IBM i Security Business Architect role in 2018.

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
South Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

1:30pm PDT

Live Demo: Deploying PowerHA and Independent ASPs

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 4

See how to go from a single system, to a fully deployed PowerHA environment using IBM FlashSystems Asynchronous Policy-Based Replication technology. We begin the journey by creating an Independent Auxiliary Storage Pool (IASP) along with techniques for migrating your application into the IASP. We will be doing a live role swap by the end of the hour.

Speakers

Brian Nordland

Director of Development, Fortra

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 4 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Storage Technologies

1:30pm PDT

36 IBM I Tricks & Treats

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Monorail

Celebrating 36 years of IBM I, this presentation will cover some of the tricks and treats discovered over the years, including Operating System, Built in commands, licensed packages, 3rd party packages, IBM and 3rd party hardware and appliances. Many of these tricks and treats were learned at COMMON over the years and many have helped justify the cost of a COMMON conference with the value of the knowledge gained. Please be prepared for audience participation and bring some of your own tips and tricks from over the years or from this conference.

Speakers

Rob Mineo

IBM i Senior Administrator/SME, (Independent)

I started my IT career in 1984. I started working on an IBM SYSTEM/38 in 1986, and upgraded to the AS/400 in 1989. I worked for STERIS Corporation from 1991 until I semi-retired in 2022. Since then, I have worked as an Independent IBM i Administrator. My career started as a programmer... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Monorail 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

1:30pm PDT

Keep Your System up to Date: Image Catalogs - How They Changed my Life!

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 2

Perform OS upgrades and PTF installs the modern way with Image Catalogs! This has become the standard way to install on IBM i, but what are you really doing? What can image catalogs be used for and how best to handle them?

If you are not used to image catalogs come and see how they can change your life!

Speakers

Jeffrey Carey

Sr. System Administrator, Ensono

Jeff Carey is an IBM i professional with over 25 years of experience on the platform, specializing in system administration. He currently is a Senior System Administrator for Ensono, a company providing managed services for Mainframe, IBM i, Cloud, and hybrid IT, headquartered in... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

1:30pm PDT

IoT and IBM i

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 1

Speakers

Jesse Gorzinski

STSM and Senior Business Architect - AI and Open Source, IBM

Michael Dawson

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 1 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Technologies Integrated with IBM i

2:30pm PDT

Networking Event

Thursday May 22, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT

TBD

Thursday May 22, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT
TBD 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Conference Events

3:30pm PDT

AI Adoption for Business

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

South Ballroom A

AI is more than just a buzzword—it is a powerful tool that can transform businesses when applied strategically. But what does it really mean to "do AI? This session will break down the reality behind AI adoption, exploring how companies are successfully leveraging AI, common misconceptions and unrealistic expectations that often hinder progress. Finally, we will provide a practical roadmap for getting started, from clarifying your AI goals to determining whether AI is the right solution for your business.

Speakers

Charlie Guarino

CEO & IBM Champion, Central Park Data Systems

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
South Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

3:30pm PDT

Forget ODBC! Here’s a New Db2 Connector

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

North Ballroom A

Connecting to Db2 has never been easier or more efficient. Join us for an in-depth session on Mapepire, a powerful open-source library designed to simplify and enhance your Db2 database interactions. This library offers a more straightforward alternative to traditional JDBC or ODBC connections, ensuring developers can achieve optimal performance and scalability without the usual complexity. With support for multiple programming languages, including Java, JavaScript, Python, this versatile library meets the needs of diverse development environments. Attendees will gain insights into its architecture, see practical demonstrations, and learn best practices for integrating it into their projects.

Speakers

Sanjula Ganepola

Software Developer - IBM i App Dev & AI Toolchain, IBM

Sanjula Ganepola is a Software Developer at IBM working on IBM i application development tools. As an open-source advocate, he is an active contributor and maintainer of several Visual Studio Code extensions including IBM i Project Explorer, Code for IBM i, IBM i Testing, Source Orbit... Read More →

Jonathan Zak

Staff Software Developer | IBM i app tools, IBM

Working on IBM i application tools, notably Manzan, Mapepire, and Tyrico.

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
North Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

3:30pm PDT

ListAgg and Split – Grouping, Aggregating and Dividing again

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Amazon

Almost everybody working with SQL knows the GROUP BY specification for accumulating identical information. Those queries are quite often combined with aggregate functions such as SUM() or AVG().
With the multi-dimensional grouping it is possible to also add all kinds of sub-totals as well as a grand total to the queries.
In composition with CASE clauses it is possible to accumulate information and return the data in different columns, for example monthly or quarterly sales per customer. Pivot tables can be easily created … as long as the number of output columns is fixed.
Sometimes, however, we have to accumulate information that is located in multiple rows in a single row, for example all items in an order. Unfortunately, the number of output columns (i.e. Items) may differ. However, with the LISTAGG aggregate function a string containing the different information separated by a comma (or any individual separation string) can be built.
As far as good … but how to split a string with multiple information separated by a comma or any other individual separation string? No problem with the SPLIT service! … in composition with other services even *.csv files located in the IFS can be decomposed

Speakers

Birgitta Hauser

Database and Software Architect, IBM Champion, Birgitta Hauser - Modernization - Education - Consulting

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Amazon 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

3:30pm PDT

Visual Explain - IBM's SQL Performance Show-&-Tell

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Monorail

For many years now IBM have positioned SQL as the primary interface to the database on IBM i. At the same time, new capabilities are being added only to SQL, not to the native database interface.

We need a different tool to understand and analyze query implementation plans and feedback from the optimizer – the SQL component that determines the most effective way to deliver the data we ask for in SQL statements. Visual Explain is just such a tool, and it both shows us graphically what plan the optimizer has chosen, as well as tells us details about each step along the way. It can also give us suggestions on ways to improve performance of our queries.

Speakers

Vern Hamberg

Senior iSeries Developer, OneMain Financial

Vern has worked on IBM midrange systems for over 30 years, beginning with the System/38 and AS/400. At present he is a Senior iSeries Developer at OneMain Financial. He serves on the COMMON Strategic Education Team (SET), is one of the SMEs for Db2, and has served on the COMMON Americas... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Monorail 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

3:30pm PDT

Accelerate your Excel!

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

North Ballroom B

Are you intimidated by spreadsheets? Do you use Excel for the basics, but know you could be so much more productive with it if only you knew how? Do you cringe when other business people within your company ask for data in spreadsheet form? Excel is a wonderful tool, especially when paired with the IBM i! It's incredibly powerful, and can save you lots of time. This session will begin with the basics and then progress through more advanced Excel topics such as functions, pivot tables, and array formulas. Using real life examples, you'll see how these new skills will help you in your career. Finally, we'll review powerful methods of pulling data from your IBM i directly into Excel spreadsheets! You'll even leave with sample code you can leverage within Excel to give you one click access to run an SQL statement from your desktop, and have the results returned in a spreadsheet. After each of the 25 topics covered, we’ll review by playing Excel Bingo, for prizes! Learn some great new Excel skills, have some fun, and maybe leave with a prize!

Speakers

Steve Wolk

CTO, PC Richard & Son

Accelerate your Excel Steven Wolk pdf

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
North Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Developing Business Skills

3:30pm PDT

Building Resilient Power Systems Through Modern High Availability and Disaster Recovery Strategies

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

South Ballroom B

This session will explore essential strategies for ensuring high availability and disaster recovery for your IBM i systems. Discover best practices for minimizing downtime, protecting critical data, and maintaining business continuity in the face of unexpected events. We will cover key technologies, implementation considerations, and real-world examples to help you build a robust and resilient IBM i environment.

Speakers

David Contreras

IBM Power Systems Specialist, Meridian IT

My over 35 years of experience range from Senior System Architect, Systems Analyst, Senior System Engineer, Project Manager, Technical Manager and I.T Specialist. I have the ability to work effectively with different levels of staff from executive to technical. I have traveled extensively... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
South Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

3:30pm PDT

How Developers/Analysts Control the Expectations of What Can Be Done for the Organization with AI

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Safari

Most organizations are intrigued by what AI can do, but what can actually be implements by programmers/Analyst. This session is focused on how to limit the expectations of management and leadership to what can actually be delivered by IT. The arguments and planning for AI are explored by this session.

Speakers

Michael McArdle

Instructor, Western Technical College

Though Mike McArdle has been involved in RPG programming since the 1970s, his career path has been through the ranks of leadership. He has been the CFO of Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the CFO of Desmond’s Formal Wear in LaCrosse Wisconsin, and Assistant Superintendent... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Safari 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

IT Strategy

3:30pm PDT

Test-Driven Development: Clean Code that Works

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Nile

Let's take a look at how testing is often done today, and why it's so hard.
We'll discuss the benefits of test-driven development, and show how it works.
We'll look at the xUnit frameworks available, and do a little test-driven development together.

Speakers

Patrick Behr

Software Developer / Architect, Seiden Group

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Nile 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Program Testing

3:30pm PDT

Aye, I love Procedure Driven RPG

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Castle

In this session, after demonstrating the fundamentals of a procedure, I will demonstrate the benefits of procedure driven RPG. Together, we’ll explore real world examples of how this mindset has improved code written by myself and my team with regards to three facets: Readability, maintainability and reusability. All three of these benefits translate into a more efficient development team.
We'll finish with some real world examples showing how AI code assistants can really shine when working in a world of procedures.

Speakers

Gregory Simmons

Software Engineer, PC Richard & Son

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Castle 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: RPG

3:30pm PDT

RPG Code Assistant Repeat

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 2

Come and see an RPG code assistant specifically trained for RPG and IBM i.

Speakers

Steve Will

IBM i CTO & Chief Architect, IBM

Steve is the CTO and Chief Architect for the IBM i Operating System. Spending the past fourteen years of his IBM career in this position, he has become an award-winning speaker, author of the influential blog "You and i," (https://bit.ly/You-and-i-blog) and is one of the most sought-after voices at customer briefings and events. Steve has worked on IBM i and its predecessors since before the creation of the AS/400, and is currently responsible for setting the strategy of the IBM i operating system, as well as deciding which enhancements will be implemented. In his role, he talks to clients and pa... Read More →

Edmund Reinhardt

IBM i Application Development Tools Lead, IBM

Edmund Reinhardt has been working on application development tools for IBM i for over 25 years. Starting with the green screen tools in 1989 through each technology iteration from OS/2 to Java. As the architect for Rational Developer for i, he is passionate about engaging and delighting... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: RPG

3:30pm PDT

Moving to a Higher Level: Password Resilience

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Adventure

Have you thought about the passwords you use on your systems? What rules or restrictions do you have in place? But more importantly, why?! Have you ever thought about what those rules actually do to your passwords? Do you think they are making you more secure or less secure? In this presentation, we will cover passwords in depth, in theory, and specific to IBM i. Can your IBM i password be hacked? Come and find out at this inquisitive session! COMMON Bronze medal session.

Speakers

Robert Andrews

Principal Security Consultant, IBM

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

3:30pm PDT

Data Resiliency, surviving a cyber attack

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 4

In this session you will see how IBM Storage can help protect your data and assist in preventing a cyber attack and help in recovery from a cyber attack.

Speakers

Tony Owens

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 4 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Storage Technologies

3:30pm PDT

Work Management Optimization

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 3

This session will introduce IBM i Work Management to the developer and other new system administrators. We will explore how the system is configured and managed using IBM i Navigator for i, with examples from ACS, SQL Services, and the traditional character based interface as well. As delivered your IBM i installation work, but it is not optimized for your environment. All too often the performance of your system is impacted by poor work management practices. Learn how to take the first steps to optimizing your IBM i Work Management.

Speakers

Sarah Jacob

Agile Tech

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 3 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

3:30pm PDT

Integrating IBM i with Hubspot as your CRM

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 1

Integrating legacy systems with modern CRM solutions is an essential step toward digital transformation. Integrating any data between a robust ERP system and a CRM like HubSpot allows for enabling seamless data flow for various components, but most importantly Companies, Contacts, and Companies to Contacts Associations. In a real-world case study, see how we created the integration using HubSpot’s API ensuring real-time synchronization of companies, contacts, and their associations.

In this talk we’ll discuss the challenges we faced, how we solved them and the results and benefits of the project.

Learning Objectives:

1. The advantages of connecting a CRM like Hubspot with your IBM I
2. Learn the power of bridging legacy systems with modern platforms and the overwhelmingly positive effect it can have on various aspects of your business.
3. Key tips to keep in mind when using APIs for integration including sandbox environments and monitoring API rate limits
4. Understand the decisions about when to use middleware and which tool to choose depending on the project

Speakers

Bill Onion

Managing Director, Briteskies

I'm a life-long IBM i Fan! Basically born and raised on this awesome platform. Now, I'm leading the Briteskies team as we help companies to: 1) Leverage their investment in IBM i by extending the life of their RPG-based applications, 2) Integrate their IBM i systems with 3rd party... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 1 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Technologies Integrated with IBM i

4:45pm PDT

GROK3 Magic: Turning IT Problems into Possibilities

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Safari

In this session, we'll explore how this AI tool from xAI can revolutionize your IT practice. We'll introduce GROK's core features, its unique approach to problem-solving, and its application in enhancing decision-making, data analysis, and technical communication. Learn best practices for integrating GROK into presentations, technical integration with IT tools, and how to navigate its limitations. The session will conclude with a recap, a call to action for practical application

Speakers

Jim Buck

CEO & Head Instructor, imPower Technologies

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Safari 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

4:45pm PDT

Simon's top 10 SQL favorites

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

North Ballroom A

IBM Champion Simon Hutchinson has written a lot about modern Db2 for i and SQL on his blog. In this session he will take you through his top 10 favorites. You will have to attend to learn what these cool SQL tricks and tips are! He always keeps this up to date with his favorites from every new release and Technology Refresh.

Speakers

Simon Hutchinson

Founder & author, RPGPGM.COM

Simon Hutchinson has been writing his highly acclaimed IBM i blog, RPGPGM.COM, for eleven years sharing his knowledge, experience, and giving many detailed examples of the latest RPG, SQL, and CL. His work has led him to be recognized by IBM as an IBM Champion for Power and IBM i Community Advocate. He is a subject matter expert for COMMON Americas, awarded... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
North Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

4:45pm PDT

Real-Time Access to Integrated File System Data Across the Network

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Adventure

The “green screen” isn’t the only place where users can interact with IBM i file system data. Explore the various file systems that allow users to remotely access the system to get more done with less effort. Latest updates to the various file systems will be included.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the file sharing options on the IBM i and their differences.
Understand how to set up/use the file sharing options on the IBM i.
Understand how policy and configuration settings can affect various servers.

Speakers

Justin Nelson

Staff Software Engineer, IBM

I work on the integrated file system for the IBM i (aka AS400).

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Integrated File System (IFS)

4:45pm PDT

Planning a Smooth Move of your IBM i to the Cloud

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Castle

Utilizing the cloud is can be a great option for IBM i customers. It sounds simple, and at it core it is! However, there are many items to consider for your organization to help determine if it's the right thing for you.

There are, however, options on how to plan, execute, and validate the migration and these should be analyzed to find the best fit.

In this session you'll gain a great overview of the reasons and the process for moving to a cloud.

Speakers

Larry Bolhuis

Cloud and Datacenter Engineer, IBM Champion, Service Express Inc.

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Castle 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

IT Strategy

4:45pm PDT

AI Throughout Your Day!

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

North Ballroom B

Tired of all the hype surrounding AI? Would you like to be more productive using AI - today – but you’re not sure where to start? Or maybe you’ve scratched the surface with AI, but want to learn more? Either way, this is the session for you! Here we skip the theory and dive straight into real-world applications that boost productivity and streamline daily tasks using AI based tools. Join us for this session and leave with tangible skills to supercharge your productivity, while producing better results, with less effort!

Speakers

Steve Wolk

CTO, PC Richard & Son

AI Throughout Your Day! Steven Wolk pdf

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
North Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Personal Development

4:45pm PDT

Modern, Buildable Projects with IBM i Project Explorer and Bob

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

South Ballroom B

Modern development on the IBM i uses stream files which allows the use of the modern application development technology. Learn how to migrate your source from the QSYS file system and manage it with Git, develop it with VS Code extensions in projects that understand how to build themselves. This will introduce you to the IBM i Project Explorer and BOB (Better Object Builder).

Speakers

Edmund Reinhardt

IBM i Application Development Tools Lead, IBM

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
South Ballroom B 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programmer Tools

4:45pm PDT

Quick Spreadsheets through PHP and Python

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 2

Each language supports modules for extending basic features. In this session we'll explore this technique for creating REAL spreadsheets for both Python and PHP.

Learning Objectives:
1. Create REAL Spreadsheets using XLSXWriter in Python.
2. Create REAL Spreadsheets using PHPSpreadsheet in PHP.

Speakers

Mike Pavlak

Solution Architect, Perforce Software

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: General

4:45pm PDT

The Magic of Rest APIs for IBM i

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Nile

Rest APIs play a core part of the modern application. The good news, the IBM i operating system has an integrated engine giving everyone the ability to easily get started with leveraging Rest. This session will show with live demos how to create Rest APIs that call backend RPG/COBOL programs or wrapper SQL statements.

Speakers

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Nile 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: General

4:45pm PDT

Snapshots, FlashCopy & Cybersecurity Resilience with Safeguarded Copy with IBM i

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 4

Learn through live demonstrations about snapshots and cybersecurity resilience with safeguarded copy enabling you to come out of this session with information to begin using this technology today. We will have an overview of how the technology works, the types of Snapshot and FlashCopy options available, and how it can be used in environments with or without independent ASPs.

In addition, learn how IBM's Safeguarded Copy extends this technology to provide another layer of protection.

Speakers

Brian Nordland

Director of Development, Fortra

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 4 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Storage Technologies

4:45pm PDT

Things i-Love about IBM i 7.6

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

South Ballroom A

Steve shares his experience of using IBM 7.6, highlighting many of the cool new features and functions big and small that make this new release so great.

As an IBM i 7.6 Beta Tester and author of the IBM i 7.6 Redbook, Steve has been using IBM i 7.6 since January and with his team at RowtonIT.com has already performed over a hundred 7.6 Installs and upgrades.

I will explain how they might be useful to you and give real life examples of their value.
Some of these functions are big, some small but all are beneficial and you can use every single one free of charge!

Fear not if you are still running 7.5, Steve has a few i-Love gems to share with you too.

Speakers

Steve Bradshaw

Friendly Techie, Rowton IT Solutions Ltd

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
South Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

4:45pm PDT

Use Service Commander to manage ALL your stuff

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 3

So many different kinds of jobs run on IBM i. Node.js, RPG, Java, COBOL, Python.... All of them are managed in different ways, and that can get really frustrating, really quickly! Thankfully, there's an open source tool, Service Commander, that can simplify the management of all these IBM i jobs!

Speakers

Liam Allan

Software Advocate, IBM

I am a developer and open-source advocate. Ask me about Node.js, VS Code, app deployment and CICD :)

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 3 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

4:45pm PDT

Lights out monitoring and Obervability

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT

Magic Ballroom 1

Instana is a product which helps you achieve both monitoring and observability. Instana has agent which runs on IBMi and can monitor other IBMi lpars using remote monitoring.
Configuration of the monitors is done using yaml file:

Key metrics which Instana is capturing:

Active jobs
Threads
Auxiliary storage pool consumption
Temporary storage
Total spool space

Events and Alerting feature of Instana
Instana has the capability to generate an alert whenever user defined message ID, queue library and queue name combination matches for any of the incoming messages in the message queue within the specified time (like last 10 minutes). These alerts will enable you to take any necessary action sooner.

Whenever a message is produced which is being monitored using yaml file is picked up by instana and corresponding alert is generated.

Speakers

Gurvinder Singh

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm PDT
Magic Ballroom 1 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Technologies Integrated with IBM i

6:30pm PDT

Closing Reception

Thursday May 22, 2025 6:30pm - 9:30pm PDT

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

Thursday May 22, 2025 6:30pm - 9:30pm PDT
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge 1313 Disneyland Dr, Anaheim, CA 92802

Conference Events