COMMON POWERUp 2025

COMMON POWERUp 2025

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!

10:00am PDT

IBM Placeholder

Monday May 19, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am PDT

Monday May 19, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

11:15am PDT

An introduction to Node.js

Monday May 19, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

JavaScript and TypeScript have become the go-to tools for crafting modern applications, powering both the sleek frontends and robust backends of today's software. At the heart of many backend systems lies Node.js, a runtime that’s revolutionized the way we build scalable and efficient applications.

In this session, we’ll dive into why Node.js has become a developer favorite, exploring its unique benefits and versatile capabilities. Through practical examples and code, you’ll gain a clear understanding of the core principles that make Node.js tick. Whether you're new to backend development or looking to sharpen your skills, this talk will arm you with the knowledge to write clean, effective Node.js applications, sidestep common mistakes, and accelerate your path to success. Join us and kickstart your Node.js journey with confidence!

Speakers

Michael Dawson

Monday May 19, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: General

3:15pm PDT

The Architects Discuss the Latest IBM i Operating System Updates

Monday May 19, 2025 3:15pm - 4:15pm PDT

The Development lab is continues to roll out new functions and features with every release and technology refresh. In this session we will review some of the key features that have been delivered over the past couple of releases. These are things that you should be aware of either for you to incorporate today, or to help you tomorrow.

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 →

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 →

Monday May 19, 2025 3:15pm - 4:15pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

IT Strategy

4:30pm PDT

Fostering Positive Relationships

Monday May 19, 2025 4:30pm - 4:50pm PDT

Positive healthy relationships are vital to success in everything you do: whether it is excelling in your career, creating a vibrant and energetic work environment, or having a happy and rewarding personal life. Learning how to interact with others in a way that is respectful and constructive is essential.

Speakers

Kim Greene

Monday May 19, 2025 4:30pm - 4:50pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Personal Development

5:05pm PDT

Using an Entrepreneurial Approach to Advance Your Career

Monday May 19, 2025 5:05pm - 5:25pm PDT

In this session, participants will explore how adopting an entrepreneurial mindset can empower them to accelerate their career growth and achieve professional success. By leveraging the principles of entrepreneurship, attendees will discover strategies to navigate their career paths, seize opportunities, and drive their success.
Whether you're looking to climb the corporate ladder, transition to a new industry, or start your own venture, this session will provide valuable insights and actionable strategies to help you succeed. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how to think and act like an entrepreneur in their careers.

Speakers

Kim Greene

Monday May 19, 2025 5:05pm - 5:25pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Developing Business Skills

8:00am PDT

Modern RPG what does that mean?

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

You hear modern RPG but, what does that actually mean? we will look at converting from monolithic programs to modular programming including the use of service program and converting RLA(Record level access) to sql.

Speakers

Marina Schwenk

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: RPG

9:15am PDT

ILE Concepts - and Analyzing ILE Objects with IBM i/Db2 Services

Tuesday May 20, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Programs, Modules, Service Programs, Internal and exported Functions and Procedures, Binding Directories ... in short ILE Concepts are necessary for a modular and modern programming in RPG and other ILE messages. But ... sometimes still a mess.
Once the Concepts are understood and used, programs can easily be created by putting "puzzle pieces" pieces together, i.e. calling functions and procedures.
But how to analyze our ILE Objects, i.e. where are our procedures/functions located, which modules are bound to what (service-)programs etc?
The good news is, IBM provided in the last releases and technology refreshes a lot of powerful IBM and Db2 Services.
Among these services are also all kinds of Services for analyzing and managing ILE Objects.
This session combines an introduction into the ILE Concepts and shows what services are available for analyzing the ILE Objects (modules, programs, service programs, modules …)

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 →

Tuesday May 20, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Database

10:45am PDT

Choosing the right HA/DR Solution

Tuesday May 20, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am PDT

The High Availability and Disaster Recovery landscape is continually evolving with new technologies both on-premis and in the cloud dedicated to ensuring your business stays running. Navigating through these technologies requires and understanding of business needs, and outage protection goals.

Throughout this session we will discuss the types of outages, and the technologies available to protect against those types of outages in order to help you make decisions to map out your HA and DR journey. This session will give a brief overview of a number of technologies including: Db2 Mirror, Live Partition Mobility, Logical/Software based Replication, Full System Replication, and PowerHA technologies.

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 →

Tuesday May 20, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

3:15pm PDT

Business Posture: Leveraging the benefits of IBM i in the Cloud

Tuesday May 20, 2025 3:15pm - 4:15pm PDT

Join us on a transformative journey as we explore secure and resilient Cloud solutions purpose-built for the IBM i.  How can you unlock the modern capabilities of IBM Power Systems without introducing the complexity and risk while driving positive business outcomes?

DRaaS, Db2 Mirror, and HA Solutions Delivering Uptime Results

Hybrid Cloud Architecture: Enhancing resiliency, security, and compliance

Three reasons Why Cloud Computing is Important for Businesses

Bonus - 1 BIG reason you may have never considered.

Speakers

Richard Dolewski

VP, Enterprise Solutions, Connectria

Richard is a recognized SME and award-winning industry speaker specializing in, Cloud Computing Architecture, Business Resiliency, Disaster Recovery Planning and Backup & Recovery Program Design. He leads organizations through the new era of technology, achieving the desired, successful... Read More →

Tuesday May 20, 2025 3:15pm - 4:15pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

4:30pm PDT

iSee with Scott and Tim

Tuesday May 20, 2025 4:30pm - 4:50pm PDT

iSee is all about helping our IBM i user community learn and use SQL to solve everyday life problems. This session is no exception, Scott and Tim will show via live demo some fun new way to solve problems with SQL.

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 →

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 →

Tuesday May 20, 2025 4:30pm - 4:50pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

5:05pm PDT

My Fave VS Code4i - Database Extension features

Tuesday May 20, 2025 5:05pm - 5:25pm PDT

In this new session, Scott will explain and demo his favorite VS Code4i - Database Extension features.
Come to this session to learn how to use the database features, and gain a depth of understanding on what these amazing features can do.
All in 20 minutes!

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 →

Tuesday May 20, 2025 5:05pm - 5:25pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programmer Tools

8:00am PDT

PowerHA for Cloud and Hybrid-Cloud (Geographic Mirroring)

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Geographic mirroring is a PowerHA hardware replication technology that provides a complete high availability solution for IBM i working with any type of storage, enabling the simplicity of hardware replication with the flexibility of cloud and hybrid-cloud environments. In addition, if simple real-time disaster recovery meets your needs, Geographic mirroring can also be used in an IBM i-hosted environment for a very easy-to-implement DR solution.

This session will explain the concepts of geographic mirroring, as well as best practices and sizing considerations. We will walk through a complete configuration of a geographic mirroring environment.

This session will cover recently released technologies for geographic mirroring including compression, multi-target geographic mirroring. In addition, other recently announced PowerHA Cloud technologies in IBM Power Virtual Server will be discussed.

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 →

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

9:15am PDT

Integrated File System Security Principles and Practices

Wednesday May 21, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Does IBM i Integrated File System security confuse you? Want to learn more about file system security? If so, come to this session and learn the principles and best practices of securing your file systems. This session will cover more than just setting permissions (authority) on your objects. Other topics include virus scanning, controlling remote access, object auditing, and more. Latest updates to file system security will be included.

Speakers

Justin Nelson

Staff Software Engineer, IBM

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

Wednesday May 21, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Integrated File System (IFS)

10:45am PDT

Integrated File System: Real Life

Wednesday May 21, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am PDT

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).

Wednesday May 21, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Integrated File System (IFS)

5:00pm PDT

Practical Examples of pulling web service data into your IBM i applications

Wednesday May 21, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT

Obtaining information from external systems or data servers has come a long way since the introduction of EDI in the 1980s! Today, publicly available web service APIs offer a much more flexible and easier-to-integrate method for pulling pertinent global data into your IBM i applications. Whether it be commodity prices, financial data, current weather information, demographic statistics or whatever else you can think of, there is no shortage of information available on the internet that could complement certain areas of your company's business, thus adding valuable real-time information to your various user applications.

In this session we'll put this concept to work in a hands-on fashion. The presenter will use real-world API examples to demonstrate how IBM i developers, using SQL, can quickly access this valuable web service repositories and pull data into an RPG program or UI tool for their users.

Attendees will see three simple 5250-based interactive examples in action, with source code they can try on their own systems.

Speakers

Rob Swanson

Senior Partner, CNX Corporation

Rob has worked as an in-the-trenches IBM i developer since 1992, with the past 15 years focused on developing modernization efforts for legacy systems written in RPG. Currently serving as Senior Partner for CNX Corporation in Chicago, Rob is a strong advocate of introducing highly... Read More →

Wednesday May 21, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programming: General

8:00am PDT

Live Demo: Managing PowerHA Solutions

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

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 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

9:15am PDT

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

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

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
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Systems Management

3:00pm PDT

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

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT

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 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

High Availability Resilience

5:00pm PDT

Modern, Buildable Projects with IBM i Project Explorer and Bob

Thursday May 22, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT

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

Sanjula Ganepola

Thursday May 22, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
Room 2 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Programmer Tools