commoneuropecongress2026: Full Schedule

Welcome to Common Europe Congress 2026

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10:30 CEST

What's new in AIX 7.3: New features, capabilities and best practices

Monday June 15, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST

Are you responsible for managing and maintaining AIX systems? Are you looking to migrate to AIX 7.3 and are interested in learning more about what's new with AIX 7.3? Come listen and learn all about some of the new features and capabilities available with AIX 7.3. We’ll talk about many new features for 7.3, like DNF, pigz, bash, new tools for managing AIX images, Live Update enhancements, and more. Chris will also discuss some of the new features and improvements available in recent TL/SP levels, such as AIX Fast Failover for Fibre Channel Adapters and AIX JFS2 Log Shuffle. The session will also include several real-world AIX best practices and other interesting tips and tricks relating to AIX system administration.

Speakers

Upendra Rajan

Senior Technical Program Manager, IBM

I have a strong track record of delivering solutions to large-scale clients. I've worked on several aspects of data center IT infrastructure (compute, storage, networking, virtualization, operating systems, cloud computing, running a worldwide program), and led a team of experts to... Read More →

Chris Gibson

IBM Power/AIX SME, IBM

Chris is an IBM Power and AIX SME, with over 20 years of AIX experience. He has extensive skills in implementing IBM Power technology running AIX. He is a co-author of three IBM Redbooks. He has an extensive history in designing, implementing, and managing AIX systems. He has wri... Read More →

Monday June 15, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
08 - ST CLAIR 3A

AIX/Linux

11:50 CEST

AIX Roadmap and Platform Innovations: Performance, Security, Availability and Operational Simplicity

Monday June 15, 2026 11:50 - 12:50 CEST

08 - ST CLAIR 3A

AIX continues to be the backbone of mission-critical workloads across industries, delivering unmatched performance, reliability, scalability, and security on IBM Power Systems.This session will provide an in-depth look at the AIX roadmap and recent feature enhancements, along with a preview of upcoming releases and strategic initiatives. We will explore how AIX continues to lead in performance, reliability, availability, and security while introducing modern automation and modernization tools that simplify operations and improve efficiency.Attendees will gain insights into how AIX aligns with Power11 innovations to help organizations modernize with confidence, protecting existing investments while enabling greater agility, scalability, and resilience for the years ahead.

Speakers

Sanket Rathi

STSM at IBM, IBM Master Inventor, Member IBM Academy of Technology, IBM

Monday June 15, 2026 11:50 - 12:50 CEST
08 - ST CLAIR 3A

AIX/Linux

14:00 CEST

A Wishlist for the Future of IBM's Unix Beyond 2040

Monday June 15, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST

08 - ST CLAIR 3A

What would AIX need to remain a compelling platform for the next two decades? This session is not an official roadmap—it's a technical wishlist from someone who has worked with AIX for over 20 years and wants to see it thrive. Consider it a letter to the Magi, or to IBM's AIX product management.We'll explore practical modernization paths: native package management that doesn't require sacrifices to ancient gods, first-class support for modern languages (good news: Rust and Go already work great—so why not make it official?), container tooling options, and open source integration that makes AIX attractive for new workloads—not just legacy migrations.Drawing from real experiments at the LibrePower lab (aix.librepower.org), we'll share what's possible today, what's frustratingly close, and what would transform AIX from "the system we maintain" into "the system we choose." Topics include: modern CLI tooling, security utilities, compilation wins and challenges, and the open source packages AIX desperately needs.This is a community discussion, not a vendor pitch. Bring your own wishes—and your honest frustrations. Let's draft that letter together.Opinions expressed are personal views of Hugo Blanco, not official IBM positions.

Speakers

Hugo Blanco

IBM Champion, SIXE

I work at SIXE, my own company. We are a small boutique formed by engineers specialized in IBM technologies, including advanced solutions for data centers and cybersecurity. We do it in the form of consulting, professional services, training and execution of turnkey projects. We... Read More →

Monday June 15, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
08 - ST CLAIR 3A

AIX/Linux

15:10 CEST

15:55 CEST

Zero Planned Downtime on AIX: Live Updates for Always-On Enterprises

Monday June 15, 2026 15:55 - 16:55 CEST

08 - ST CLAIR 3A

Enterprises running mission-critical workloads cannot afford planned outages for maintenance and updates. AIX Zero Planned Downtime (ZPD) capabilities are designed to eliminate this trade-off by enabling system updates while applications remain online.This session provides a deep dive into AIX ZPD technologies, with a focus on AIX Live Kernel Update and Live Library Update. Attendees will learn how these capabilities allow critical fixes and updates to be applied without rebooting systems or disrupting running workloads.Through architectural insights and a live demonstration, we will show how AIX enables continuous availability, reduces operational risk, and simplifies maintenance for always-on enterprise environments. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of where ZPD fits into their AIX strategy and how to adopt it effectively in production environments.

Speakers

Shajith Chandran

STSM, AIX Kernel Development and Performance Architect, IBM

Sanket Rathi

STSM at IBM, IBM Master Inventor, Member IBM Academy of Technology, IBM

Monday June 15, 2026 15:55 - 16:55 CEST
08 - ST CLAIR 3A

AIX/Linux

17:05 CEST

KVM Virtualization on IBM Power

Monday June 15, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST

08 - ST CLAIR 3A

KVM is an industry standard, OpenSource, Linux based virtualization technology available on many different hardware architectures. This session will provide an overview of the KVM capabilities of IBM Power10 and Power11 systems. We will review the hardware, firmware, and software requirements needed to enable KVM virtualization on the Power platform, right alongside existing existing LPARs. We will show how KVM can be deployed on Power, how how to manage it, and some common use cases for it.

Speakers

Brian King

Linux on Power I/O Chief Architect, IBM

Brian King is the Linux on Power I/O Chief Architect at IBM. He is responsible for Linux I/O enablement and strategy on the Power platform at IBM. He is the author of two Linux device drivers, and has contributed to many more. Brian is the chair of the OpenPOWER I/O Workgroup.

Monday June 15, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
08 - ST CLAIR 3A

AIX/Linux