As Artifi cial Intelligence solidifi es its place in core enterprise systems, the debate surrounding the defi nition of "Open Source AI" has only intensifi ed. This technical update is a direct follow-up to the session presented last year, refreshed to address the signifi cant changes in both the general AI landscape and its open source defi nitions that have emerged since our last discussion. Designed for IT Leaders, Enterprise Architects, and Technical Professionals, this session revisits the essential context and governance frameworks introduced previously, but applies them to today's reality. We will start with a reviewed technical baseline of AI and Machine Learning concepts to ensure a common understanding before diving into the new developments of the past 12 months. Attendees will be equipped to: - Track the Evolution: Identify how the challenges in defi ning Open Source AI have shifted since last year compared to traditional Open Source Software. - Apply Current Criteria: Utilize the latest frameworks, such as the Open Source AI Defi nition (OSAID) and the Foundation Model Transparency Index, to accurately assess the true openness of established solutions like IBM Granite. - Spot Evolved Risks: Analyze the operational pitfalls of "open weights" models and identify the techniques used in "openwashing" that have appeared since last year's session.
Senior Technical Account Manager, OpenShift, Red Hat
Alfonso Cancellara is a Senior Technical Account Manager at Red Hat, specializing in Red Hat’s OpenShiftContainer Platform and cloud-native solutions.
In his role, he works closely with organizations to help them effectively utilize OpenShift, understanding their unique business needs, providing guidance on how OpenShift can address their challenges, and ensuring they achieve their desired outcomes. A key aspect of his work involves... Read More →
The IBM i team wants to try something with the participants of COMMON Europe. We have a chance, at this conference, to collaborate with you on the kinds of things you'd like to see IBM i accomplish with AI in the future. Come to this session to participate as we use collaboration and design concepts to dream about what IBM i might do in the future.
STSM and Senior Business Architect - AI and Open Source, IBM
Experienced business architect from IBM and a specialist in the IBM i platform. My passion is enabling enterprises to adopt artificial intelligence and open source technologies.
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.
Ryan Moeller is a software engineer working on Db2 for i, specifically on the SQL Query Engine (SQE) team. He joined the team in the Rochester, MN development lab in 2020. Ryan specializes in SQL, database development, and query performance analysis.
Wednesday June 17, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST 04 - RHÔNE 2
Join me as we explore how to achieve end-to-end automation on IBM i, covering builds, tests, and impact analysis using open source tools (ibmi-ci, Source Orbit, and itest). The session will walk through a practical example of setting up a modern DevOps pipeline in GitHub. Imagine creating a pull request that automatically triggers a build, generates an impact analysis report, runs your test cases, and produces code coverage — with all results sent directly to the pull request for reviewers to see with ease.
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 →
Wednesday June 17, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST 05 -RHÔNE 3A
As organisations move from AI experimentation to real-world deployment, infrastructure choices become critical to achieving performance, reliability, and scalability. This presentation explores how IBM Power enables enterprises to bring AI into production with confidence. We will discuss how IBM Power’s architecture supports demanding AI workloads through high-performance compute, seamless accelerator integration, and enterprise-grade reliability and security. Attendees will gain practical insights into deploying, scaling, and operating AI workloads on IBM Power, including real-world use cases and best practices for bridging the gap between proof of concept and production-ready AI.
IBM Bob is the latest AI development partner that is fantastic with IBM i. In this session, Tim and Benoit will spend the time playing with Bob using real like use cases for IBM i applications. Code understanding, refactoring, modernization and more! Great chance to talk with the experts on how you can put Bob to work in your shop.
Benoit Marolleau is a Solutions Architect and AI Engineer in IBM Client Engineering EMEA at IBM, based in Montpellier, France. He has extensive experience in application and infrastructure modernization, with specialized expertise in IBM i platform integration and artificial intelligence... Read More →
Tim Rowe is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Architect for Application Development and Systems Management. He has been working on the IBM i operating system since 1989. Tim is a frequent author, industry speaker and... Read More →
This presentation show how we build a pipeline to run software building on all our platforms including the IBM Power platform, Linux, AIX and IBM i, allowing you to provide a true DevOps CI/CD Pipeline for your software building, integrations, testing and deployment.
Toshaan Bharvani is a IT consultant, currently self-employed at VanTosh, with a interest in Open Source Software and Open Source Hardware. He started his IT interest at a very early age, when his father gave him his first own PC components. Ever since he has been interested in IT... Read More →
A deep dive technical session focusing on server hardware, specifically the Scale Out models available with Power11 processor technology. This is an in depth technical session covering the architecture and design of the range of Power11 based scale out servers that run AIX, IBM i, and Linux workloads. We will cover the Power11 processor architecture, the memory subsystem, the I/O capabilities, the total system design, and much more. This is a chance to better understand the S1122, S1124, L1122, and L1124 servers at a technical level, and the hardware features that can support your business workloads for the future. These hardware features support the functionality available through the PowerVM hypervisor and the hosted workloads - those that are new for the Power11 platform will be covered here too.
Turgut Genc is the IBM Power and Cloud Solutions Architect in Expert Labs UKI. He is the EMEA team leader for IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS), Power Enterprise Pools, Power Performance and Migration workshops. He holds an MSc degree in Computer Science Engineering and he is a versatilist... Read More →
In many IBM i environments, mission-critical business processes continue to rely on traditional 5250 green-screen interfaces, leading to challenges with knowledge transfer, skills shortages, and modernization pressures. This session explores a technical pattern for achieving secure, 100% reproducible AI-driven automation of real 5250-based workflows. By recording and analyzing actual operator interactions (keystrokes, screens, validations), these processes can be transformed into structured, documented representations—such as JSON-based microservice schemas—that capture exact input/output behaviors, validation rules, and flow logic without exposing underlying RPG/COBOL source code. These representations serve dual purposes: (1) enabling local AI models to execute the processes identically to a human operator (ensuring zero deviation and full auditability), and (2) acting as a living knowledge base for natural-language querying (e.g., "Explain the customer creation steps" or "Where do validation failures commonly occur?"). The approach leverages local AI deployments (no cloud data leakage), fine-grained security controls (e.g., JWT tokens and role-based access), and automated documentation generation to support onboarding, process optimization, and regression testing. Attendees will gain insights into the architectural building blocks, recording techniques, schema design principles, integration with IBM i security models, and practical considerations for maintaining fidelity in AI-assisted execution.This session provides technical guidance on bridging legacy IBM i processes with modern AI capabilities while preserving trust, compliance, and operational integrity in an era of workforce transitions.
Today, when we talk about application modernization, most think about having to reface their application and going mobile. New technologies will be used to change the layout and programs will be rewritten. … but what will a nice design be worth if the base, i.e. the underlying database is still in your grandfather’s style, grown over the years with lots of redundancies? In this workshop you will learn why to go from DDS to SQL, what are the benefits of SQL over DDS. Externalizing and concentrating data access in CRUD functions. Techniques for converting and redesigning your existing grown over the time database into a modern normalized database will be shown. In a modern environment database objects can and must be accessed from multiple interfaces and programming languages. For guaranteeing data integrity and security business logic and security rules should be moved into the database.
VS Code and Code for IBM i are really built with IBM i developers in mind. Add the Db2 for IBM i extension in the mix and you get the perfect toolset for working with the database. This open source extension, built by the community for the community, brings all the tools one needs to run queries and display results from within VS Code. But wait, there's more! Data export, Visual Explain, SELF, AI integration ... there is lot of great features to discover, and they are right at your fingertips !
Hi, I'm Seb! I am the R&D Tech Lead for i and me - IT Training and Solutions GmbH 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... Read More →
Wednesday June 17, 2026 09:10 - 10:10 CEST 04 - RHÔNE 2
Modern IBM i applications increasingly demand sophisticated data handling capabilities beyond traditional character and numeric fields. This technical deep-dive session explores the powerful arsenal of SQL data types available to ILE RPG developers, demonstrating how to leverage CLOBs, BLOBs, and XML structures for real-world business solutions.Through hands-on code examples, attendees will discover practical implementations of Character Large Objects (CLOB) for managing extensive text data, Double-Byte CLOBs (DBCLOB) for multilingual applications, and Binary Large Objects (BLOB) for document and media storage directly within Db2 for i.The session goes beyond basic usage to address performance considerations through LOB Locators, enabling efficient manipulation of large objects without loading entire contents into memory. We'll explore File Reference Variables for seamless integration between IFS files and database LOB columns, demonstrating bidirectional data flow patterns that modernize legacy document management approaches.Special attention will be given to XML_CLOB_FILE handling, showcasing how ILE RPG can natively process XML data structures stored in CLOB fields—a critical capability for web services integration and data interchange scenarios.Each data type will be illustrated with production-ready RPG code snippets, common pitfalls to avoid, and performance optimization techniques. Attendees will leave with immediately applicable knowledge to modernize their IBM i applications, eliminate external file dependencies, and implement robust, database-centric data management strategies that leverage the full power of Db2 for i.
This session explores how IBM PowerSC and IBM Power CyberVault work together to strengthen security and cyber-resilience on IBM Power systems. Learn how PowerSC enhances security and compliance while CyberVault provides isolated, validated recovery from ransomware and destructive attacks.
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.
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 →
Open source software is becoming foundational to modern system administration, application development, DevOps practices, and AI innovation. The AIX Toolbox for Open Source Software has become a critical bridge between enterprise-grade stability and community-driven innovation.This session provides an overview of the AIX Toolbox ecosystem, including recent enhancements and the enablement of AI-focused packages. Attendees will learn how DNF simplifies package installation, dependency resolution, and ongoing maintenance, enabling modern and consistent workflows on AIX.We will also discuss the roadmap and future enhancements planned for the AIX open source ecosystem. Live demonstrations will illustrate how open source and AI packages can be easily adopted on AIX today, helping organizations modernize with confidence while preserving the performance, reliability, and security of the AIX platform.
A deep dive technical session focusing on large server hardware, specifically the 4 socket and larger Enterprise models available with Power11 processor technology.
This is an in depth technical session covering the architecture and design of the range of Power11 based Enterprise servers that run AIX, IBM i, and Linux workloads. We will cover the Power11 processor architecture, the memory subsystem, the I/O capabilities, the overall system design, and much more. This is a chance to better understand the E1150 and E1180 server models at a technical level, and the hardware features that can support your business workloads for the future. These hardware features support the functionality available through the PowerVM hypervisor and the hosted workloads - those that are new for the Power11 platform will be covered here too.
Turgut Genc is the IBM Power and Cloud Solutions Architect in Expert Labs UKI. He is the EMEA team leader for IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS), Power Enterprise Pools, Power Performance and Migration workshops. He holds an MSc degree in Computer Science Engineering and he is a versatilist... Read More →
Are you ready to adopt AI-based Assistants and Agentic AI tools on your IBM I? While these technologies are enticing and extremely powerful, there are limitations and pitfalls to factor into your AI strategy. During this session Carol Woodbury will discuss what the security considerations are that one must make when embarking on an AI project, how should one configure an Agent on IBM i and what guardrails you can put up to ensure it doesn’t go rogue, what auditing and logging is available to have visibility into AI activity on IBM i, how sessions using mapepire (e.g., MCP servers) manifest themselves in the audit journal, as well as what bad actors are doing with AI and how to protect your organization.
IBM i is famous for reliability — but it’s the underused, often overlooked features built directly into the platform that make it a true powerhouse for modern business. In this session, we’ll uncover the capabilities hiding in plain sight: tools and functions that come standard with IBM i yet rarely get the spotlight.We’ll explore surprising built-in technologies such as SQL services that replace entire utilities, database-driven system introspection, object management through simple queries, integrated open-source runtimes, and powerful automation features that eliminate scripting complexity. You’ll see how developers and administrators can leverage these out-of-the-box tools to simplify operations, improve visibility, accelerate development, and unlock new functionality without purchasing add-ons or deploying new servers.Through real examples and practical scenarios, we’ll demonstrate how these features can solve everyday challenges — from debugging and performance tuning to auditing, deployment automation, and API integration — all with the tools you already have.Whether you're a veteran IBM i professional or new to the platform, you’ll walk away with a fresh perspective and a toolkit of capabilities you can start using the moment you return to the office.
Koen Decorte is the founder of CD-Invest nv, a Belgian IBM i consultancy with over 30 years of expertise in ERP/CRM and open source development, IBM i platform modernization, and PEPPOL e-invoicing services. CD-Invest is home to several IBM Champions and serves enterprise clients... Read More →
Wednesday June 17, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST 04 - RHÔNE 2
This session demonstrates how to move beyond traditional automation by building intelligent, hybrid workflows that leverage the distinct strengths of AI, the low-code flexibility of n8n, and the rock-solid reliability of the IBM i platform.Attendees will witness a live demonstration of how to construct a complete, end-to-end process. We will explore practical, real-world use cases where AI models analyze data directly from the IBM i, and n8n acts as the central orchestrator to trigger complex business logic, send notifications, and update multiple systems. This presentation is designed to fundamentally change how you think about integration, providing actionable strategies for creating smarter, more responsive, and highly automated business processes.
In many Power System environments, the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) plays a vital role in providingdifferent criticial resources for the various partitions that are running under PowerVM. The default configurationof the VIOS environment provides basic security with just a single user padmin to manage the VIOSservers. This setting does not provide sufficient auditing controls nor does it implementthe principle of least privilege. The padmin user is equivalent to root on AIX and Linux orQSECOFR on IBM i. Nobody should grant these administrative rights to every user. Join this session to learn about the different security mechanisms that are available in the VIOSserver for authentication, user management, providing user role-based access, or implement best practices auditing and logging.
IT consultant architecting and implementing security solutions mainly in the IBM i and AIX area. I am also a frequent speaker at technical conferences. Specialties: Cryptography, Single Signon, Security assessments, Access Control concepts and implementation, IBM i cryptographic programming... Read More →
Wednesday June 17, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST 06 - RHÔNE 3B
In today's world a modern system manager no longer can limit him or herself to using 5250 emulation only. The SQL service have been on the menu for quite a while now. Dive into what can be done the SQL way, resulting in less errors and getting the work done faster. eaving you more time to dive into enhancing your SQL, because once you get started using SQL I promise you, you can not stop.
After having started as a System/38 programmer in 1986. In 1989 the switch was made to system programming and systems management. Being passionate about systems management he founded van Helvoirt Automatisering in 1993. Rudi enjoys helping IBM i customers ever since for running the... Read More →
I'm a Power Brand Technical Specialist for IBM France. My role is pre-sales activities aroud Power Systems. My area of expertise is around AIX, Red Hat, Ansible, PowerVS, PowerVC, VM Recovery Manager, PowerHA.
IBM Power AI and Security Principal, EMEA, IBM Technology Sales, IBM
As the Global Principal IBM Power, David is the primary evangelist for IBM Power in IBM Technology Sales. He regularly meets and presents to a range of audiences, from CxO to new graduates, articulating the value of our solutions. Whether the topic is the existing IBM Power offerings... Read More →
Mirza Ćutuk, M.Sc., is a Solutions Architect specializing in Data and AI. With a strong background in developing innovative solutions that bridge the gap between technology and societal needs, Mirza has been at the forefront of creating sustainable and impactful technological frameworks... Read More →
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 →
Alex is an IT consultant and engineer with expertise in PowerVM virtualization and network performance. He provides support to clients globally through workshops, troubleshooting sessions, and training classes. With over 20 years of experience, he has assisted over 130 corporations... Read More →
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 →
Toshaan Bharvani is a IT consultant, currently self-employed at VanTosh, with a interest in Open Source Software and Open Source Hardware. He started his IT interest at a very early age, when his father gave him his first own PC components. Ever since he has been interested in IT... Read More →
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 →
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.
