commoneuropecongress2026: Full Schedule

Welcome to Common Europe Congress 2026

18:00 CEST

First timers introduction

Sunday June 14, 2026 18:00 - 19:00 CEST

02 - Auditorium

Speakers

Torbjörn Appehl

Vice President for Common Europe, Common Europe & LOAD System

IBM Champion for Power since 2016, love the IBM i platform since my very first contact with it in 1997. Today I am the CEO for Load System in Sweden. An IBM business partner with focus on IBM Power, IBM Storage, IBM Z and LinuxONE.
CEO for Load System AB in Sweden since January 20... Read More →

Zouhair Oulli

IBM i sysadmin, Kyndryl

I’m an IBM i system administrator at Kyndryl. I serve on the board of Common France and am a member of the Common Europe NextGen team. In my free time, I enjoy creating IBM i educational content and sharing useful knowledge and resources on my website.

Juan Manuel Alcudia

President, IBM Champion, Common Europe

I am a long-time IBM i and Power Systems professional, currently serving as President of Common Europe as well as an IBM Champion. Throughout my career, I have worked extensively on IBM infrastructure, modernization, performance, and business development, always with a strong focus... Read More →

Steve Cast

Treasurer, Common Europe

Sunday June 14, 2026 18:00 - 19:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

General

09:30 CEST

IBM Keynote

Monday June 15, 2026 09:30 - 10:20 CEST

02 - Auditorium

Speakers

Katarina Gospic

Co-founder. Chief Global Officer. AI. Author of 9 books. Keynote speaker talking about the brain & AI., Edsvärd

Dr. Katarina Gospic is a renowned physiologist, MD, PhD, entrepreneur, author of nine books and international keynote speaker. Katarina is a sought-after expert in the intersection of digitalization and the human brain. Throughout the years she has been honored with prestigious awards... Read More →

Jonas Ullberg

VP Power and Cloud Global Sales, IBM Technology Sales

Monday June 15, 2026 09:30 - 10:20 CEST
02 - Auditorium

General

10:30 CEST

TBD

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

02 - Auditorium

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

Systems management

11:50 CEST

What's New in IBM i Security?

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

02 - Auditorium

Significant security enhancements have been delivered in recent releases (IBM i 7.5 and IBM i 7.6) as well as technology refreshes (TRs). In this session Carol will describe new and enhanced security-related features and describe how and why you should use them.

Speakers

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco

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

Systems management

14:00 CEST

Unlocking the Potential of IBM’s Administration Runtime Expert

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

02 - Auditorium

Administration Runtime Expert (ARE) is one of IBM i’s most powerful yet overlooked tools. This session reveals how ARE can simplify the management of even the most complex IBM i estates by automating configuration checks, detecting risks early, and ensuring consistent, compliant system environments.Attendees will see practical examples of how ARE reduces manual effort, reduces outages, and strengthens overall business continuity. If you’ve never explored ARE or didn’t realize what it can do, this session will show you why it should be a core part of every IBM i strategy.

Speakers

Rudi van Helvoirt

Lead IBM i Specialist, van Helvoirt Beheer

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 →

Ash Giddings

Product Manager, Maxava

Ash Giddings is an IT professional with over 30 years of experience in and around IBM midrange servers. He is the Product Manager at Maxava, a leading provider of disaster recovery, high availability, and cloud-based monitoring solutions for IBM i and beyond. Ash is an IBM Champi... Read More →

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

Systems management

15:10 CEST

Thinkwise: From RPG to AI-ready: on IBM i

Monday June 15, 2026 15:10 - 15:35 CEST

02 - Auditorium

In this session, Victor Klaren shows a new approach to RPG modernization: one that builds on the strength of IBM i.

Using the Thinkwise AI-Upcycler, RPG code is analyzed and automatically transformed into a modern application on the Thinkwise Platform. While IBM i and Db2 remain fully in place.

You’ll see how at least 90% of an RPG application can be converted in a single step: including data, business rules and process flows.

But modernization is only the starting point. We’ll show how this creates a foundation for what’s next: integrating with modern architectures, exposing functionality through APIs, and enabling new interaction patterns such as MCP and agentic AI.

Sponsor speaker

Victor Klaren

CVO, Thinkwise

Victor Klaren is co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer at Thinkwise, a platform for modernizing business-critical software. He is responsible for the strategic vision behind the Platform, which enables organizations to transform legacy applications into a future-proof application... Read More →

Monday June 15, 2026 15:10 - 15:35 CEST
02 - Auditorium

15:55 CEST

AI on Power in Action with Spyre

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

02 - Auditorium

Today's IT landscape is changing from traditional logic workflows to agentic AI inferencing. AI agents require low-latency inference and real-time system responsiveness. IBM recognized the need for servers to run AI models along with the most demanding enterprise workloads without compromising on throughput.
To address this demand, clients need AI inferencing hardware that supports generative and agentic AI while maintaining the security and resilience of core data, transactions and applications.
A Linux LPAR with Spyre accelerators is built to enable systems keeping mission-critical data close to mitigate risk while addressing operational efficiency.In this session we will show how mgd's internal IBM i systems are running SAP on IBM i with integrated AI we will show the S1122 we use as production system and the Linux LPAR with Spyre acceleratorswe will demonstrate how we integrate AI in SAP on IBM i and demo AI queries from IBM i CLI

Speakers

Jesper Johansen

IBM Certified Systems Expert & IBM Champion, Molgaard Data A/S

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

Systems management

17:05 CEST

Protecting Db2 for i Data with Row and Column Access Control (RCAC)

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

02 - Auditorium

Data is the new currency, and protecting it is more important than ever. In IBM i environments, safeguarding sensitive information at the database level is a key requirement for compliance, risk reduction, long-term application trust and data consitency. With traditional database methods and additional programming, data access can be restricted, but also circumvented! Db2 for i provides powerful, built-in capabilities for fine-grained security through Row and Column Access Control (RCAC), enabling precise control over which data can be seen and by whom (on user profile and group profile level) —without requiring changes to application code.If RCAC is activated only explicitly registered users can see an access the database data. Even powerful profiles with QSECOFR user classe or *ALLOBJ authority cannot see any data if they are not registered.Since the implemented RCAC rules cannot be circumvented (not even by powerful user profiles) an detailed planning is required, so no data will get lost

Speakers

Birgitta Hauser

ModEdCon

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

Systems management

08:00 CEST

Ransomware and IBM i

Tuesday June 16, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST

02 - Auditorium

Today, there are no known ransomware viruses that run directly on IBM i. However, that does not mean that the IBM i is not at risk. In this session, you will learn how to keep your IBM i system safe from Ransomware attacks. Don't miss this critical session!

Speakers

Janus Hertz

Senior Consultant, IBM

IBM Technology Expert Labs Consultant - IBM Power / IBM i - Security, HA/DR, Virtualization - IBM Northern Europe.

Janus Hertz is a Senior Consultant in IBM Technology Expert Labs. During his 30 years at IBM, he has had various technical roles, working with IBM i and the IBM Power platform the entire time.His current focus areas are IBM i Security & High Availability, including access control... Read More →

Tuesday June 16, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

10:30 CEST

Securing your IBM i without Destroying your Business

Tuesday June 16, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST

02 - Auditorium

The potential to break a critical process when changing your security configuration is real. But with the proper investigation and analysis, security changes can occur without disrupting your business. During this session Carol Woodbury will provide the methods she uses to investigate a system prior to making changes. The goal is to give you the confidence to make IBM i Security changes (system value, user profile, object authority and more) with confidence and without fear of breakage.

Speakers

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco

Tuesday June 16, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

11:40 CEST

Navigator for i, the Tools Within!

Tuesday June 16, 2026 11:40 - 12:40 CEST

02 - Auditorium

As an IBM i administrator you’ve either used Navigator for I, or you’re living under an AS/400! While you’re getting this done though, you’ve likely missed many of the capabilities built into Navigator to make your job easier and a better fit for your specific needs and environment.In this session, Tim will go beyond the basic capabilities of Navigator and show you the buttons and the options and capabilities that are built into Navigator for I that turbocharge the capabilities of Navigator for i. Come for the Ooh’s and the Ah’s !!

Speakers

Steve Bradshaw

Friendly Techie, RowtonIT.com

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 in the IBM Business Partner world for over thirty years now and despite IBM's best attempts I still love them ;-) My career started as an RPG developer but for the last twenty years I have specialised in System Design, installation and management. In 2008 I founded my

... Read More →

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM USA

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 →

Tuesday June 16, 2026 11:40 - 12:40 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

14:00 CEST

A Practical Approach to IBM i SQL Performance

Tuesday June 16, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST

02 - Auditorium

When working with SQL and query tuning on IBM i, it’s essential to understand the free tools available to you. This session will introduce tools that leverage SQL Plan Cache data and DB Monitor traces for in-depth SQL analysis.You’ll also learn about Visual Explain, a powerful feature for understanding query execution plans. We’ll discuss:The best approaches for viewing and interpreting performance dataPractical tips for identifying quick wins to improve SQL performanceBy the end of this session, you’ll have actionable strategies to optimize your queries and make your IBM i systems run more efficiently.

Speakers

Morten Buur Rasmussen

Power Performance Specialist, IBM Expert Labs

Morten Buur Rasmussen is a performance Specialist at IBM Technology Expert Labs. Morten has 40 years of experience in the computing field. He started working with the S/38 and AS/400 in 1988 as programmer. Before joining the Lab Services and Expert Labs, he worked for IBM Denmark... Read More →

Tuesday June 16, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

15:55 CEST

Compliance and security management on IBM i with IBM PowerSC

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

02 - Auditorium

Managing the security and compliance on different IBM i systems and partitions can be a challenging task. Changing a setting is quite simple, but automatically checking if a security setting remains the same over time and getting notified about a change is a challenge. IBM offers a product called IBM PowerSC. This product uses compliance profiles to perform the necessary security configuration and monitors that the systems remain compliant. It offers a single user interface that lets you monitor the compliance and security of all your IBM i, Linux on Power, AIX, and VIOS partitions on your Power System. It provides more security functions for malware detection, PTF level currency checking, and more. This session shows you what PowerSC is, how it works, and based on the Center for Internet Security (CIS) IBM i benchmark how to apply a compliance profile. You also see the reporting capabilities of the product, which offers administrators and auditors a comprehensive overview of the security state of your IBM i landscape.

Speakers

Thomas Barlen

Senior Managing Consultant, IBM

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 →

Tuesday June 16, 2026 15:55 - 16:55 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

17:05 CEST

Using Navigator to Securely Manage your IBM i

Tuesday June 16, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST

02 - Auditorium

IBM Navigator for i is a modern application built to help todays IBM i team successfully manage the IBM i in a modern and secure way. This sessions is all about live demo. Show me no slides…tell you no lies! We will use the Navigator interface to manage and monitor a wide range to system topics: Jobs, Memory Pools, Audit Journals, User Profiles, see how to configure TLS for your system and much more. Heck we even encourage you to bring your favorite topic along and we will address it live.

Speakers

Steve Bradshaw

Friendly Techie, RowtonIT.com

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM USA

Tuesday June 16, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

08:00 CEST

Deep Dive with IBM Bob

Wednesday June 17, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST

02 - Auditorium

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.

Speakers

Benoit Marolleau

AI Solution Architect, IBM

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

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM USA

Wednesday June 17, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

09:10 CEST

Planning a Smooth Move of your IBM i to the Cloud

Wednesday June 17, 2026 09:10 - 10:10 CEST

02 - Auditorium

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

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 →

Wednesday June 17, 2026 09:10 - 10:10 CEST
02 - Auditorium

Systems management

10:30 CEST

Learn more about the SQL system manager approach

Wednesday June 17, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST

02 - Auditorium

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.

Speakers