COMMON POWERUp 2026: Full Schedule

Unlock the Power of IBM i at POWERUp 2026!

Join us in New Orleans, Louisiana for POWERUp 2026, 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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10:00am CDT

DS8000 Enterprise Storage Product Overview

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT

Galerie 5

Evaluation Survey

This session provides a focused overview of the DS8000 Enterprise storage server and dives into details of the recently released functionality. Attendees will gain practical insight into how these updates improve security, performance, and operational efficiency.

Speakers

Clint Hardy

Senior Technical Staff Member, DS8000 Storage Architecture and Development, IBM

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT
Galerie 5

Systems Management

10:00am CDT

IBM i Licensing 101

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT

Galerie 4

Evaluation Survey

Understanding IBM i licensing doesn't have to be complicated. In this session, the IBM i Product Management Team will break down key concepts, terms, and definitions to help you navigate IBM i licensing with confidence. We will clarify topics such as license transfers, Group SWMA, and the differences between non-expiring and subscription licenses. You will also hear answers to the most common questions received from clients throughout the year. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how IBM i licensing works and how to make informed decisions for their environment.

Learning Objectives:

•Understand key IBM i licensing concepts •Differentiate IBM i licensing types and entitlements •Navigate common IBM i licensing scenarios confidently

Speakers

Brandon Pederson

IBM i and Power Product Marketing Manager, IBM

Brandon Pederson is the Product Marketing Manager for IBM i and Modernization within the IBM Power business. Prior to this role, Brandon was Content Marketing Manager for IBM WebSphere and Content and Community Manager for IBM Power. He has a degree in Marketing from Concordia Uni... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT
Galerie 4

Systems Management, IT Leadership & Management, IT Strategy, Systems Management

10:00am CDT

IBMi Myth busters: Transforming Bad Habits in Best

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT

Galerie 1

Evaluation Survey

Best Practices is all about meeting IBM system compliance to achieve optimal results. Don’t let old myths or newly formed bad habits be the difference between success or a failure in service delivery. This session will examine V7R4/R5 System configurations, BRMS Backups, Disaster Recovery, and Security Management. Examine assumptions, technical gaps, blunders, and recommendations. Hear actual lessons learned so you do not make the same IBM i assumptions others have made. IT is not a game of chance.

Learning Objectives:

1. Distinguish between outdated IBM i practices and modern, compliant configurations. 2. Learn proven methods to optimize BRMS backups, DR routines, and system security. 3. Apply real-world lessons to improve performance, reliability, and audit readiness.

Speakers

Richard Dolewski

VP, Hybrid Enterprise Solutions, Lightedge

Josh Patterson

Sr. Solutions Architect, Lightedge

Josh is a Senior Solutions Architect and IBM Champion at Lightedge, focused on modernizing enterprise cloud solutions for IBM Power platforms. Subject matter expertise in designing resilient, cost-effective hybrid-cloud strategies and high-availability architectures that align technology... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT
Galerie 1

Systems Management, Systems Management

10:00am CDT

Introduction to the Navigator for i Performance Tasks

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT

Balcony M-N

Evaluation Survey

Navigator for i has a rich set of tools to help you understand the performance of your IBM i. This session will review these performance tasks; from traditional performance management tasks, to System Monitors for real-time monitoring, the Performance Data Investigator to understand your performance signature, and Graph History for long-term trending. Attend this session to learn about these features and how to use them.

Learning Objectives:

Learn about the various tasks in Navigator for i to understand the performance characteristics of your system. Learn about Custom Charts, System Monitors, the Performance Data Investigator, and Graph History.

Speakers

Dawn May

Owner, Dawn May Consulting, LLC

Dawn has been involved with COMMON for over 20 years and has been a consistent volunteer since 2008. She's been a member of the strategic education team, a subject matter expert, and a speaker. As Immediate Past President of COMMON, she's focused on leading COMMON as the industry... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:00am CDT
Balcony M-N

Systems Management, Systems Management

Track Student

11:15am CDT

An Overview of IBM i Migrate While Active

Monday April 27, 2026 11:15am - 12:15pm CDT

Studio 9-10

Evaluation Survey

IBM i Migrate While Active makes it easy to transition between systems and platforms with minimal service disruption, supporting seamless migrations to new hardware, private cloud environments, or public cloud infrastructure. In this session, you'll get a comprehensive overview of IBM's latest release of Migrate While Active. Discover how this solution enables near-zero downtime migrations, and explore real-world use cases and success stories.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the functionality of IBM i Migrate While Active, including how it enables near-zero downtime migrations across systems, platforms, and cloud environments. 2. Identify key prerequisites, planning steps, and best practices for executing a successful migration using Migrate While Active, whether moving to new hardware, private cloud, or public cloud. 3. Analyze real-world use cases and success stories to gain practical insights into how organizations have leveraged Migrate While Active to modernize their infrastructure while maintaining business continuity.

Speakers

Shauna Rollings

Senior Software Engineer - IBM i Performance Tools & High Availability Development, IBM

Shauna joined the IBM i development team in 2008. She has developed and supported IBM i performance data collector tools throughout her entire IBM career. From the very beginning of the Db2 Mirror for i project, she has also been the technical team lead for the Db2 Mirror Configuration... Read More →

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.

Monday April 27, 2026 11:15am - 12:15pm CDT
Studio 9-10

Systems Management

11:15am CDT

BRMS First Steps

Monday April 27, 2026 11:15am - 12:15pm CDT

Studio 3-4

Evaluation Survey

This session will run through the installation, configuration, implementation, and some of the landmines in most BRMS installations. You can install and be up and running with a simple back up plan (most likely what you do now) in less than a day. Both BR2's GUI and BR1 configuration will be covered.

Learning Objectives:

1.Know how to install and maintain BRMS in a production environment 2. Know what advanced options are available and when to use them 3. Understand the differences between versions and how to work with both

Speakers

Sarah Jacob

VP of Customer Experience, Agile Technology Architects

Sarah Jacob is the Vice President of Customer Experience at Agile Technology Architects. She is a Subject Matter Expert in Power Systems Administration and a volunteer for COMMON. Sarah specializes in Backup and Recovery planning and recovery testing. Additionally, she acts as primary... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 11:15am - 12:15pm CDT
Studio 3-4

Systems Management, High Availability Resilience

Track Student

11:15am CDT

What you need to Know to Successfully Upgrade to IBM i 7.6 or 7.5

Monday April 27, 2026 11:15am - 12:15pm CDT

Galerie 4

Evaluation Survey

When upgrading to IBM I, the planning stage requires more effort than the actual upgrade. Once the planning is complete, the upgrade itself is simple. We will discuss at length the planning tips, prerequisites, and all preparation. Plus the post-installation requirements. Everything you need to know to do a successful upgrade. Your upgrade is not fully complete until this final step is done.

Learning Objectives:

What you need to check for when preparing your system for an upgrade. Also, identify the required PTFs before the upgrade to avoid problems, and ensure completion of the necessary steps for a successful upgrade.

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 →

Monday April 27, 2026 11:15am - 12:15pm CDT
Galerie 4

Systems Management, Systems Management

3:15pm CDT

IBM i 7.6 and the latest TRs by the Architects

Monday April 27, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT

Balcony M-N

Evaluation Survey

The IBM i development team has just delivered a brand new release - IBM i 7.6 along with several Technology Refreshes. These deliveries are just full of new enhancements targeted to help your business applications run more securely. In this session, Scott and Tim will detail a number of the new enhancements, helping you understand what's new and be ready to target the sessions throughout the conference that provide a deeper dive. Many of you wait to upgrade, we are going to show you why IBM i 7.6 may be the release to break that trend!!! Attend this session to see the must-have technologies for your IBM i.

Learning Objectives:

Learn about 7.6 and the features deliver in the Technology Refreshes

Speakers

Scott Forstie

Senior Technical Staff Member, 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 →

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 →

Monday April 27, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT
Balcony M-N

Systems Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Client Connectivity, Database, Programming: General, Security, Systems Management, Technologies Integrated with IBM i

3:15pm CDT

I’m Interested in Deploying IBM Db2 Mirror for i … Now What?

Monday April 27, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT

Galerie 2

Evaluation Survey

The IBM Db2 Mirror for i product provides synchronous replication of Db2 for i, which makes your database highly available between two nodes. Having a highly available database allows you to deploy applications in such a way that there is zero downtime required to do system maintenance that has traditionally been disruptive. In this session, you will learn about some of the considerations and planning that must be done before deploying Db2 Mirror.

Learning Objectives:
- You will learn about the types of objects that can be replicated by Db2 Mirror and about tools available to you to begin analyzing the object types used by your existing applications.
- You will learn about active-active and active-passive application topologies that work well in a Db2 Mirror environment.
- You will learn about the hardware and software required for deploying Db2 Mirror.

Speakers

Shauna Rollings

Senior Software Engineer - IBM i Performance Tools & High Availability Development, IBM

Monday April 27, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT
Galerie 2

Systems Management

4:30pm CDT

20 Tips in 20 Minutes

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT

Studio 7-8

Evaluation Survey

On many IBM i systems, there are a number of configuration settings that are not optimal for today's environment. Whether it be system values, job descriptions, memory pools, many shops have configuration settings at the system's shipped default value, or settings that were done years ago and need to be revisited. This session is a fast-paced session going over 20 configuration tips in 20 minutes.

Learning Objectives:

Learn about common configuration settings that can be changed to optimize your IBM i.

Speakers

Dawn May

Owner, Dawn May Consulting, LLC

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT
Studio 7-8

Systems Management, Systems Management

Track Student

4:30pm CDT

Best Practices for Collecting IBM i Performance Data

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT

Galerie 5

Evaluation Survey

IBM i performance data collection using Collection Services is enabled by default, but you may still be using default configuration settings. In this session, you will learn why you may want to adjust the Collection Services configuration settings for your performance analysis or trending needs.
Learning objectives:
1. How to use Navigator for i to configure Collection Services
2. Recommendations for changing default configuration settings

Speakers

Shauna Rollings

Senior Software Engineer - IBM i Performance Tools & High Availability Development, IBM

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT
Galerie 5

Systems Management

4:30pm CDT

Demo of IBM i ACS Multi System Capabilities

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT

Galerie 4

Evaluation Survey

IBM i ACS has several capabilities that are targeted for users who interact with multiple systems. Join Wayne Bowers, IBM Support Team Lead, as he presents a quick, live demo over viewing these capabilities

Speakers

Wayne Bowers

IBM i Global Support, IBM

Wayne Bowers has been with IBM since 1997, where he works with the IBM i Global Support Center in Rochester MN. He is an Advisory Software Engineer specializing in the support of the IBM i Access (aka Client Access) products, Console, the TCP Telnet communications server, and the... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT
Galerie 4

Systems Management

4:30pm CDT

Why is my disk filling?

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT

Balcony K

Evaluation Survey

The threat of DASD filling is real and can bring a system down. Learn common threats to good disk management and and how to respond.

Learning Objectives:

What happens when DASD runs out What can you do when this happens What to do after the immediate threat is gone

Speakers

Jeff Carey

Midrange Engineer III - IBM i, Lightedge

Jeff Carey is an IBM i professional with over 30 years of experience on the platform, specializing in system administration. He currently is a Midrange Engineer for Lightedge, a company providing managed services for IBM i, VMware, Nutanix, AIX, AWS and Azure. He is on the Board of... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT
Balcony K

Systems Management, Systems Management

5:05pm CDT

Navigating IBM i Performance Guides: What to Use When

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT

Galerie 6

Evaluation Survey

IBM provides a rich set of performance guides and documentation to help users understand and optimize their IBM i environments. In this 20-minute session, we’ll demystify key resources such as the IBM i Performance Capabilities Reference Guide, the IBM i Performance FAQ, and the IBM Power Performance Optimization for IBM i guide. You’ll learn the purpose of each document, how they complement one another, and when to use each based on your performance-related needs. Whether you're troubleshooting a performance problem, planning capacity, or tuning your IBM i partition, this session will help you select the right resource for the job.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the scope and purpose of each IBM-supplied performance document. Identify which resource to use for common performance scenarios such as capacity planning, troubleshooting, and optimization. Gain practical tips for integrating these documents into your performance management workflow.

Speakers

Eric Barsness

Global Resiliency Practice Leader, IBM

Eric Barsness is theGlobal Resiliency Practice Leader for IBM i in Expert Labs and an IBM Master Inventor. Eric specializes in IBM i resiliency, performance and scalability and has led various IBM i performance teams for most of his career. Eric has been improving customer's IBM i... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT
Galerie 6

Systems Management

5:05pm CDT

SQL Services save the day at Heartland Co-op

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT

Galerie 5

Evaluation Survey

By now, many of us are familiar with IBM SQL Services and how they can super-charge system management tasks. But have you thought about how these powerful tools can be used in business applications? This case study will take you through how SQL services were used to make a business-critical application at Heartland Co-op available 24/7 while allowing an important nightly batch process to run uninterrupted.

Speakers

Todd Stewart

Application Architect, Heartland Co-op

Todd has worked in IBM midrange computing since 1989, developing applications from the System/34 to IBM i on Power. He has held roles including Developer, Analyst, Project Lead, Solutions Delivery Manager, and Application Development Director in the retail, and bonding/insurance industries... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT
Galerie 5

Systems Management

5:05pm CDT

What is SYSTOOLS and How Can You Leverage it?

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT

Studio 9-10

Evaluation Survey

Db2 for i provides useful tools and examples in the SYSTOOLS schema. Come to this session to learn what shiny gems lie within this unopened treasure chest. You need not be an SQL programmer to gain tremendous value from SQL tools! https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.6?topic=optimization-systools

Learning Objectives:

1) Understand what SYSTOOLS-based tools exist 2) Learn the basics of how to use these tools 3) Hear what others are already doing with these amazing tools 4) Interact with the IBM architect responsible for SYSTOOLS

Speakers

Scott Forstie

Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT
Studio 9-10

Systems Management, Database, Integrated File System (IFS), Security, Storage Technologies, Systems Management

5:05pm CDT

When Job Tables Attack!

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT

Balcony K

Evaluation Survey

There are very few issues that can threaten the stability of an IBM i LPAR, but one of them is filling of the system job tables. Circumstances can make this happen quickly even though you may not see it very often if at all! Even if you have seen the dreaded job table message, it may have been so long ago you don't recall what to do. Time may be of the essence when taking corrective action, so knowing what is happening and how to fix it can be critical. Protect your system and be able to thwart this threat before it becomes truly dangerous.

Learning Objectives:

Learn the tell tale messages that indicate impending job table doom. Learn what job tales are and why they can fill. Learn how to act fast to stop the danger.

Speakers

Jeff Carey

Midrange Engineer III - IBM i, Lightedge

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT
Balcony K

Systems Management, Systems Management

10:00am CDT

10:00am CDT

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10:00am CDT

11:15am CDT

11:15am CDT

11:15am CDT

3:15pm CDT

3:15pm CDT

4:30pm CDT

4:30pm CDT

4:30pm CDT

4:30pm CDT

5:05pm CDT

5:05pm CDT

5:05pm CDT

5:05pm CDT

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