COMMON POWERUp 2026

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 and Larry 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 !!

Learning Objectives:

Learn how to be more effective when utilizing Nav4i.

In today’s evolving threat landscape, securing your IBM i environment is no longer optional—it’s essential. Unencrypted sessions invite credential theft and often violate compliance standards. This session will guide you through practical, step-by-step strategies to secure your IBM i using TLS encryption, with a special focus on the powerful capabilities of Navigator for i. We’ll also explore the latest administrative enhancements in Navigator for i, including new wizards and interfaces that simplify day-to-day tasks and help you lock down your system with confidence. Bonus: See how to use the Navigator TLS Wizard to lock down non-secure host servers in IBM i 7.6. Whether your goal is compliance, modernization, or simply better security hygiene, this session will equip you with the tools and knowledge to do it right. Learning objectives: ⚙️ Configure TLS across IBM i servers to protect data in transit. ️Update Access Client Solutions (ACS) configurations to be secure. ➕ Create and manage digital certificates, including using IBM i as a Certificate Authority (CA) or integrating with trusted third-party CAs. Secure Navigator for i using self-signed certificates to ensure your administrative interfaces are protected.

Learning Objectives:

⚙️ Configure TLS across IBM i servers to protect data in transit. ️Update Access Client Solutions (ACS) configurations to be secure. ➕ Create and manage digital certificates, including using IBM i as a Certificate Authority (CA) or integrating with trusted third-party CAs. Secure Navigator for i using self-signed certificates to ensure your administrative interfaces are protected.

AI for IBM i is everywhere - AI you can trust in production is rare. IBM i teams don’t struggle because they can’t run analyzers or generate diagrams; they struggle because critical logic is scattered across code, data, and workflows - and “best‑guess” answers create validation loops, rework, and surprise blockers. This becomes even more visible as teams start introducing AI-generated code: without shared context and evidence, speed quickly turns into uncertainty. In this session, we’ll share a practical framework for trustworthy AI outcomes on long‑running systems - grounding, completeness, and traceability - and how to apply it without refactoring or disrupting existing workflows. We’ll also show how teams can use system-level understanding to validate and preserve knowledge as new (human- or AI-generated) changes enter production. The session closes with a live walkthrough of real IBM i questions to show what “good answers” look like in practice.

Ann and Ryan are both developers in the IBM i development lab. They both have access to IBM Bob and have been exploring ways to leverage AI development assistance as a part of their daily development activities. Ann and Ryan will share areas of success and even things that did not work well. This session is intended to help you gain insight into how IBM Bob can be a valuable development partner.

With the transition from perpetual to subscription-based licensing, system administrators must stay informed about license expiration dates. Navigator for i has introduced several interface enhancements that make it easier to identify when operating system and other licenses are nearing expiration. In this session, we’ll showcase these improvements through a live demo, helping you stay ahead of license management challenges.

Learning Objectives:

`- Understand the impact of subscription-based licensing on IBM i systems and the importance of monitoring license expiration - Explore the Navigator for i interface enhancements that help identify and manage expiring licenses

Do you want a file system that writes and reads data from the cloud? Are you unhappy with the currently provided file systems on the IBM i? Well, now you can your own file systems! Attend this presentation to learn about the newest addition to the IBM i integrated file system (IFS): the User-Written File System (UWFS). This will give you the ability to write your own file systems with their own tailored semantics, usable through standard IFS interfaces.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand what the UWFS is and where it fits in with the other file systems. 2. Understand what it takes to write your own UWFS. 3. See a demonstration of a UWFS in action.