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!

arrow_back View All Dates

8:00am CDT

Learn How to Identify IBM i Security Gaps and Prove Compliance

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT

Balcony L

Evaluation Survey

Not sure how secure your IBM i system really is—or how to prove it during an audit? This session is your roadmap to evaluating your system’s security posture with clarity. We’ll break down key IBM i security concepts like authority management, object security, audit trails, function usage, and authentication using Navigator for i. Learn how to interpret audit requests, uncover hidden vulnerabilities, and generate the right reports to demonstrate compliance. Plus, discover how the Audit Journal Data Mart can provide deeper visibility into system activity. Whether you're preparing for an audit or simply want to understand your system’s strengths and gaps, this session will help you move from uncertainty to confidence. In this session you will gain: Understanding of core IBM i security concepts ✅ Interpret and respond to common audit requirements Leverage built in tools for enhanced visibility

Learning Objectives:

Understanding of core IBM i security concepts ✅ Interpret and respond to common audit requirements Leverage built in tools for enhanced visibility

Speakers

Amy Williams

Principal Security Consultant, Fortra LLC

Amy Williams is a Principal Security Services Consultant at Fortra, where she has worked since 2015. She holds CISSP, CISA, and PCI-P certifications and has nearly 30 years of experience on the IBM i platform across system administration, architecture, and application security in... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Balcony L

Security, Security

9:15am CDT

Making the most of DCM certificate resources

Wednesday April 29, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT

Balcony L

Evaluation Survey

These days, using TLS to secure connections is a required practice. But if you are unfamiliar with generating public and private keys, working with certificates and using DCM to secure your IBM i apps, things can be a little intimidating. What if I do it wrong? How can I use third party certificate providers and how does it all work with my domain registrar? There are many moving parts in the TLS world. This session will focus on describing the parts and how they work together with DCM to sanely manage your secure access on IBM i.

Learning Objectives:

1) Learn the basic components of TLS. 2) See how each relates to the IBM i 3) Step through the process on IBM i DCM 4) Look at 3rd party tools and certificate providers like Letsencrypt and see how to leverage them on IBM i

Speakers

Pete Helgren

Owner/Consultant, Value Added Software

Pete is a developer with broad experience across multiple languages and platforms, including over 30 years of system 3X/AS400/iSeries/IBM i experience. He holds certifications as a GIAC Cloud Penetration Tester, GIAC Secure Software Programmer-Java, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Balcony L

Security, Security

10:45am CDT

SQL and IFS

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT

Balcony L

Evaluation Survey

SQL is great for accessing data located in a relational database. But in a modern world it is also necessary to consume data that is located in the IFS (Integrated File System) or provided by web services With each Technology Refresh IBM introduces and enhances Db2 for i Services. With one of the latest Technology Refreshs provided new SQL Stored Procedures for reading data from and writing Data into the IFS. In composition with other SQL Functions it is easy to scan through IFS files or decompose *.csv files or JSON files or XML documents located in the IFS.

Learning Objectives:

In this session you’ll learn how to write data to the IFS and how to read IFS files, by using no other programming language than SQL. It will be also demonstrated how to access and decompose *.csv files located in the IFS without copying them into a physical file or SQL table.

Speakers

Birgitta Hauser

ModEdCon

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT
Balcony L

Database, Database

3:45pm CDT

IBM i Performance Data Management: Best Practices

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:45pm - 4:45pm CDT

Balcony L

Evaluation Survey

Effective performance data management is essential for maintaining a healthy and responsive IBM i environment. In this session we will cover best practices for configuring and using IBM i performance data collectors—including Collection Services, Job Watcher, and SQL collectors—balancing proper data collection with efficient use of storage. Attendees will learn how to set up data collection according to IBM-recommended guidelines, determine appropriate data retention policies, and choose storage locations for historical data. Whether you're troubleshooting performance issues or building long-term trend analyses, this session will equip you with the strategies and configurations needed to make the most of IBM i’s powerful performance data collectors and visualizers.

Learning Objectives:

Understand how to configure IBM i performance tools following best practices for proper and efficient data collection. Gain insights on how to balance proper data collection with efficient use of storage. Learn how to determine appropriate data retention periods and storage strategies based on your needs and goals.

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 →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:45pm - 4:45pm CDT
Balcony L

Systems Management

Track Student

5:00pm CDT

Panning for Performance Gold with Visual Explain

Wednesday April 29, 2026 5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT

Balcony L

Evaluation Survey

Analyzing your database environment can provide significant performance riches, provided you have the right tools for the job. Visual Explain fits the bill, but learning to understand Visual Explain diagrams can be overwhelming and difficult. This session provides an introductory look into how to read and analyze your Visual Explain diagrams to find SQL performance gold.

Learning Objectives:

`- Identify the various methods of collecting data to produce a Visual Explain diagram - Understand how to understand the flow of data through a Visual Explain diagram - Learn to perform basic query access plan analysis, including learning about various Visual Explain node types

Speakers

Ryan Moeller

Software Engineer, IBM

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 April 29, 2026 5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
Balcony L

Database

COMMON POWERUp 2026

8:00am CDT

Amy Williams

9:15am CDT

Pete Helgren

10:45am CDT

Birgitta Hauser

3:45pm CDT

Eric Barsness

5:00pm CDT

Ryan Moeller

Get help with the event