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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8:00am CDT

AI Is Probabilistic — Your Testing Shouldn’t Be: Mitigating Risk in the Age of Uncertainty

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

Galerie 6

Evaluation Survey

As AI becomes part of the enterprise stack, the risk of “black box” behavior grows. This session explores how rigorous, automated testing brings control and clarity to AI-enabled systems — especially when the IBM i is part of the critical infrastructure. We'll discuss: - Why traditional QA doesn’t work on AI-driven processes — and what does - How to validate AI behavior with deterministic test structures - Aligning AI testing with compliance, audit, and operational risk standards - Building an automation strategy that balances innovation with resilience

Learning Objectives:

You will learn how to use AI LLM, like BOB or other, and mitigate risks.

Speakers

Pascal Polverini

CTO, POLVERINI & PARTNERS

With thirty years of professional experience in North America, Europe and Australia Pascal Polverini has a strong experience in digital transformation, strategy roadmap and planning, end-to-end software architectures, with expertise on DB, programming languages, communication protocols... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Galerie 6

Technologies Integrated with IBM i, Artificial Intelligence (AI), IT Leadership & Management, IT Strategy, Technologies Integrated with IBM i

9:15am CDT

How to Validate and Control AI Uncertainty from BOB or Any LLM for Reliable Business Outcomes

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

Galerie 6

Evaluation Survey

Artificial Intelligence, by nature, is probabilistic. Even in narrow tolerance bands, AI models can generate varying results for the same inputs — not due to bugs, but because of the statistical nature of learning. While this flexibility allows AI to deal with complex problems, it also introduces uncertainty — a dangerous liability in high-stakes business contexts. In using Project BOB or any LLM to modernize or transform code you can get mistakes, bugs or hallucinations in the new code, and sometimes those errors can be very tricky to be identified and corrected, it could be like looking for a needle in a haystack. In this session, we will see which methodologies to adopt to master these problems, to control any AI mistakes and also to influence and guide AI to fix and avoid them.

Learning Objectives:

For project managers and programmers this session will show what framework to settle and which methodologies to adopt in order to optimize quality outcomes and reliability from LLM, especially in a code-assistant and code-generator business perimeter.

Speakers

Pascal Polverini

CTO, POLVERINI & PARTNERS

Wednesday April 29, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Galerie 6

Technologies Integrated with IBM i, Artificial Intelligence (AI), IT Leadership & Management, IT Strategy, Program Testing, Programmer Tools, Programming: Frameworks, Programming: General, Technologies Integrated with IBM i

10:45am CDT

IBM i Performance Data Collectors

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

Galerie 6

Evaluation Survey

The IBM i operating system has several different tools to collect data for performance analysis. In this session, you will learn when and how to use the following tools: Collection Services, Job Watcher, Disk Watcher, and Performance Explorer.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn which tool is the right tool to use in different scenarios.
2. Learn how to run each tool and use visualization tools to analyze the performance data collected.

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 →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT
Galerie 6

Systems Management

3:45pm CDT

Azure DevOps and the IBM i, how to use DevSecOps integration between them

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

Galerie 6

Evaluation Survey

Azure DevOps is a popular platform for managing Business Requirements Development since it covers the full Application lifecycle from the first request to deployment to production. How can we integrate the Azure tools with IBM i functions so that we can manage the front end right along with the back end on the IBM i. Having successfully integrated these two platforms multiple times I can give you the best practices and techniques for 2 way communication and rich feedback from the results of the IBM i functions. If you have been manually updating Azure Devops with the results of your change management functions, here is your opportunity to make that automatic and potentially synchronize your life cycle between the from end and back end. Practical techniques from my experience will be shared.

Learning Objectives:

How to securely communicate between platforms How to integrate native IBM i functions with Azure triggers and process tools

Speakers

Jeffrey Tickner

Consultant, ARCAD Software

Jeff Tickner has worked in Change Management on the IBM I for 27 years at different companies. He has long experience with all kinds Source Control and Change Management packages from SourceSafe to Subversion and of course, Git. Jeff currently works for ARCAD Software, an international... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:45pm - 4:45pm CDT
Galerie 6

Technologies Integrated with IBM i, DevOps, Programmer Tools, Security, Technologies Integrated with IBM i

5:00pm CDT

Supercharging SQL in RPG

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

Galerie 6

Evaluation Survey

SQL has become an essential tool in the modern RPG developer's toolkit—but are you getting the most out of it? Join Simon as he shares practical, real-world examples to help you supercharge your SQL within RPG programs and procedures. You'll learn how to optimize performance, quickly diagnose feedback from Db2, and leverage Views for even greater efficiency. Simon will also cover high-performance SQL I/O techniques for faster data retrieval and smarter error-handling strategies, so you'll know exactly what happened with your SQL statements—and how to fix it.

Speakers

Simon Hutchinson

Founder & author, RPGPGM.COM

Simon Hutchinson has worked with IBM midrange servers and the RPG programming language since 1988—starting in the U.K. and continuing in the U.S. for over 35 years. He is best known for his long-running blog, RPGPGM.COM, where for more than 12 years he has shared practical insi... Read More →

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

RPG, Database

COMMON POWERUp 2026

8:00am CDT

Pascal Polverini

9:15am CDT

Pascal Polverini

10:45am CDT

Shauna Rollings

3:45pm CDT

Jeffrey Tickner

5:00pm CDT

Simon Hutchinson

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