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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!

Venue: Studio 3-4 clear filter
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Wednesday, April 29
 

8:00am CDT

A Journey to the Truth....with AI and Ansible!
Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Sometimes, the answer to a tricky problem is right in front of you - you just have to know where to look. That’s what the team at PC Richard & Son discovered while rolling out our next-generation POS solution to our fleet of IBM i systems using Ansible. Everything was going well until we hit a hardware issue on one IBM Power Server. Fixing that single machine was easy, but figuring out if the same issue was quietly lurking on other servers? That was the real challenge. Join us for a real-world case study on how we used Ansible and AI in creative ways to find and fix hidden problems before they caused major headaches. We’ll share what we learned, how AI helped us work smarter, and how you can apply these lessons to your own environment.

Learning Objectives:

`- How a simple hardware failure led to a bigger discovery. - How Ansible can be used for more than just automation. - Tips for leveraging AI in solving problems. - Ways to spot hidden issues before they become big problems. - Practical tips to make your infrastructure more reliable.
Speakers
avatar for Steven Wolk

Steven Wolk

CTO, PC Richard & Son
Steven Wolk is the CTO for PC Richard & Son. Founded in 1909, PC Richard is a family owned and operated chain of over 65 appliance, electronics, and mattress superstores located throughout NY, NJ, CT, and PA. Steve's deep background in retail began on the sales floor while in college... Read More →
Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Studio 3-4

9:15am CDT

Visual Explain - IBM's SQL Performance Show-&-Tell
Wednesday April 29, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
For many years now IBM have positioned SQL as the primary interface to the database on IBM i. At the same time, new capabilities are being added only to SQL, not to the native database interface. We need a different tool to understand and analyze query implementation plans and feedback from the optimizer – the SQL component that determines the most effective way to deliver the data we ask for in SQL statements. Visual Explain is just such a tool, and it both shows us graphically what plan the optimizer has chosen, as well as tells us details about each step along the way. It can also give us suggestions on ways to improve performance of our queries. With IBM i 7.6, IBM continue to enhance our ability to manage the database effectively.

Learning Objectives:

1. A brief description of optimization with SQL 2. The several ways of invoking Visual Explain 3. The various panes of the Visual Explain window 4. Some features of Visual Explain for managing how it behaves 5. Examples of improved performance after using suggested changes
Speakers
avatar for Vern Hamberg

Vern Hamberg

Senior iSeries Developer, OneMain Financial
Vern has worked on IBM midrange systems for over 35 years, beginning with the System/38 and AS/400. At present he is a Senior iSeries Developer at OneMain Financial. He serves on the Strategic Education Team (SET) of COMMON and is one of the SMEs for Db2. He is also honored to have... Read More →
Wednesday April 29, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Studio 3-4

10:45am CDT

The POWER OF READY – Real Disasters, Real Recovery, Lessons Learned
Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT
Businesses today demand up-time, and reliability to move product and deliver services. Can your IBM i survive a sudden, unplanned event? Learn from multiple Data Center, Cloud, and regional disasters, to know if your DR Solution works in an actual Disaster. People, Technology and Geography are common critical points of failure. Let's keep our mistakes Original!

Learning Objectives:

1. Recognize common points of failure across people, technology, and geography during real disasters. 2. Learn how to design and execute a DR plan that performs under real-world conditions. 3. Build organizational resilience through effective planning, communication, and testing.
Speakers
avatar for Richard Dolewski

Richard Dolewski

VP, Hybrid Enterprise Solutions, Lightedge
Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT
Studio 3-4

3:45pm CDT

A Live Demo of Navigator for i
Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:45pm - 4:45pm CDT
IBM Navigator for i continues to evolve with ongoing enhancements and new features. Whether you're a long-time user or just getting started, this session offers a live demo of the latest capabilities Navigator for i has to offer. Discover how these updates can improve your system management experience and streamline daily operations.

Learning Objectives:

`- Explore the newest features and improvements in IBM Navigator for i - Learn how to apply these enhancements to optimize system administration tasks
Speakers
avatar for Ann Wilkerson

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

5:00pm CDT

How can I recognize a good AI analysis / transformation tool, determine whether it is suitable for my situation, and what should I pay attention to?
Wednesday April 29, 2026 5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
More and more companies get into trouble with their old applications and this is not only on IBM i. The reasons are different but at the end they all have the same challenges: They need to get out of that. One way of doing that is using Tools to analyze the old stuff. That is something we all do for decades now but the tools changes or continue to evolve. Right now there are many "Tools" out there and they all claim to use AI and many of them are based purely on AI. All of them promise you, that they will solve all your problems. My team and I have spent a lot of time and energy over the last two years looking at many of these tools (and those that claim to be such) and have done a lot of experimenting and developing in this area ourselves. Many of these tools deliver very questionable results, which sometimes fit perfectly and sometimes don't fit at all. However, our customers and we need to be able to trust the results of such a tool. Is it true or false? Not sometimes yes and sometimes no... In addition, many of these tools incur enormous additional costs, especially if they rely on cloud-based AI models, where you can never be sure what will happen to your company data. I can show you a working solution that is used in production for many months and can use pure local AI Models combined with "self made" development to create results we can trust.

Learning Objectives:

See why it is important to take a close look at how such tools work, understand them, and be able to compare them, as the results and costs of the various tools vary enormously. You need to be able to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of the various tools and decide which one is best suited to your situation and your company. This is not only a question of security, compliance, and valid results, but also of TCO. I will show you examples of some of the above points live so that you can see exactly what I mean. See how you can analyze your old and very old code with the help of a tool that not only uses AI, but only where it makes sense. And it works now—not sometime in the future.
Speakers
avatar for Markus Litters

Markus Litters

CEO, i and me - IT Training and Solutions GmbH
I start working with IBM POWER Servers and IBM i since I was 19 back in 1990 when it was called IBM AS/400 and from the beginning I was focused on Integrating the System with everything else (first of all DOS PC's, then Windows PC's and HP Unix and so on) and to modernize the existing... Read More →
Wednesday April 29, 2026 5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
Studio 3-4
 

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