COMMON POWERUp 2026

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

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

Every few months the IBM i development team delivers new updates and features across the operating system. Keeping track and actually using these changes can be a difficult task at best. This session is the favorite new enhancements from a team of IBM i developers. You get to hear each of our favorite updates to the OS that have been delivered over the past bit. This session is new every time, often lots of fun and for sure there is something for everyone.

Learning Objectives:

Learn about the many new features of IBM i

Discover how AI agents can transform your daily system administration workflows on IBM i. This session introduces practical approaches to building agents that automate routine tasks, monitor system health, and respond to operational issues—all while leveraging the IBM i MCP server for seamless integration. You'll learn how to create both individual agents for specific tasks and orchestrated teams of agents that collaborate to solve complex administrative challenges. Through real-world examples, we'll demonstrate agents handling everything from performance monitoring and job scheduling to capacity planning and automated troubleshooting. Whether you're analyzing system logs, or optimizing Db2 for i performance, you'll leave with actionable knowledge to implement AI-powered automation in your own environment. This session is designed for system administrators who want to enhance their productivity without becoming AI experts, focusing on practical implementations using open-source tools and the official IBM i MCP server.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the architecture and capabilities of AI agents specifically designed for IBM i system administration, including how agents interact with IBM i APIs, CL commands, and Db2 for i through the MCP server interface. Implement individual AI agents for common administrative tasks such as system monitoring, job queue management, and performance analysis using practical patterns and best practices. Design multi-agent teams that collaborate to handle complex workflows, including how agents communicate, share context, and coordinate actions across different administrative domains. Evaluate appropriate use cases for AI agent automation in your environment, distinguishing between tasks best suited for agent-based solutions versus traditional scripting approaches. Deploy AI agents using the IBM i MCP server framework, including configuration, security considerations, and integration with existing system management tools and processes.

iSee is all about helping our IBM i user community learn and use SQL to solve everyday life problems. This session is no exception, Scott and Tim will show via live demo some fun new way to solve problems with SQL. This iSee session will explore some of the brand new features recently delivered via 7.6 and the past Technology Refreshes.

Learning Objectives:

Learn how to put SQL to use in solving every day problems.

The role of a system administrator spans far and wide on IBM i, and getting an understanding of what's happening on your systems can be difficult without the right tools in place. Many system management tasks can be made easier and faster with today's modern set of SQL services available on IBM i. In this presentation you will learn how to use SQL to manage your system more effectively, including topics related to PTF currency, storage (and temporary storage) consumption, high resource usage and runaway jobs, security, and much more.

Learning Objectives:

`- Learn how to use SQL to automate system management tasks, including the building of automated reports - Learn how SQL makes retrieving, filtering, and grouping data a breeze - Become familiar with existing Db2 for i educational resources to learn how to create and use your own SQL tools, and to stay up to date with existing tools

Maintaining a clean IBM i environment is essential for performance, compliance, and long-term system reliability. While traditional CL commands can handle many housekeeping tasks, SQL offers a faster, more flexible way to identify and manage unused objects, audit logs, journal receivers, and other system clutter. In this session, attendees will learn practical SQL techniques to streamline system maintenance, uncover inefficiencies, and automate cleanup tasks. Real-world examples will demonstrate how a few well-crafted queries can make a significant impact on system health, freeing up space and reducing administrative effort.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to: - Identify and remove unused or redundant objects using SQL. - Locate and safely delete detached journal receivers and old audit data. - Clean up job logs, message queues, and spool files efficiently. - Automate routine system maintenance tasks with SQL scripts for ongoing efficiency.