COMMON POWERUp 2026 has ended

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COMMON POWERUp 2026

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!

10:00am CDT

IBM i Security Basics

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 12:15pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

This is an "IBM i Security 101" double-session. We will cover IBM i security topics from the basics (user profiles, system values, and object authority) through more advanced topics (adopted authority, authority checking, IFS considerations, audit journaling, and a multi-layer defensive posture). We'll cover some of these topics from the traditional "greenscreen" as well as Navigator for i. This session is intended to "scratch the surface" on a wide range of IBM i security concepts.

Learning Objectives:

"Learn and understand how security is implemented in the IBM i platform: 1. User/group profiles 2. System values 3. Object-level authority "

Speakers

Steve Riedmueller

Director of Security Services, Kisco

Monday April 27, 2026 10:00am - 12:15pm CDT
Balcony K

Security, Security, Systems Management

Track Student

3:15pm CDT

The basics of moving from fixed format RPG to complete free form RPG.

Monday April 27, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

Fixed format is still a heavily used code base and many developers need to be able to at least read it. But, what if you were able to read it and translate that into complete free form RPG? we will look at how to read fixed form RPG and give you the skills to actually translate into a more modern RPG.

Learning Objectives:

Understanding the difference between the syntax between complete free form and fixed form RPG. We will look at file declarations, variables, the use of constants and include files, data structures and meaningful names.

Speakers

Marina Schwenk

Senior Programmer/Analyst IBM i Admin, Innovative Software Solutions

Monday April 27, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT
Balcony K

RPG

4:30pm CDT

Why is my disk filling?

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

The threat of DASD filling is real and can bring a system down. Learn common threats to good disk management and and how to respond.

Learning Objectives:

What happens when DASD runs out What can you do when this happens What to do after the immediate threat is gone

Speakers

Jeff Carey

Midrange Engineer III - IBM i, Lightedge

Jeff Carey is an IBM i professional with over 30 years of experience on the platform, specializing in system administration. He currently is a Midrange Engineer for Lightedge, a company providing managed services for IBM i, VMware, Nutanix, AIX, AWS and Azure. He is on the Board of... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT
Balcony K

Systems Management, Systems Management

5:05pm CDT

When Job Tables Attack!

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

There are very few issues that can threaten the stability of an IBM i LPAR, but one of them is filling of the system job tables. Circumstances can make this happen quickly even though you may not see it very often if at all! Even if you have seen the dreaded job table message, it may have been so long ago you don't recall what to do. Time may be of the essence when taking corrective action, so knowing what is happening and how to fix it can be critical. Protect your system and be able to thwart this threat before it becomes truly dangerous.

Learning Objectives:

Learn the tell tale messages that indicate impending job table doom. Learn what job tales are and why they can fill. Learn how to act fast to stop the danger.

Speakers

Jeff Carey

Midrange Engineer III - IBM i, Lightedge

Jeff Carey is an IBM i professional with over 30 years of experience on the platform, specializing in system administration. He currently is a Midrange Engineer for Lightedge, a company providing managed services for IBM i, VMware, Nutanix, AIX, AWS and Azure. He is on the Board of... Read More →

Monday April 27, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT
Balcony K

Systems Management, Systems Management

8:00am CDT

AI Throughout Your Day!

Tuesday April 28, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT

Evaluation Survey

Tired of all the hype surrounding AI? Would you like to be more productive using AI - today – but you’re not sure where to start? Or maybe you’ve scratched the surface with AI, but want to learn more? Either way, this is the session for you! Here we skip the theory and dive straight into real-world applications that boost productivity and streamline daily tasks using AI based tools. Join us for this session and leave with tangible skills to supercharge your productivity, while producing better results, with less effort!

Learning Objectives:

Join this session to learn to: - Understand the art of prompt engineering - Generate professional emails, reports, and letters in a fraction of the time - Dive into data analysis without the headache - Help you write code better and faster - Unlock your creative side to make art you’ll be proud of - even if you can't draw a straight line! - Use AI throughout your day for personal and fun tasks as well as at work - Get the most out of the many diverse AI tools available today for maximum productivity - Whether you’re new to AI or just looking for practical ideas, you’ll leave with real examples and skills you can start using immediately for both professional and personal tasks. Join us to learn how to put AI to use for you today!

Speakers

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 →

Tuesday April 28, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Balcony K

Developing Business Skills, Artificial Intelligence (AI)

9:15am CDT

DEVELOPMENT LIFECYCLES AND HOW TO TEST THEM

Tuesday April 28, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT

Evaluation Survey

As businesses modernize there are multiple types of software requiring support. We will discuss the types of software lifecycles all needing different testing. Specifically covered are the development types V-model, Waterfall model, and Iterative model. From there we will talk about component, integration, system, and acceptance testing and where and how to use each.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the various software development lifecycles. Understand test types. Design and implement structured test levels

Speakers

Yvonne Enselman

Owner, Yvonne Enselman Professional Services

Tuesday April 28, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Balcony K

Program Testing, IT Strategy

10:45am CDT

How to Think Like a Tester

Tuesday April 28, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT

Evaluation Survey

Unit testing is one of the most valuable skills developers can have but, not all developers can unit test properly. Its a learned skill and a paradigm shift. This session will go over Unit testing, development practices and thought processes in relation to unit testing and finally how to break apart your code and unit test it!

Learning Objectives:

Develop the paradigm shift that will allow you to start thinking like a tester Understand what Unit testing is How you can start unit testing today.

Speakers

Marina Schwenk

Senior Programmer/Analyst IBM i Admin, Innovative Software Solutions

Tuesday April 28, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT
Balcony K

Program Testing, Programming: RPG

3:15pm CDT

Client Server Communications in a Modern Secure World

Tuesday April 28, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

Host Servers are the servers you likely use, but don’t notice. They offer functionality that ranges from remotely running commands to managing data queues. Attend this presentation to learn about these important servers on your IBM i and how your application and workflows are likely utilizing them. Included in the presentation is the newest host server that enables Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for remote services and how to configure the host servers using the new Configure Host Server (CFGHOSTSVR) command.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand what the host servers are and what each one does. • Understand what the host connection server does and how it enables MFA. • Understand what the CFGHOSTSVR command does and how it works. • See how the host servers work from applications like Access Client Solutions (ACS) and others.

Speakers

Wayne Bowers

IBM i Global Support, IBM

Wayne Bowers has been with IBM since 1997, where he works with the IBM i Global Support Center in Rochester MN. He is an Advisory Software Engineer specializing in the support of the IBM i Access (aka Client Access) products, Console, the TCP Telnet communications server, and the... Read More →

Justin Nelson

Advisory Software Engineer, IBM

Justin Nelson is a software developer within IBM i development. He has worked on the IBM i since joining IBM in 2015. He is a member of the integrated file system & servers (IFS) team and specializes in the Network Client File System (QNTC), host servers, and Network Authentication... Read More →

Tuesday April 28, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT
Balcony K

Client Connectivity

4:30pm CDT

How to Write Code That Doesn't Suck

Tuesday April 28, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

Great code doesn't just "work" - it survives change, catches mistakes early, and makes your future self say "thank you" instead of "who wrote this mess?". This session will dig into the habits that separate quick hacks from quality software. You'll learn why testing matters, how Test-Driven Development (TDD) can guide better design, and how to put it into practice with RPGUnit for the IBM i. Expect practical demos, a few war stories, and clear takeaways for building code that's clean, reliable, and - most importantly - doesn't suck.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand Test Driven Development 2. Look at RPGUnit 3. Investigate tools built into VS Code for IBM i that can help

Speakers

Patrick Behr

Senior Consultant & Instructor, Seiden Group & imPower Technologies

Tuesday April 28, 2026 4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT
Balcony K

RPG

5:05pm CDT

SQL - Final/Old/New Table Statement

Tuesday April 28, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

Have you ever wanted the ability to see which records were affected by an Insert, Update, or Delete statement? Data Change Table References (FINAL/OLD/NEW Table) statements were created for this exact purpose. Join me in this session to learn how to use these statements.Learning Objectives:

Learn how and when to use an SQL FINAL/OLD/NEW Table statement

Speakers

Mike Zaringhalam

Developer, PC Richard & Son

Have you ever wanted to meet someone who started Hawaiian Shirt Fridays at their work place?
If the answer is 'Yes!', then feel free to reach out with any questions you have regarding Hawaiian shirts... Or IBM i related topics.
My main focuses are RDi, DB2, Modernization, and D... Read More →

Tuesday April 28, 2026 5:05pm - 5:25pm CDT
Balcony K

Database

8:00am CDT

Managing the startup and shutdown of IBM i

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 10:15am CDT

Evaluation Survey

In days gone by the IBM supplied program QSTRUP combined with a couple options on CHGIPLA was good enough for most IBM i shops. It started what seemed to be needed and anything else we stumbled through after each IPL. When it was time to shut down a PWRDWNSYS or ENDSBS command took down whatever was running. We were happy. Today though we often see dozens of subsytems running many web servers, other needed batch jobs and services. We see monitors and queue processing jobs and many writers. For security purposes we should be starting only the TCP servers that we need, not all of them. Likely we should not start IPV6 and start things in sequence as well. Further considerations may be needed in an HA environment. These include not starting jobs until iASPS are available and starting different IP interfaces and services depending on production or backup mode of the server. We may want to handle special startup modes while doing PTFs, backups or other system maintenance. In this session we will work with customizing that startup. We'll discuss staring PASE jobs with QSH, web server jobs and more. Finally we will also work with sequencing the shutdown of the system. As part of this we'll discuss some simple ways to know what needs to be shut down and smoothly handling that.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn how to control which startup program will run on your IBM i. 2. Examine the various servers to start and how to control them. 3. Learn options for starting different services. 4. Consider ways to control the startup of your server in different operating modes. 5. Understanding an orderly shutdown of your IBM i server.

Speakers

Larry Bolhuis

Principal IBM Power Systems Architect, Service Express

Larry has grown up with computers since his father became a CE in 1967. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Calvin College in 1982.After 2 years working with early PCs and servers her began working on IBM midrange equipment with the S/34 and S/36 He moved to AS/400 at its introduction In 1988. Early in his career he was a developer, then migrated to networking, system design, upgrades and general systems... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 10:15am CDT
Balcony K

Systems Management, High Availability Resilience, Networking, Security, Systems Management, Virtualization

10:45am CDT

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Virtual IBM i Partitions Hosted by IBM i

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

Evaluation Survey

BM I can host an IBM I Logical Partitions (LPAR) to provide virtual disk storage for other IBM I partitions. We will discuss when VIOS or IBM i hosing IBM i makes the most sense. This is a step-by-step process for creating hosted virtual partitions. Learn the requirements, the prerequisites, and all the steps needed to make this once you are back in the office. This will be great for creating a virtual partition to test your 7.6 upgrades or for any other partition needs.

Learning Objectives:

1) Differences between VIOS and IBM i hosting IBM i. 2) Understand the relationship between all the components of a virtual LPAR. 3) How to create virtual storage. 4) How to use this knowledge back at your shop to build your own.

Speakers

Pete Massiello

IBM i Advisor, Massiello Holding Corp.

Pete Massiello has been working with the AS/400, iSeries, IBM i since 1989, focusing on systems management and technical support. He has held numerous technical positions through out his career. He is the President of iTech Solutions Group, an IBM Premier Business Partner delivering... Read More →

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

Virtualization, Systems Management, Virtualization

3:45pm CDT

Daily Care and Feeding of IBM i.

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

Evaluation Survey

IBM i and IBM Power Servers combine to deliver a fabulously reliable environment. The operating system has rich work management capability and strong error reporting. Despite that you shouldn't ignore it or you will eventually find yourself dealing with something serious. In this session we'll cover the things you need to watch and understand allowing you to deal with them before they become serious issues.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn where to look and what to look for to know how your system is running. 2. Learn what to configure for automatic reporting of errors and problem. 3. Learn the points at which you need to begin to apply effort well before issues occur. 4. Be able to tell management: "Yes our IBM i is running well!"

Speakers

Larry Bolhuis

Principal IBM Power Systems Architect, Service Express

Larry has grown up with computers since his father became a CE in 1967. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Calvin College in 1982.After 2 years working with early PCs and servers her began working on IBM midrange equipment with the S/34 and S/36 He moved to AS/400 at its introduction In 1988. Early in his career he was a developer, then migrated to networking, system design, upgrades and general systems... Read More →

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

Systems Management, Systems Management

5:00pm CDT

HMC, IBM i, FSP, BMC, and Firmware: Putting all the pieces together.

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

Evaluation Survey

Join us for a session where we will explore the new components and concepts related to partitioning IBM Power Systems. You will learn how these components are interconnected, how to set them up, and how to manage and upgrade them. We will cover components such as the Hardware Management Console (HMC), the Flexible Service Processor (FSP) or eBMC depending on your processor generation, and the Advanced Systems Management Interface (ASMI). Additionally, we'll discuss firmware in your machine and how to perform necessary updates in both LPAR environment and standalone machines. You'll also receive tips on upgrading and establishing communication between the HMC and FSP/eBMC, as well as insights into the role of ASMI. By the end of the session, you will have current knowledge about these crucial hardware features of IBM Power Systems & IBM i.

Learning Objectives:

1) Understand how to upgrade and update your HMC. 2) Understand how to upgrade your FSP or eBMC. 3) Learn how everything connects and interacts.

Speakers

Pete Massiello

IBM i Advisor, Massiello Holding Corp.

Pete Massiello has been working with the AS/400, iSeries, IBM i since 1989, focusing on systems management and technical support. He has held numerous technical positions through out his career. He is the President of iTech Solutions Group, an IBM Premier Business Partner delivering... Read More →

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

Systems Management, Systems Management

8:00am CDT

Case Study: Improving performance in RPG programs with SQL

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT

Evaluation Survey

SQL has become an essential tool for modern RPG development, but knowing how to apply it effectively can be a game-changer. In this session, drawn directly from real-world experience, I’ll walk you through how I introduced SQL into my RPG applications, from the thought process behind the changes, to the incremental steps, and finally the results that transformed performance and maintainability. Along the way, you’ll see working examples and take home simple code you can use immediately to compare, test, and fine-tune your own embedded SQL.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the practical steps for introducing SQL into RPG applications. Learn how incremental changes can simplify the adoption of SQL in existing codebases. Discover the performance and maintainability benefits of SQL-driven RPG. Gain access to sample code you can use to experiment with and optimize your own embedded SQL.

Speakers

Gregory Simmons

Software Engineer, PC Richard & Son

Gregory Simmons is a Software Engineer at P.C. Richard & Son. He is a COMMON certified Application Developer – ILE RPG on IBM I on Power. He is also a registered instructor with IBM’s Academic Initiative and an RPG and IBM i instructor at Scott Regional Technology Center, where... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am CDT
Balcony K

RPG, Database, Programming: RPG

9:15am CDT

VS Code and Code4i - The one stop shop for developers

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT

Evaluation Survey

Visual Studio Code has quickly become one of the most popular development environments, and with the Code4i extension it’s a powerful option for IBM i developers. In this session, I’ll show you why VS Code is my tool of choice and how Code4i, along with a handful of other must-have extensions, can transform your development workflow. Most of these tools are free, and my entire setup runs for about $20 a month. If the stars align, I’ll also do a live demo of my environment so you can see firsthand how these tools fit together into a cost-effective, productivity-boosting toolkit.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the key features of Visual Studio Code that make it a strong option for IBM i development. Explore the capabilities of the Code4i extension and how it integrates with VS Code. Identify additional extensions that enhance productivity and streamline development. Learn how to build a highly effective development environment at little to no cost.

Speakers

Gregory Simmons

Software Engineer, PC Richard & Son

Gregory Simmons is a Software Engineer at P.C. Richard & Son. He is a COMMON certified Application Developer – ILE RPG on IBM I on Power. He is also a registered instructor with IBM’s Academic Initiative and an RPG and IBM i instructor at Scott Regional Technology Center, where... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am CDT
Balcony K

Programmer Tools, Programmer Tools, Programming: RPG

10:45am CDT

The IBM Power Clean Room

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT

Evaluation Survey

This session describes how to design and configure a 'Clean Room' Lpar for an IBM Power systems environment. This introduces users to the theory and considerations required to implement an 'IBM Power Cyber Vault' solution. It empowers users with the knowledge of the IBM FlashSystem storage and IBM Power operational resilience features that can be used to create a safe place to validate and recover safeguarded copy backups and prepare for recovery in case of a Cyber event or data corruption. I will explain the Power VM technology that makes a 'Clean Room' Lpar easy and lightweight to create and manage whilst still ensuring a logical air-gap from production data. I will also encourage a discussion around the benefits of planning Cyber resilience and recovery procedures and provide a high level of the IBM and ISV 'Power Cyber Vault' offerings.

Learning Objectives:

How to use Power VM virtualization techniques to create a 'Clean Room' Lpar. How to plan for and configure IBM Safeguarded Copy for IBM Flash System and DS storage. How to take an immutable backup and validate or recovery data into the Clean Room Lpar.

Speakers

Ed Yeates

Professional Services Manager, Celerity

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:45am - 11:45am CDT
Balcony K

Systems Management, Security, Storage Technologies, Systems Management, Technologies Integrated with IBM i, Virtualization

1:00pm CDT

SQL for the RPG Programmer “How To”: Working with SQL Services

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

SQL is THE recommended interface from applications into your data. This session focuses on how using SQL services extends what you can do in these application. This session Includes services added with IBM i 7.6.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn what SQL services are and where to get more information 2. Focus on SQL services that are most useful for developers

Speakers

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 →

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT
Balcony K

General Programming, Database

3:00pm CDT

RPG and the IFS

Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

How to get started using the Integrated File System from your RPG programs. The IFS is typically used for reading and writing "PC-style" (stream) files on the IBM i, and is an important tool for integrating with open source software, other platforms and and business partners. In today's world, it is indispensible.

Learning Objectives:

1. How to open stream files in your RPG program 2. How to read/write data to stream files with and without CCSID translation 3. How to process directory entries

Speakers

Scott Klement

Managing Partner, ORC LLC

Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm CDT
Balcony K

RPG, Integrated File System (IFS), Programming: RPG, Technologies Integrated with IBM i

4:15pm CDT

I never thought of THAT, so I DO Need HA!

Thursday April 30, 2026 4:15pm - 5:15pm CDT

Evaluation Survey

There are MANY things that you did NOT plan for that would cause you to need an HA, or at LEAST a DR system. Virtually every one of these are items from my personal customers, not made up or 'read it on the internet!' You will be surprised and potentially even shocked by some of these occurrences.. Despite your security policies, the quality of your building, reliability of power and cooling, you cannot think of everything.

Learning Objectives:

You will realize that you cannot prevent every disaster, so you MUST have (at least!) a "Plan B!"

Speakers

Larry Bolhuis

Principal IBM Power Systems Architect, Service Express

Larry has grown up with computers since his father became a CE in 1967. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Calvin College in 1982.After 2 years working with early PCs and servers her began working on IBM midrange equipment with the S/34 and S/36 He moved to AS/400 at its introduction In 1988. Early in his career he was a developer, then migrated to networking, system design, upgrades and general systems... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 4:15pm - 5:15pm CDT
Balcony K

High Availability Resilience, High Availability Resilience, Systems Management