i-UG i-Power Conference 2026

REST APIs are everywhere, and increasingly IBM i applications need to talk to them — whether that's consuming external services or connecting with modern web platforms. In this session, I'll show you how to integrate your IBM i applications with REST APIs using open source tooling available on the platform. I'll touch on the range of options available to IBM i developers, before taking a deep dive into Scott Klement's HTTPAPI service program — a well-established and widely used open source library that makes HTTP communication from IBM i practical and approachable for RPGLE developers. I'll cover the key concepts you need to understand, walk through how HTTPAPI works in practice, and demonstrate how you can get your IBM i applications communicating with external REST APIs without leaving the platform you know.

Almost everybody working with SQL knows the GROUP BY specification for accumulating identical information. Those queries are quite often combined with aggregate functions such as SUM() or AVG(). In composition with CASE clauses it is possible to accumulate information and return the data in different columns, for example monthly or quarterly sales per customer. Pivot tables can be easily created … as long as the number of output columns is fixed. Sometimes, however, we have to accumulate information that is located in multiple rows in a single row, for example all items in an order. Unfortunately, the number of output columns (i.e. Items) may differ. However, with the LISTAGG aggregate function a string containing the different information separated by a comma (or any individual separation string) can be built. As far as good … but how to split a string with multiple information separated by a comma or any other individual separation string? No problem with the SPLIT service! … in composition with other services even *.csv files located in the IFS can be decomposed

This session is aimed at newcomers to the i-UG or first time attendees at the i-Power Conference.

Come along and meet some of the i-UG team who will explain how the conference works and answer any questions you might have about your attendace.

It will be a great opportunity to meet other newcomers to the event too.

Bring your coffee.

In this session Steve will investigate the state of the art in both AI-driven application documentation and understanding, as well as AI-driven code modernisation. He will help the audience understand how to get started and dispel many of the common myths around GenAI and explain why a more sophisticated Agentic AI approach is necessary.

Topics covered will include a review of previous generations of code modernization & transformation tools, the challenges of gen AI for code modernisation, gen AI vs. agentic AI and a demonstration of the next generation of agentic-AI code transformation using X-Modernise AI from Fresche Solutions,

This presentation highlights how IBM Power systems can be modernised using Red Hat Ansible automation, using IBM Bob. We will show how organisations can build automation playbooks for both simple and complex tasks to improve modernisation across your hybrid environments.
Attendees will gain practical insights into integrating Ansible with IBM Power to modernise, enhance efficiency, scalability, and operational reliability through the adoption of IBM Bob.
 

Your Server, Your AI: Agentic Workloads on IBM Power With or Without Spyre
IBM Power can run agentic AI workloads without dedicated GPU infrastructure — and the Spyre Accelerator makes them faster when you need it. This session looks at both approaches: running AI agents directly on Power using CPU-based inference and then adding in Spyre acceleration.
Note: We have Spyre running in our dev environment on a beautiful Power 1122 server, ready for real-life test and dev of customer use-cases.
We'll touch on governance, data security and integrity; plus describe how to start small and build up your AI journey safely and efficiently with your IBM Power workload.
We'd LOVE THIS TO BE AN INTERACTIVE SESSION session so bring your thoughts and questions and we'll bring the answers and advice!!

In this session, I'll share my real-world experience using an AI code assistant as part of my development workflow when building open source applications. As an IBM i developer who also works with Node.js and other open source languages and frameworks, I'll walk through three different IBM i related open source projects where I've put AI assistance to work — giving you a broad view of how it performs across different contexts and challenges. This isn't a theoretical look at AI in development; it's an honest account of what has worked well in practice, where the tools genuinely add value, and what you need to keep in mind when bringing AI into your own workflow. Whether you're curious about AI assistants or already experimenting with them, this session will give you a grounded, practical perspective from someone actively using them day to day.
My code assistant of choice is Claude but it's less about the code assistant and more about the opportunity code assistants have provided.

This presentation explores the accelerating impact of generative AI on data centres and the profound implications for energy consumption, infrastructure design, sustainability, and policy. As Gen AI drives unprecedented growth in compute density, power demand, and cooling requirements, data centres are becoming increasingly constrained by grid capacity, environmental limits, and public scrutiny. The session examines the full AI lifecycle—model training, tuning, and inference—and how each stage reshapes power, cooling, networking, and physical design assumptions within modern facilities.
Drawing on global industry data and real-world examples, the presentation highlights the widening gap between traditional enterprise workloads and AI-driven infrastructure, including the shift toward hyperscale facilities, ultra-high-density cabinets, and non-air-based cooling technologies. It challenges conventional efficiency metrics and net-zero claims, arguing that offsets and accounting mechanisms cannot keep pace with absolute growth in energy demand.
Using a political, economic, social, and technological (PEST) lens, the talk considers regulatory pressure, public perception, skills shortages, and the societal consequences of AI-driven automation. It evaluates future options for powering data centres—ranging from grid expansion and renewables to nuclear and on-site generation—and discusses the growing importance of heat reuse and energy system integration.
The presentation concludes by positioning generative AI as both a disruptive force and a catalyst for innovation in data centre design, operations, and workforce development, emphasising the need for more transparent measurement, integrated planning, and long-term thinking across IT, facilities, industry, and government.

Discover a modern, open observability solution for IBM i that combines Prometheus for metrics collection, Manzan for event monitoring, Grafana for visualization and alerting, and Grafana Loki for log aggregation and analysis. This session shows how to gain deeper visibility into system health, performance, messages, and logs through a flexible, scalable platform that integrates IBM i into today’s enterprise monitoring and operations landscape.

Be prepared to hear Scott Forstie and Carol Woodbury shake up the world of IBM i Security, mixing up new SQL features that allow you to completely do away with the old way you've been investigating and managing your IBM i Security environment. They will also shake up your mind with thoughts of finding vulnerabilities in your code and debate various methods of resolving the issues. Come prepared to have your IBM i Security world a bit shaken, not stirred.

Join us for an insightful and engaging evening with The National Museum of Computing.
Museum Director Jacqui Garrard will kick things off with an overview of the museum’s journey one year on, reflecting on recent milestones and sharing an exclusive look at exciting ideas for the future.
But it’s not all business! Of course, Jacqui and Operations Manager Nikki will also be bringing plenty of fun and entertainment to the evening, ensuring it’s as lively and enjoyable as it is informative.

Technical expertise alone is not enough to deliver successful outcomes. Misunderstood requirements, unspoken assumptions, and stakeholders not effectively engaged, can lead to scope creep, misaligned expectations, and delivery challenges.  Clear, concise, and purposeful communication with stakeholders is frequently the factor that determines whether a project succeeds or falls short. This talk explores how technical professionals can treat stakeholder communication as a core skill. We’ll cover practical techniques to improve clarity, uncover hidden assumptions, and maintain momentum. Helping you cut through noise, align priorities, and ensure that conversations lead to meaningful progress rather than delay. Less theory, more practical techniques you can use immediately.

RPG has evolved — fast. This session shows you the modern language updates and techniques that make today’s IBM i development cleaner, sharper and dramatically easier to maintain. From fully free‑format coding to embedded SQL and contemporary modular patterns, you’ll see what “modern RPG” really looks like in 2026.
We’ll also go beyond the language itself and show how to combine RPG with ILE to get maximum return from the platform. By structuring applications with service programs, activation groups and modular design, you’ll learn how to build faster, more reliable and more maintainable solutions that deliver real business value. If you want to sharpen your skills, modernise your applications and help your organisation get more from IBM i, this session gives you the clarity and confidence to move forward.

If you have the option to go for a standard package or an advanced package at the same time costs, you will most likely go for the advanced.  And yet, the adoption rate of the Advanced Job Scheduler (AJS) does not reflect this for the obvious reason, a lack of time.

In this session you will learn how to migrate from the Standard Job Scheduler to the Advanced Job Scheduler. As you will see this can be done in a Jiffy. So this leaves plenty of time to learn more about all the advantages AJS has to offer. Even IBM allows to make the move with the Electronic Service Agent to AJS. Curious? I do hope so, because AJS deserves a bigger audience.

Katherina will explain in detail how does MFA on IBM i 7.6 work.  Including all the prerequisites you need to be aware of.

She will guide you step-by-step through the configuration for a normal IBM i use and also how to implement MFA in DST/SST.

Finally, she will discuss what are the options to integrate the function with external software.

You need to implement a ransomware prevention strategy to protect your IBM i. While prevention is the first and potentially most effective step, what happens if you do get compromised? What if you could restore back to a point before the ransomware attack occurred?
Join us to learn more about how a Prevent-Detect-Recover strategy can be a powerful solution by using a combination of storage and replication technologies to effectively recover in the event of a malware attack.

Another IBM i site lost to WINTEL competition...  or maybe not

Hear how a company CTO, keen to get off the IBM i platform was persuaded that he had better alternatives with less risk if he stuck with the IBM i. This was a customer where everyone “hated” the IBM i and felt they had to change to a Windows solution, but we had an ace no one had realised.

From Legacy to API-First: The Next Chapter
Following on from last year's Modernisation Case Study, this session continues the journey at Draper Tools. The data access layer and decoupled RPG service programs we built as our first step haven't been thrown away — they've become the foundation we're now building directly on top of, extending outward to HTTP/JSON API endpoints for use with a modern web front end. That initial code investment is already paying forward.

We'll walk through our vision for a common business API library that sits between our IBM i database and a JavaScript framework front end, delivering tailored system access to each business persona — from Customer Services through to our Category Managers — showing only the data and functions relevant to their role.

We'll also cover our agile delivery approach, targeting one persona at a time rather than a big-bang release, so the business sees tangible working functionality at the end of every sprint. And we'll share our early, honest experiences of experimenting with AI coding assistance tools — including Claude Code and IBM's Bob — where we are very much learners rather than experts, but already seeing real promise.

If you're taking your first steps on the IBM i modernisation path, this session aims to show that the groundwork you lay today will keep on giving — and give you a glimpse of where that path can lead next.

Visual Studio Code is everywhere — but so is its telemetry. For IBM i developers who want the power of the VS Code ecosystem without the data collection, VS Codium offers a clean, open‑source alternative that keeps your workflow fast, modern and private. This session cuts through the confusion and shows exactly what you gain (and what you don’t lose) by making the switch.

In this session we talk about an ongoing Open Source IBM i project to fully automate the creation and renewal of TLS (or SSL) certificates from Let’s Encrypt. At the moment there are a couple things that can only be done manually, but only once.
TLS is important for applications. It encrypts the traffic between the user and the IBM i so that it cannot be read by hackers. Most applications that use web pages need TLS, as modern browsers are insisting on the use of HTTPS which needs TLS certificates. More recently they have blocked the advanced, “I want to ignore the lack of security” too. The lifetime of TLS certificates, for major browsers, are becoming shorter to ensure better security. Currently it is 200 days. This is changing to 100 days on the 15th March 2027 and 47 days on 15th March 2029 by major browsers.
Let's Encrypt use 90 days, changing to 64 days 10 February 2027 and 45 days 16th February 2028. Hence the requirement for automation. In addition Let's Encrypt will allow 45 days from 13 May 2026 for testing purposes.