• 2025 IBM i Predictions, Part Three

  January 27, 2025 Alex Woodie

  What will happen this year in the little neck of the IT wood that we call the IBM i community? It’s hard to say for sure, but one thing is certain: It sure a lot of fun guessing what might happen or what could happen! And who knows? Some of these predictions may actually come true.

  After 20 years with IBM i software vendor PKS Software, Heidi Schmidt has seen a thing or two in the midrange. There have been many ups and downs over the years, and a wide array of names. But Schmidt is bullish that the …

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• Talking Power Systems And IBM i With Bargav Balakrishnan

  January 20, 2025 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In last week’s issue of The Four Hundred, we told you about how the Power Systems division had a new vice president of product management – to be specific, Bargav Balakrishnan, who has spent decades in various technical and management roles within Big Blue. Balakrishnan takes over from Steve Sibley, who has been steering Power Systems hardware development since July 2007 and who was the longest serving executive in that role since the launch of the AS/400 back in 1988.

  This week, we had a chat with Balakrishnan about the Power Systems business and the IBM i platform, and …

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• Beta For RPG Coding Assistant On Track for 2Q25

  January 20, 2025 Alex Woodie

  IBM is ramping up development of the AI-based RPG Code Assist and expects to have a working prototype ready for testing by the end of the first quarter, IBM i chief technology officer Steve Will said in a webinar last month. The goal is to have a beta ready for during the second quarter and general availability hopefully in the second half of the year, he added.

  Large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s GPT and Google’s Gemini have taken the world by storm, and companies are investing tens of billions of dollars in the nascent tech to gain …

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• Innovate To Deliver Your 2025 Vision

  December 4, 2024 Richard Dolewski

  IT innovation refers to the process of introducing continuous improvement by leveraging technology, services, and solutions to empower IT service delivery. Innovation involves strategically implementing holistic solutions to enhance current and future efficiency across the organization. With fast-paced technological advances (AI, Cloud, Security, Resiliency) disrupting all industries, these future outcome-based technologies create hesitation and pause to what’s achievable, required now, and relevant to your company’s strategic plans.

  Innovation must bring changes to the core delivery of IT-related services that drive increased efficiency thus making IT services delivery less costly, less time-consuming to implement, automated to improve services levels, and further …

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• Thoroughly Modern: AI Success for IBM i Organizations – Small Beginnings, Big Benefits

  December 2, 2024 John Clark

  AI is transforming how businesses operate, but for many IBM i users, the path forward feels unclear. Questions pile up: Where does one begin? How do you choose a project that delivers real results? What if AI causes more disruption than benefit?

  The challenge is real: large-scale AI projects demand significant time, resources, and expertise. There is new terminology, new skills, and a blizzard of possible tools. For most organizations, this feels out of reach. But the solution lies in starting small.

  Small AI projects solve specific problems, provide value, and build confidence without overhauls or unreasonable risk. Learn how …

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• Thoroughly Modern: The Business Case For Success And ROI With Enterprise AI On IBM i

  November 4, 2024 Monica Sanchez

  AI is the new frontier for all organizations, and those running IBM i are no exception – but how will you move AI from buzzword to business case to stand up to the boardroom test?

  To gain executive buy-in, a business case for AI must go beyond ideas. Executives need proof that AI will deliver business value and that the strategy includes a clear roadmap for AI adoption, scalability, and risk management.

  With the right approach, AI can enhance IBM i’s capabilities, from cost savings to new revenue streams. A strong business case – rooted in solid ROI, strategic …

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• The Many Faces Of IT Modernization

  October 7, 2024 Alex Woodie

  The clarion call of modernization has been heard loud and clear among IBM i and System z shops for decades. Old IT is hampering your competitiveness, they’re told, and something must be done about it. In reality, there’s no single path to modernization, which is a multi-faceted phenomenon that can have wide ranging impacts on the business, Rocket Software says in a new report.

  Business transformation is separate from IT transformation, but the two are linked, according to Rocket Software’s new study, titled IT Modernization Without Disruption, which is based on a survey of 309 decision-maker at System …

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• GenAI Is Now Creating Malware Delivery Vehicles

  September 25, 2024 Alex Woodie

  As if the threat posed by human bad actors wasn’t enough to admins up at night, security professionals are now tasked with preparing defenses for AI actors, including malware created by generative AI. That’s the takeaway from a new report published this month by HP that documents GenAI-generated malware. IBM i security professionals should take note.

  The September 2024 edition of the HP Wolf Security Threat Insights Report brought some concerning news around GenAI. While the HP Wolf Security team had seen convincing phishing lures created by GenAI, it hadn’t seen any actual malicious code written by GenAI before.

  But …

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• GenAI Interest ‘Exploding’ for Modernization on IBM i and Z, Kyndryl Says

  September 18, 2024 Alex Woodie

  There’s been an explosion of interest in using generative AI on IBM i and System Z servers, according to Kyndryl’s latest report on mainframe modernization. Hybrid IT, security, the skills gap, and observability round out the top five trends impacting the IBM midrange and mainframe platforms.

  Last year, Kyndryl contracted with Coleman Parkes Research to survey about 500 senior IT leaders at IBM i and System Z mainframe shops around the world. That effort turned into the 2023 State of Mainframe Modernization Survey Report, which we covered here.

  Many of the same modernization trends that the former IBM Global …

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• Untangling Legacy Spaghetti Code To Cook Up Microservices

  August 12, 2024 Michel Mouchon

  At this point in the history of programming, everyone pretty much knows what microservices are and everybody is more than acquainted with the legacy code – and often monolithic code – that has been created over decades by countless programmers who have evolved corporate applications to fit new conditions and new demands.

  It is often called spaghetti code, and for good reason. The code is often a tangled mess of business logic and data – presumably the data is the meatballs and the user interface is the sauce in this metaphor. (It is important to not take a metaphor too …

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