• Thinking About Moving IBM i To The Cloud? Don’t Start With The Quote

  August 31, 2026 Josh Patterson

  We get asked a deceptively simple question all the time: “What would it cost to move our IBM i environment to the cloud?”

  It sounds like a pricing question. Usually, it isn’t. Before we start talking about cores, memory, storage, or monthly costs, there’s a much more important question to answer: Why are you considering cloud in the first place?

  Maybe your Power server is approaching a refresh. Maybe your data center contract is ending. Maybe an experienced IBM i administrator is retiring. Maybe your disaster recovery strategy no longer meets the business’s needs. Or perhaps your organization has adopted …

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• Q&A With IBM’s New GM Of Power, Hillery Hunter

  May 11, 2026 Alex Woodie

  IBM’s new general manager of Power, Hillery Hunter, made a solid first impression on the IBM i community during her attendance at the POWERUp conference in New Orleans two weeks ago. In addition to delivering a keynote address, Hunter spoke with many IBM i professionals at the show. She also made some time to speak with IT Jungle. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation.

  Alex Woodie: Your keynote address during the POWERUp Opening Session was great. Could you elaborate on some of the points you were making about using IBM i as a platform for AI?

  Hillery Hunter: …

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• COMMON Dances To A Fresh New Tune In New Orleans

  May 4, 2026 Alex Woodie

  This wasn’t the first COMMON conference held in New Orleans, but it may have been the best, considering where the IBM i platform is at this particular time and what happened down on the bayou last week.

  For starters, the four-day event attracted about 1,300 attendees, which is a solid increase from the 1,200 that attended last year’s conference in Anaheim, California. But here’s the kicker: About one-third of the COMMON POWERUp 2026 attendees were attending the conference for the first time. In other words, around 400 folks decided that IBM i education and community were important enough for them …

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• Brace Yourself: Another Power Systems Price Hike Coming May 1

  April 20, 2026 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  A few weeks ago, when we talked about the price increases on main memory and flash for Power Systems machines as well as some other price increases, we told you that this would probably not be the end of it. The market for DRAM and flash is so crazy right now that demand is well exceeding supply and that is driving up prices almost continuously. That’s because supply cannot be increased for either.

  To that end, Sam Werner, general manager of IBM Storage, and Ivo Körner, vice president of worldwide sales for IBM Power, Cloud, and Storage, sent out a …

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• GiAPA Tracks SQL Performance Issues On IBM i

  March 16, 2026 Alex Woodie

  Tracking down SQL performance problems with IBM i applications sometimes can be difficult, thanks to the mysterious ways that IBM’s Db2 query optimizer works. To help shine a light on changes the optimizer may suddenly make to query access plans, the IBM i performance experts behind GiAPA developed a new tool, dubbed SQL Observer.

  The Db2 query optimizer is a wonder of software engineering. The IBMers who developed it deserve a ton of credit for creating a smart piece of software that keeps SQL queries running so efficiently. Users simply submit the query they want to run, and the …

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• IBM Power Offsite Data Protection That Fits The Way IBM i Shops Already Work

  January 26, 2026 Don Gentile Steven Dickens

  For decades, IBM Power systems have supported some of the most critical systems of record in the global economy. Banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, and government organizations all rely on IBM i environments for stability, data integrity, and predictable operations. These are not necessarily the world’s flashiest workloads, but they are essential for keeping the lights on, transactions flowing, and making sure the trains run on time.

  Yet even in these well-managed environments, Offsite data protection remains a persistent challenge. Local backup and availability are rarely the issue. Most IBM Power shops have mature backup routines and, in many cases, high-availability …

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• How FalconStor Is Reinventing Itself, And Why IBM Noticed

  July 14, 2025 Victoria Grey

  If you are like me, you are a fan of podcasts, and one of my favorites is IBM Transformers, hosted by Ann Funai. It’s a must-listen for anyone navigating digital transformation or leading change in enterprise IT. With a thoughtful blend of personal stories and practical insights, Transformers goes beyond buzzwords to explore how leaders actually make transformation happen.

  Ann Funai, IBM’s chief information officer and vice president of Business Platform Transformation, brings both empathy and experience to every episode. A seasoned technologist and executive (check out her impressive background on LinkedIn), Funai knows how to ask the right …

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• Vendors Fill In The Gaps With IBM’s New MFA Solution

  July 14, 2025 Alex Woodie

  The new multi-factor authentication (MFA) capability that IBM has built into the IBM i operating system is a real gamechanger in terms of securing the system and preventing unauthorized access to applications and data. However, it lacks some key capabilities that some customers are looking for in an MFA solution, which third-party vendors are eager to fill.

  The native MFA function that Big Blue delivered with IBM i 7.6 is being praised almost universally throughout the IBM i community as a massive security improvement. The MFA functionality, which uses randomly generated time-based one-time passwords (TOTP), is built directly into …

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• CloudSAFE And Focal Point Solutions Group Combine Services, Unify Brands

  November 27, 2023 Doug McMaster

  IT solutions providers Focal Point Solutions Group and CloudSAFE are unifying under the CloudSAFE brand. Both providers have a history of delivering outstanding IT services, so joining forces follows a natural progression for both organizations.

  “This unification represents a transformative step forward not just for us, but for our customers. By merging Focal Point’s specialized expertise in IBM technologies with CloudSAFE’s comprehensive IT service offerings, we are uniquely positioned to meet and exceed our customers’ evolving IT needs,” says Ron Venzin, chief executive officer at CloudSAFE.

  Creating A Comprehensive Service Provider

  Focal Point’s specialization in IBM technologies, including IBM i, …

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• AWS Inks Deal With Connectria To Have a Power Play

  November 15, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The long road of history has not been made impassible by the charred marketing tanks and flaming sales assault vehicles of those who have tried to breach Fortress Rochester, but there are a whole lot of rusting machines off on the horizon cluttering the road and more than a few smoking machines nearby as well as some sizable holes in the ramparts out on that cornfield in Minnesota.

  While the proprietary minicomputer businesses and the Unix server businesses of the competition of the AS/400 and IBM i platform have all been destroyed and that IBM is indeed the last bastion …

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