For the 100th Time: Does IBM i Have A Future?
iAGE participated at the Common Europe Congress in Brussels, Belgium, between 18-21 June.
During these 4 days we have got plenty of new information regarding IBM, and IBM i.
We came across many new ideas we can implement to our workflows to provide better service to our clients.
Our objective of going to the conference was to get an answer to the question:
Does IBM i have a future and if yes, what kind of future is it?
It has started with an amazing amount of 48 speakers.
Then loads of presentations.
One conclusion: IBM…
… DOES HAVE A FUTURE.
A BRIGHT ONE.
A BRIGHT ONE.
We heard about Modernization Performance, High Availability, Modern Application Development and IT Architecture are just a few of the many interesting hot topics.
Besides these topics, we could hear informal, even more exciting news about IBM’s hardware and client success stories.
We will formalize some of these in the forthcoming weeks.
We will write about client success stories.
And no, we will not give away trade secrets.
We will formalize some of these in the forthcoming weeks.
We will write about client success stories.
And no, we will not give away trade secrets.
A few words about Common, and Common Europe.
“COMMON is the world’s largest professional association of IBM technology users. We provide independent education, certification, advocacy and networking among users, IBM and related third-party solution providers.”
COMMON also has a European “division”: COMMON Europe.
“Our mission is to boost networking, share experiences, provide advanced education, influence IBM products, solution strategy and accelerate an on going open dialogue with IBM and other vendors.”
With user groups in 16 different countries from UK in west to Russia in east, Common Europe truly represents the European IBM based solutions’ IT community.
And it is true!
You can hardly find a better place to meet the industry’s professionals, influencers, and experts.
The learning we had was impressive.
We had the pleasure to attend Steve Will’s (Chief Architect for the IBM i Operating System.) presentation about IBM i’s strategy and features overview.
Furthermore his presentation about IBM i Architecture, and an IBM i 7.3 Overview was rather useful.
Pete Massiello told us everything we need to know about upgrading to IBM i 7.2 and 7.3. It can be handy for many of our clients.
Mark Olson (WorldWide Power Systems Offering Manager, IBM) presented a Power System Chips and Server Overview. There were rumors, too, but as these were all informal we cannot share them with you.
We would love to, but we cannot.
IBM started to build IBM i as a brand.
There are 3 business solutions available on IBM i:
packaged software, custom developed software, and administration.
We met all 3 at Common.
Did you know that Italy operates the most IBM i installations in Europe?
Members of Common are usually representing an average of 20+ years experience in their field.
It was good to see some new, young faces.
There were even 20-somes: fresh university graduates with “IBM i is the future for us” in mind.
So is there a future for IBM i?
If these people think so… we do think so, as well.
Meet us in future events. Till then we will keep you updated.
Stay tuned – for IBM i.
