Recently I spent time in Berlin at the 2019 COMMON Europe Congress. To me it was the hottest conference I've attended. Ever! Now some might think it was the heat and, well, you'd be at least partly right about that because while the Germans have an earned reputation for engineering that doesn't mean said engineering is always appropriately applied. But on the flip side they did appropriately apply duct tape to seal a 7 story tall aquarium in the hotel lobby, not a drop of water was to be seen.

One thing that's unique about CEC for me is that while I am a speaker there and also did have a few meetings I actually get to attend sessions!! The double bonus is that the time is 6 hours off from EST so there are few to no emails or phone calls until after 2 PM!! Still further, the ability to hear from some who do not come to the U.S. to speak gives another twist and point of view of things. But it also gives me time to talk to committed members of our community, many of them fellow IBM Champions for good reasons, and to IBMers as well.

For many years now IBM has shown the chart we all know and love with release dates and support dates. It shows the O/S with a very long and solid future. Another chart shows the POWER architecture growing into the future. While i have always believed those charts I felt that the reason for the long life was a combination of steady improvements delivered by IBM, new features and options from our vendor community both aided by the world's most supportive user community. Straight forward and reliable, but perhaps not really exciting.

While I was in Berlin, however, this realization hit me: HOOOOOO LEEEEEE SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over the 31 years (more if the S/3x machines are included) that lead up to where we are today there have been many many improvements to IBM i. There were new opcodes and new functions here and there and the languages got modern capabilities. New editors came out based on open standards. The system got faster the database got more capabilities and even got a name! The system got new communication capability and many new services. It got new file systems and new security bits too. The hardware got faster and faster and as our amazing O/S allows the adoption of new technology at every turn, frequently before anyone else! We got cool new hardware stuff, and you know me, I love me some me some new hardware stuff!

But over the last few years rumblings started. Rumblings from corners, deep corners. Rumblings that we could do administration through a web browser. Rumblings that a client existed for MAC and Linux and that it would get actual, significant, usable, and IMPRESSIVE improvements. And it was so easy and flexible to deploy that admins don't even believe it. Rumblings that system administration would be done with SQL, SAY WHAT?!? (You gotta be makin that stuff up!) But that was far from all. There were capabilities added to allow our solid and fine tuned character based applications to be readily web enabled and enabled for mobile too! And then: That database, if E.F. Codd could see it now!!! Unbelievable capabilities fantastic performance, and tools to know how it's working and how to make it work better.

OSS, Initially it was exciting but that excitement was soon tempered as we realized the PTF deployment method was not workable long term. However, even before the reality of this had sunk in to most, the Yellowdog appeared and open source went from 'we have some ideas' to 'we MEAN business' faster than the Force family does the quarter mile. RPMs literally appeared overnight and not just my personal favorites joe and rsync, but hundreds of them now including R and other serious and widely adopted technology.

Speaking of Open Source I am working on the portal to instant access for developers. It took an unfortunate delay earlier during the hectic run up to 'Conference Season' but that won't stop us! Here developers will be able to sign up for access and it will be available within minutes if not seconds, bill by the hour, and all automatically. EVERY time I mention this to anyone in the open source space they cheer. It Will Happen.

Security, it accelerated with enhancements to encryption and reporting and AUTHORITY COLLECTION! Woo Hoo! I watched Carol Woodbury have to pause for a second on that one she is so thrilled. Again with i 7.4 many other enhancements including service tools profiles and rules.

i 7.4, oh my. Oh my. So much in there but the 800 lb gorilla is of course Db/2 Mirror for i. WOW!! Truly amazing and from many reports the effort invested to make this work will have positive implications in other areas not the least of which are database performance and communications.

Customer stories! They. Just. Keep. Coming!! And they're not simply odd little companies here and there they are from small to big, local to international, and in businesses across the spectrum.

Champions! Every one of those I've met who have been recognized by IBM always have been Champions of our platform. But with recognition their efforts are redoubled. This was especially visible at CEC as they converged from many countries from America to Russia and Sweden to Italy to Spain and all points between. Every one spoke of contributions and successes and thoughts and ideas. It's truly invigorating to meet and discuss and think and imagine.

AND COGNITIVE! The average customer isn't even up to speed on what this truly is and how it can help their business but we IBM is already delivering tools and showing early success stories. IBM i and POWER is well positioned to deliver on this promise and we at COMMON are working hard to create awareness and education to help customers do even more with their systems to run a better business. Admittedly I've probably ignored someone's favorite things but that would only be because there are so many!!

Conferences are often a place to recharge and COMMON named their's POWERUp for that reason! Just a few other things from in and around POWERUp and CEC. IBM spoke about the number of consecutive quarters of growth. It was recently announced that Power Systems are for an eleventh year the the most reliable servers. And if hows this for a shock, Gartner actually mentioned IBM i and did so Positively!

There were times this week I just wanted to stand up and cheer and I probably should have. Pete once stepped onto the COMMON opening session stage in sunglasses because our future was so bright, I think today they would be welding glasses!

To the IBM team I say BRAVO, Well Done, Awesome, and of course keep it coming!!!

To the rest of you, you know what i can do. Make it so!!!



- DrF