Intelligence for the Modern
IBM i

Omnilogy's Maciej Wielgus highlights the challenges of high-impact, low-probability (HILP) failures in IBM i systems, crucial for many industries. Despite investments in reliability, these systems' complexity makes them prone to unpredictable failures with severe financial and reputational consequences.

POWERUp 2026 in New Orleans was an exhilarating experience, showcasing the largest IBM i community event globally. Held at the New Orleans Marriott from April 27-30, it featured hands-on training and cutting-edge tech innovations. Keynote speaker Hillery Hunter, IBM Power's general manager, captivated the audience with insights into AI, Git, VS Code, open source, and IBM Bob, linking them to COMMON's Project 2030. Her demos on AI integrations for enterprise apps were particularly inspiring. The event offered diverse sessions, from quick tech dives to full-day workshops, including hands-on labs on open-source tools and VS Code for IBM i development. The expo hall was a hub for IBMers and vendors showcasing transformative solutions. Community-building events, like the COMMON Problem Solving and Pups and Cups, emphasized networking and fun. With New Orleans' unique atmosphere, the conference was a launchpad for innovation and connections, leaving attendees, including Marek Walczak, empowered and inspired.

Marek Walczak's entrepreneurial journey began in 1992 when he joined Bank Śląski as a COBOL programmer, later becoming an RPG developer on the IBM AS/400 system. His role evolved as he led a team for the unique ICBS system implementation, which involved extensive collaboration with IBM in Rochester, Minnesota.

The IBM i platform, vital for enterprise IT, faces challenges due to aging professionals and a scarcity of younger talent skilled in its use. This skills gap, highlighted by Fortra's survey, is a pressing issue as many IBM i experts near retirement.

IBM i legend Dawn May outlines IBM i's unique strengths in observability and telemetry while exploring ways to extend those capabilities to other environments. Introduced in the late 1980s, the AS/400’s advertised strength was applications.

Attendees at the Omnilogy presentation will learn the limitations of traditional IBM i monitoring and alerts, and how AI-powered observability can predict and prevent issues.

It’s no secret that there is a skills gap in the IBM i world as the programmers and engineers who specialize in this operating system retire. It's definitely a problem, but forward-thinking companies are finding ways to overcome it and extend the value of their IBM i investments for years to come.

As IBM i environments become more complex and experienced specialists retire, organizations face growing risks tied to performance, downtime, and operational continuity. Industry experts from across the IBM i ecosystem discuss how AI, observability, automation, and modern tooling can help companies close the skills gap, protect mission-critical systems, and prepare IBM i infrastructure for the next generation of enterprise demands.

Troubleshooting is indispensable in any software engineering task. Without a reliable system to spot errors and issues during the coding process, the final code could end up causing serious problems for stakeholders and clients down the line. And while IBM i is a robust system for any mission-critical workload, traditional IBM i monitoring often stops at surface-level events and alerts, such as CPU spikes or disk space warnings.

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, traditional management practices often fall short of meeting the demands of modern business operations. One such area needing transformation is the management of IBM i systems. Historically, IT teams have adopted a reactive approach, focusing on addressing issues as they arise—a “firefighting” mentality. However, as businesses strive for enhanced efficiency and reliability, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) can significantly shift IBM i management toward a more proactive and predictive model.

The IBM i platform, renowned for its reliability and scalability, faces a growing challenge: a shrinking pool of experienced professionals as veterans retire and new talent struggles to keep pace. Automation, powered by tools like Ansible, has emerged as the vital solution to maintain operational continuity, streamline repetitive tasks, and future-proof operations.

i-Rays recently hosted a webinar focused on addressing the skills gap in the IBM i ecosystem. Following are Some of the key insights that the panelists had on ways to fix a problem that has been acknowledged I just about everyone who works in midrange computing.

Let's face it: everybody likes to work in their comfort zone. And for a lot of companies working in the IBM i ecosystem, that means talking with other people in the IBM i world. So it’s no surprise that companies within the IBM i ecosystem have found comfort in collaborating with peers by sharing best practices, co-developing solutions, or partnering on projects. While this approach has its merits, the rapidly evolving digital landscape demands a broader outlook. To remain competitive and foster meaningful innovation, IBM i companies must actively build relationships with organizations in verticals such as logistics, shipping, healthcare, and beyond.

NEW YORK, April 22, 2026 — i-Rays, an observability platform developed by Omnilogy, a global technology developer focused on the IBM i environment, is raising concerns that traditional IBM i monitoring often stops at surface-level events and alerts, leaving IT teams to diagnose the root cause. New AI observability systems are helping teams predict issues before they show symptoms, but embracing these ideas requires a fresh outlook on observability, a shift from alerts to predictive insights, and adopting the Observe, Understand, and Act framework.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, sometimes small errors or accidentally overlooked things can create bigger problems down the road. And while it’s difficult to go back in time to fix foundational code, organizations in the IBM i ecosystem now have a way to proactively identify and repair the possibly hidden problems that can create a cascade of issues as system load evolves.

It's official. After months of R&D, we are bringing true observability to the AS/400 ecosystem. Discover how i-Rays seamlessly integrates with Dynatrace to finally make your IBM i a first-class citizen of the modern IT stack. No more black boxes.

In today's fast-paced digital world, IT teams are under constant pressure to keep their IBM i systems running smoothly and prevent disruptions before they impact business operations. Two concepts- observability and monitoring-are often mentioned together, but they are not the same thing.

iBM i can run for years "without issues"... until one day everything looks like an issue at once. This post explains why threshold-based monitoring often misses the real causes of IBM i incidents - and how a behavioural approach (baseline + context) reduces alert noise and speeds up root-cause diagnosis.