The IBM i ecosystem, a cornerstone for thousands of organizations around the world, faces a formidable challenge: the widening skills gap. As experienced professionals retire and the complexities of modern IT environments grow, organizations are grappling with how to effectively manage and maintain their critical IBM i systems. This isn't just a theoretical concern: it translates into tangible risks from overlooked system tuning to potential downtime and compromised business agility. While the problem may seem intractable, practical solutions are emerging, and tools like i-Rays are at the forefront, offering a glimpse into the future of IBM i management.
For years, the IBM i community has focused on the developer skills gap, but there has been little focus on admin and specialist skills - which are just as important just as the development skills gap and also need be addressed. In the recent webinar, Alan Seiden described how companies often delay addressing the issue until a crisis hits. This gap extends across applications, business logic, and system administration. Dawn May highlighted the consequences, such as missed issues, overlooked tuning, and ultimately, downtime. Marius Le Roux further elaborated, emphasizing the loss of intricate, in-depth company system knowledge when experienced personnel depart, leaving a void that even new system engineers struggle to fill. The system, he noted, begins to "start becoming louder and louder" as time passes when these voids that are left are not being filled or addressed.
The traditional approaches to bridging this gap – training, recruitment, and outsourcing – have had some success, but often fall short. Companies may struggle to find new talent, and outsourcing, while helpful, can become a reactive, emergency measure rather than a proactive strategy. This is where the conversation shifts towards more advanced solutions, leveraging technology to augment human expertise and mitigate the inherent risks.
This is precisely the space where i-Rays aims to make a significant impact. As i-Rays General Manager Marek Walczak explained, the modern IT landscape demands observability – a holistic understanding of system states, going beyond simple monitoring of known parameters. Observability, inherently linked with AI, provides the capability to "observe the unknowns" and offer actionable advice. While many platforms claim AI capabilities, the unique architecture of IBM i requires specialized knowledge to interpret its data effectively. i-Rays is designed to bridge this gap by collecting IBM i data, applying patented algorithms based on years of expertise, and then visualizing these insights – either through its own interface or by integrating with existing platforms like Dynatrace.
The practical value of such tools lies in their ability to translate complex system behavior into actionable guidance. Instead of relying solely on deeply experienced, and increasingly scarce, administrators or consultants, i-Rays provides concrete commands and recommendations. This empowers existing IT staff to proactively address potential issues before they escalate into critical problems. It transforms the reactive stance, where issues are addressed only after they manifest, into a proactive, predictive approach.
Consider the scenario of a rogue query consuming excessive temporary storage, as May described, leading to a system crash. Without the right tools and expertise, identifying such an issue in real-time is incredibly difficult. i-Rays, by providing enhanced observability, can help detect anomalies and patterns that indicate such problems are developing, offering guidance on how to resolve them before they impact system stability.
Furthermore, as Le Roux pointed out, the integration points with other systems are becoming increasingly complex. AI and automation tools like Ansible, now available on IBM i, offer pathways to streamline operations and manage this complexity. i-Rays complements these by providing the intelligence – the "what to do" – which can be translated into proactive system-tuning recommendations (such as shifting workloads to higher usage systems when required) within automated instances. The vision is to close the loop: i-Rays identifies a potential issue and offers advice, which can then be acted upon, perhaps even automated through integrations with tools like Ansible, ensuring that the system remains operationally safe.
In essence, i-Rays and similar tools represent a practical evolution in IBM i management. They acknowledge the realities of the skills gap and the increasing complexity of the ecosystem. By providing enhanced observability, actionable insights, and guidance that can be integrated into automated workflows, these tools empower organizations to not only survive but thrive, ensuring the continued stability and performance of their critical IBM i systems for years to come. The future of IBM i management is not about finding mythical unicorns of expertise, but about leveraging intelligent tools that augment human capability and democratize system understanding.
