COMMON EUROPE CONGRESS 2025: Full Schedule

WELCOME TO COMMON EUROPE CONGRESS 2025

Don’t forget to reach out to your local country user group to get the discount code for the congress!

Common Europe, in collaboration with Common Sweden, is delighted to be holding its annual flagship event, Common Europe Congress, in the friendly city of Gothenburg offering extensive education, networking and relaxation opportunities. It’s also a great opportunity for exploring the city… so why not take a family mini-break as well.
Congress education areas targeted are IBM Power hardware, Application Development, Advanced RPG, Open Source tools and Languages, System Management, Db2 and SQL, IBM Storage, IBM i services and microservices, Security and Compliance and much more.
There will be two AIX / Linux tracks, to emphasize the Power Systems character of Common Europe.
Top IBM Business Architects and industry experts have already agreed to share their knowledge on the latest announcements, customer cases as well as practical subjects.
The congress content includes:

3 ½ days of latest education delivered by top IBM and industry leading speakers punctuated by large breaks offering maximum networking,
Three-hour in-depth workshops, 60 minutes’ education sessions and solution provider’s special slots,
A Solution Providers’ Centre open for 2 ½ days with top European and worldwide technology companies at their booths presenting innovative practical solutions that will enhance our solutions,
A Congress Dinner in the hotel with live entertainment.

We have negotiated special room rates in the Congress hotel itself,
The Common Europe Organization Team looks forward to seeing you in picturesque Gothenburg.

You will be able to validate your attendance (Check-In to sessions) using your personal schedule.

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10:40 CEST

A gentle introduction to containerization and OpenShift on IBM Power LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 10:40 - 11:40 CEST

11 - R9

The world of application containerization can be intimidating at first.
Fear not ! In this session, we’ll take things step by step, breaking down the complexities into manageable, easy-to-understand pieces.
With simple explanations and concrete examples we’ll explore the containerization fundamentals, its advantages in modern software development, and how OpenShift enhances the management, scaling, and deployment of containers.
And of course, everything we demonstrate will be running on IBM Power, so we’ll also see how this powerful platform supports modernization projects and cloud-native applications.

Speakers

Alfonso Cancellara

Technical Account Manager, OpenShift, Red Hat

Alfonso Cancellara is a Technical Account Manager at Red Hat, specializing in OpenShift.Before taking on this role, he worked at Red Hat as a Senior Technical Support Engineer, where he developed a deep understanding of client pain points, building a strong foundation in empathy and... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 10:40 - 11:40 CEST
11 - R9

AIX/Linux

10:40 CEST

Using your existing Power investment for AI loads LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 10:40 - 11:40 CEST

10 - R15

Problem: We had an ever-increasing need for processing power running advanced analytics and AI workloads. Initially everything ran in a WMware/Intel environment which demanded more and more virtual hosts.

At the same time, we had a set-up where the ERP system ran on one master Power server and another hot stand-by Power server. The hot stand-by host was in principle never used other than when failover tests were performed.

Solution: We slightly redesigned the existing analytics platform and ported it to Linux on Power utilizing the hot standby server. The solution was from the beginning designed so that in case the hot stand-by was ever needed the workload could be dynamically distributed to other computing environments on-prem or in the cloud.

Configuration: The solution is based on open technologies to allow for flexible deployments on-prem or in any cloud. The primary building blocks are Apache Spark, Kubernetes, MongoDB and Elasticsearch. In addition to that other technologies are used to solve particular analytics or AI problems. The system is governed by a redundant master controller where the deployment of compute nodes is managed. The actual workloads and data pipelines are handled by a redundant job controller. Compute jobs are mainly run in Spark using SQL, R and Python and all data is stored in MongoDB or in Parquet or Delta table formats.

Conclusion: Utilizing spare capacity is extremely cost effective and performing heavy data processing on-prem can save a considerable amount of money.

by Peter Haneklou

Speakers

Peter Haneklou

CTO, Pacing Sweden AB

I am dedicated to driving innovation at the intersection of AI, Data science, and business strategy. I believe the true potential lies not just in algorithms, but in their thoughtful and practical application to create competitive advantages and new opportunities. My experience involves... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 10:40 - 11:40 CEST
10 - R15

AIX/Linux

11:50 CEST

Introduction to AIX RBAC and Implementation Best Practices LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 11:50 - 12:50 CEST

10 - R15

Join this session to not only know the theory about AIX Role-Based Access Control but getting to know the Dos and Don'ts when implementing RBAC. This presentation is based on real customer projects and show you the best practices when using RBAC to reduce the need for root access.

Speakers

Thomas Barlen

Senior Managing Consultant, IBM

IT consultant architecting and implementing security solutions mainly in the IBM i and AIX area. I am also a frequent speaker at technical conferences. Specialties: Cryptography, Single Signon, Security assessments, Access Control concepts and implementation, IBM i networking, IBM... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 11:50 - 12:50 CEST
10 - R15

AIX/Linux

11:50 CEST

Opensource Lifecycle Management on AIX LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 11:50 - 12:50 CEST

11 - R9

BFF, RPM, DNF, Toolbox... Everything you should know about opensource packages on AIX, how to install and manage them.

By Andrey Klyachkin

Speakers

Andrey Klyachkin

Managing Director, eNFence

I help companies build standardized, completely automated and agile IBM Power infrastructure.➤ It minimizes your time to market for new apps and features.➤ It optimizes your IT operational costs.➤ It enhances your security.WHAT HAVE I ACHIEVED?➤ POWER DevOps (https://www.power-devops.com... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 11:50 - 12:50 CEST
11 - R9

AIX/Linux

14:00 CEST

Building IBM Power as a Service Platform from Scratch: A Deep Dive into Integration with Hybrid Multi-Cloud Environments LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 14:00 - 15:00 CEST

10 - R15

Learn about the top use cases for AI on Power 10. In this session, learn about design decisions, deployment, and challenges of AI on IBM Power, including taking advantage of MMA on Power10

Speakers

Youssef Largou

CEO, Power Maroc

As executive associate director, my focus is on delivering essential technology stack and frameworks to help organizations reinvent themselves and realize their digital transformation, modernize their infrastructure and move mission critical workloads across clouds. I focus my time... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
10 - R15

AIX/Linux

14:00 CEST

Leverage Event-Driven Ansible to reduce your automation reaction time LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 14:00 - 15:00 CEST

11 - R9

In today's complex IT environments, it is more important than ever to automate tasks and processes. Event-Driven Ansible is a new feature of Ansible that allows you to automate IT tasks based on events that occur in your IT environment. This session will provide an introduction to Event-Driven Ansible, including what it is, how it works, and the benefits of using it. We will also discuss some examples of how Event-Driven Ansible can be used in real-world scenarios.

Speakers

Fabio Alessandro Locati

Principal Specialist Solution Architect, Red Hat

Fabio Alessandro Locati - commonly known as Fale - is an EMEA Principal Solutions Architect at Red Hat, public speaker, published author, and Open Source contributor. His main areas of expertise are Linux, containers (ie: Kubernetes), automation (ie: Ansible), security, cloud (mainly... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
11 - R9

AIX/Linux

15:50 CEST

Event Driven Power Infrastructure LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 15:50 - 16:50 CEST

11 - R9

This presentation is about event driven infrastructure and how you can facilitate autoremediation in case of problems, using Ansible, Icinga2, Request Tracker and webhooks, you can create an elastic auto-scaling infrastructure to optimize the capacity for your workload and dynamically scale your batches, and capcity usage.

Speakers

Toshaan Bharvani

CTO, VanTosh

Toshaan Bharvani is a IT consultant, currently self-employed at VanTosh, with a interest in Open Source Software and Open Source Hardware. He started his IT interest at a very early age, when his father gave him his first own PC components. Ever since he has been interested in IT... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 15:50 - 16:50 CEST
11 - R9

AIX/Linux

15:50 CEST

Introduction to AI LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 15:50 - 16:50 CEST

10 - R15

AI is transforming industries, redefining business processes, and unlocking new possibilities across IT landscapes. In this session, we will explore the fundamentals of AI, its key concepts, and its impact on enterprise computing. We will discuss how AI technologies—such as machine learning, natural language processing, and automation—are shaping modern IT strategies, particularly in environments leveraging IBM Power Systems and Linux.

Join us for this insightful introduction to AI, designed for IT professionals looking to understand AI’s potential and how it aligns with IBM-based solutions. Whether you're new to AI or seeking ways to leverage it in your organization, this session will provide a clear roadmap for getting started.

Speakers

Mirza Ćutuk

Solutions Architect, InnoBoost SA

I am a Junior Solutions Architect with a passion for designing, building and implementing creative digital solutions. I enjoy solving complex problems, finding interesting use-cases for technologies and products that already exist, as well as making things from scratch. I am currently... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 15:50 - 16:50 CEST
10 - R15

AIX/Linux, AI

17:00 CEST

Accelerating Enterprise AI with IBM Power10: From LLMs to Real-World Applications LIMITED

Tuesday June 3, 2025 17:00 - 18:00 CEST

10 - R15

Join Paul Chapman, for an in-depth exploration of how IBM Power10 is transforming enterprise AI deployment. Paul will demonstrate live how to deploy LLM & RAG, showcasing how Power10's built-in Matrix Math Accelerator (MMA), large memory capacity, and advanced threading capabilities enable organizations to efficiently run AI workloads including Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications. Through real customer examples spanning healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing, learn how organizations are achieving up to 60% better performance and 48% lower energy consumption compared to x86 alternatives. The session will cover both enterprise solutions like IBM Cloud Pak for Data and open-source options including RocketCE, demonstrating practical paths to AI adoption regardless of your starting point. Get hands-on insights into deploying and optimizing AI workloads on Power10, and discover how to begin your organization's AI journey through IBM's use case alignment workshops.

Speakers

Paul Chapman

Global Power Modernisation Technical Lead, IBM UK

Firstly, I love creating memories with my family and dog, Buddy. Previously I enjoyed European motorcycle tours and track days and still own an Aprilia RSV1000. I spend my recreation time SCUBA diving or anything else adventurous. I have participated in Project Shark in the Red Sea... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 17:00 - 18:00 CEST
10 - R15

AIX/Linux

17:00 CEST

MariaDB Server and MariaDB MaxScale - Enterprise class database technology for IBM Power

Tuesday June 3, 2025 17:00 - 18:00 CEST

11 - R9

MariaDB Server is very popular database for any type of workload, and MariaDB Enterprise Server is the Enterprise database system that builds on this to deliver an Enterprise class database system which together with MariaDB MaxScale provides High Availability, Scalability and world class support and services, all available on the IBM Power platform. In this talk I will cover some of the foundations of MariaDB Enterprise Server and MariaDB MaxScale and what features are provided. There are also many new features in MariaDB Enterprise Server, such as Vector search for AI applications, enhanced JSON support and more, which will be covered.
One particular feature of MariaDB will be coverered in more detail, the ease of migrating from other database systems to MariaDB, in particular Oracle.

Speakers

Anders Karlsson

Principal Sales Engineer, MariaDB

Database Sales Engineer with more than 40 years experience from relational databases. Develops tools and utilities and official MariaDB contributor, assistst in MariaDB implementations, specialized in database migrations. Has worked with many different relational database systems... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 17:00 - 18:00 CEST
11 - R9

AIX/Linux

COMMON EUROPE CONGRESS 2025

From €204.79