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.

10:40 CEST

Should I stay or should I go

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

13 - Expo Stage

AI offers the opportunity to modernize legacy code, enhancing its performance and maintainability. However, it also presents the possibility of migrating away from the current platform. This raises an important question: should you invest in revitalizing your existing environment, or explore new horizons by transitioning to a different platform? The decision hinges on your long-term goals, the needs of your business, and the value each option brings. So, should you stay and optimize or take the leap and go? Or in The Clash words: "This indecision's bugging me If you don't want me, set me free"

Speakers

Juan Manuel Alcudia

President, Common Europe

Tuesday June 3, 2025 10:40 - 11:40 CEST
13 - Expo Stage

IBM i

11:50 CEST

IBM i - A Strategic Preview for 2025 and Beyond

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

03 - F1

With the extreme pace at which technology is changing, it's nice to have a platform that is built for change. In this session, Steve Will, IBM i CTO & Chief Architect, will talk about the current technology drivers in the industry, and how the IBM i strategy and roadmap are adapting. Come hear about the new things in 2025, and the direction of the platform in the future.

Speakers

Steve Will

IBM i CTO & Chief Architect, IBM

Steve is the CTO and Chief Architect for the IBM i Operating System. Spending the past fourteen years of his IBM career in this position, he has become an award-winning speaker, author of the influential blog "You and i," (https://bit.ly/You-and-i-blog) and is one of the most sought-after voices at customer briefings and events. Steve has worked on IBM i and its predecessors since before the creation of the AS/400, and is currently responsible for setting the strategy of the IBM i operating system, as well as deciding which enhancements will be implemented. In his role, he talks to clients and pa... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 11:50 - 12:50 CEST
03 - F1

IBM i, Strategy

14:00 CEST

Inject more security into Db2 for i

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

03 - F1

In this updated session, Scott will explore the many ways that “bad actors” can attempt to subvert the security on IBM i. Whether the topic is protecting against SQL Injection, closing doors to acquiring elevated privileges, or attempting to discover unprotected objects, this session will include techniques for evaluation and protection of your IBM i. Attend this session to take a big step towards discovering and eliminating attack vectors within Db2 for i!

Speakers

Scott Forstie

STSM, Db2 for i Architect, IBM

Scott Forstie is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Db2 for i Architect. He has worked on IBM operating system development since joining IBM in 1989.Scott is a frequently published author, speaker at industry events... Read More →

Tuesday June 3, 2025 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
03 - F1

IBM i, Security

10:20 CEST

IBM HA/DR solutions strategy

Wednesday June 4, 2025 10:20 - 11:20 CEST

04 - F2

This session focuses on the IBM HA/DR solution portfolio for IBM i. The IBM i HA/DR solution portfolio is hardware based and as such the are highly automated. We will discuss the options, the positioning, what's new and what's coming in 2025.

Speakers

Steve Finnes

Product Manager, IBM

Steve has spent several years in IBM with positions spanning basic research to product development, product offering and marketing. He is the product offering manager for IBM Power Systems with responsibility for PowerHA for AIX, PowerHA for IBM i and the CBU.

Wednesday June 4, 2025 10:20 - 11:20 CEST
04 - F2

IBM i, Systems management

11:30 CEST

RPG Code Assistant Update

Wednesday June 4, 2025 11:30 - 12:30 CEST

05 - F3

In 2024 at POWERUp, Steve Will, CTO & Chief Architect of IBM i, launched a project to create a tool that would use an AI Large Language Model, trained to understand RPG, to make life much easier for programmers who work with RPG, and to allow businesses to more confidently hire programmers and know there was a tool that could help any programmer work with existing RPG code. That project, the RPG Code Assistant project, has had a year to mature. In this session, Steve will give you the latest update. Joining him will be Adam Shedivy, on of the developers on this project, who will give insight into what it takes to create and train the tool.

Speakers

Steve Will

IBM i CTO & Chief Architect, IBM

Adam Shedivy

Software Developer, IBM

Adam is a software Developer working on enhancing client and open source integration on IBM i.

Wednesday June 4, 2025 11:30 - 12:30 CEST
05 - F3

IBM i, Strategy

14:05 CEST

SQL for System and Storage Management

Wednesday June 4, 2025 14:05 - 15:05 CEST

06 - R17

Ryan Moeller (Software Engineer, Db2 for i) teams up with Ann Wilkerson (Lead Developer, IBM i Navigator) to show how Navigator and SQL services can be expanded upon to automate and report on everyday storage and systems management tasks.

Speakers

Ryan Moeller

Software Engineer, IBM

Ryan Moeller is a software engineer working on Db2 for i, specifically on the SQL Query Engine (SQE) team. He joined the team in the Rochester, MN development lab in 2020. Ryan specializes in SQL, database development, and query performance analysis.

Wednesday June 4, 2025 14:05 - 15:05 CEST
06 - R17

IBM i, Systems management

15:20 CEST

Live Demo of Navigator LIMITED

Wednesday June 4, 2025 15:20 - 16:20 CEST

06 - R17

The IBM Navigator is marching forward adding new features and ways to manage your IBM i. This session is all about the live Demo we will show you first hand the new features as well as help answer your questions on how you can take managing the IBM i to the next level

Speakers

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM

Tim Rowe is the Business Architect responsible for Application Development and Systems Management for the IBM i operating system. His responsibilities include helping to make sure that the IBM i has what is needed to be successful both today and into the future. He sends much of his... Read More →

Wednesday June 4, 2025 15:20 - 16:20 CEST
06 - R17

IBM i, Systems management

09:10 CEST

Beyond the Dashboard: An IBM i Monitoring Blueprint LIMITED

Thursday June 5, 2025 09:10 - 10:10 CEST

04 - F2

Your IBM i system serves as the backbone of your operations, with each workload presenting unique demands. However, certain key elements must be consistently monitored to maintain a healthy and efficient environment. In this session, you’ll gain a comprehensive guide to monitoring IBM i, covering system performance, database health, security, storage, and user activity. Discover best practices, tools, and strategies to identify bottlenecks, address security vulnerabilities, and ensure optimal uptime. Leave equipped with actionable insights to keep your IBM i system running smoothly in today’s demanding IT landscape.

Speakers

Ash Giddings

Product Manager, Maxava

Ash Giddings is an IT professional with over 30 years of experience in and around IBM midrange servers. He is currently the Product Manager at Maxava, a leading provider of disaster recovery, high availability, and cloud-based monitoring solutions for IBM i and beyond. Ash is an IBM... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 09:10 - 10:10 CEST
04 - F2

IBM i, Systems management

09:10 CEST

The IBM i benefits of “instant disk copy” and the differences between ‘FlashCopy’ and ‘Snapshots’ External storage features explained.

Thursday June 5, 2025 09:10 - 10:10 CEST

09 - R14

All IBM external storage units can perform “instant copy” of all the disks of your IBM i LPAR.
Historically made using the ‘FlashCopy’ technology, these “instant copies” are now possible with a new method called ‘Snapshot’ or ‘Policy based FlashCopy’.
Discover the differences and how to use those two technologies to simplify and secure operations on your IBM i partitions:
-   To create easily manually a copy of your prod to test a change on it (or create a backup copy before a version change)
-   To perform daily several planned “instant copy” to create regular protection against ransomware or data corruption
-   To reduce, using IBM i commands, the backup window to less than 2 minutes
- To refresh nearly instantly your test/acceptance/preprod environment

By Pascal Ruckebusch

Thursday June 5, 2025 09:10 - 10:10 CEST
09 - R14

IBM i, Systems management

10:20 CEST

IBM i Migration While Active LIMITED

Thursday June 5, 2025 10:20 - 11:20 CEST

04 - F2

IBM i Migration While active announced by IBM in October 2024. It is a great tool in order to migrate the IBM i from one premise to another whether it is cloud or any other service provider. In this session will briefly cover this product and functionalities how to use it and what can be achieved with limited time when planning for migrations.

By Rohit Chauhan & Nicolae Chirea

Speakers

Rohit Chauhan

Senior Technical Specialist and IBM Champion, Tietoevry Tech Services Norway AS

Rohit Chauhan is an IBM Champion and a Senior Technical Specialist with expertise in IBM i platform and IBM Power Systems. He is also a IBM Redbooks author and works at Tietoevry Tech Services, Stavanger, Norway, which is an IBM Business Partner and one of the biggest IT service providers... Read More →

Nicolae Chirea

System Architect, Seidor Iberia

Thursday June 5, 2025 10:20 - 11:20 CEST
04 - F2

IBM i, Systems management

COMMON EUROPE CONGRESS 2025

From €204.79