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WELCOME TO COMMON EUROPE CONGRESS 2025

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.
Type: Systems management clear filter
Monday, June 15
 

10:30 CEST

Using SQL in Everyday Life
Monday June 15, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
SQL is great stuff, but that is only for getting stuff out of the database, right? … NO! Wrong!! On IBM i its way more. Any task you might consider on IBM i SQL should be your first choice. In this session we will explore how to make SQL part of your everyday IBM i activities. We will look at the tools available and practical use case, even if you are an SQL neophyte (like the speaker - Tim) or a SQL Rock Star (like the other speaker – Ryan). Lots of live demos to show the useful and practical side of using SQL. 
Speakers
avatar for Ryan Moeller

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.
avatar for Tim Rowe

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM USA
Tim Rowe is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Architect for Application Development and Systems Management. He has been working on the IBM i operating system since 1989. Tim is a frequent author, industry speaker and... Read More →
Monday June 15, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
02 - Auditorium

11:50 CEST

What's New in IBM i Security?
Monday June 15, 2026 11:50 - 12:50 CEST
Significant security enhancements have been delivered in recent releases (IBM i 7.5 and IBM i 7.6) as well as technology refreshes (TRs). In this session Carol will describe new and enhanced security-related features and describe how and why you should use them.
Speakers
avatar for Carol Woodbury

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco

Monday June 15, 2026 11:50 - 12:50 CEST
02 - Auditorium

14:00 CEST

How to build an AI agent for IBM i
Monday June 15, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
AI agents are quickly becoming a practical tool for automating workflows, assisting developers, and simplifying system administration. In this session, we will walk through how to build an effective AI agent specifically for IBM i. We will start with high-level concepts, including what an AI agent is, how it differs from traditional automation, and what makes IBM i a unique and powerful environment for agent-based systems. From there, we will cover concrete patterns, tips, and best practices for designing agents that can safely and reliably interact with IBM i resources such as the database. The session will focus on real use cases, including system administration tasks like performance and security monitoring, as well as developer productivity workflows. Throughout the presentation, we will demonstrate working agents in action, showing how these concepts translate into practical solutions that IBM i developers and administrators can start applying today.
Speakers
Monday June 15, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

15:55 CEST

Unlocking the Potential of IBM’s Administration Runtime Expert 
Monday June 15, 2026 15:55 - 16:55 CEST
Administration Runtime Expert (ARE) is one of IBM i’s most powerful yet overlooked tools. This session reveals how ARE can simplify the management of even the most complex IBM i estates by automating configuration checks, detecting risks early, and ensuring consistent, compliant system environments.Attendees will see practical examples of how ARE reduces manual effort, reduces outages, and strengthens overall business continuity. If you’ve never explored ARE or didn’t realize what it can do, this session will show you why it should be a core part of every IBM i strategy.
Speakers
avatar for Rudi van Helvoirt

Rudi van Helvoirt

Technical Director, van Helvoirt Beheer
After having started as a System/38 programmer in 1986. In 1989 the switch was made to system programming and systems management.Being passionate about systems management he founded van Helvoirt Automatisering in 1993.Rudi enjoys helping IBM i customers ever since for running their... Read More →
avatar for Ash Giddings

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 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 Champi... Read More →
Monday June 15, 2026 15:55 - 16:55 CEST
02 - Auditorium

17:05 CEST

IBM i System Administration Basics
Monday June 15, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
In this session, we will cover the basics of IBM i system administration. Together, we will explore the most commonly used commands, how to browse ACS and 5250, user profile preferences, system management, networking, working with objects, disk space and backups, FTP, jobs, performance, logs, links to IBM i web-based interfaces, and useful ACS parameters. This session is intended for beginner IBM i system administrators, those who are new to the platform, and NextGen participants. It will help you focus on daily system administration tasks and commonly used commands.P.S: Even if you come from a different position and would like to refresh your knowledge of IBM i basics, you are welcome to join.
Speakers
avatar for Zouhair Oulli

Zouhair Oulli

IBM i sysadmin, Kyndryl
I’m an IBM i system administrator at Kyndryl. I serve on the board of Common France and am a member of the Common Europe NextGen team. In my free time, I enjoy creating IBM i educational content and sharing useful knowledge and resources on my website.
Monday June 15, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
03 - RHÔNE 1

17:05 CEST

Protecting Db2 for i Data with Row and Column Access Control (RCAC)
Monday June 15, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
Data is the new currency, and protecting it is more important than ever. In IBM i environments, safeguarding sensitive information at the database level is a key requirement for compliance, risk reduction, long-term application trust and data consitency. With traditional database methods and additional programming, data access can be restricted, but also circumvented! Db2 for i provides powerful, built-in capabilities for fine-grained security through Row and Column Access Control (RCAC), enabling precise control over which data can be seen and by whom (on user profile and group profile level) —without requiring changes to application code.If RCAC is activated only explicitly registered users can see an access the database data. Even powerful profiles with QSECOFR user classe or *ALLOBJ authority cannot see any data if they are not registered.Since the implemented RCAC rules cannot be circumvented (not even by powerful user profiles) an detailed planning is required, so no data will get lost
Speakers
Monday June 15, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
02 - Auditorium
 
Tuesday, June 16
 

08:00 CEST

AI agents for IBM i systems administration
Tuesday June 16, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST
Discover how AI agents can transform your daily system administration workflows on IBM i. This session introduces practical approaches to building agents that automate routine tasks, monitor system health, and respond to operational issues—all while leveraging the IBM i MCP server for seamless integration. You'll learn how to create both individual agents for specific tasks and orchestrated teams of agents that collaborate to solve complex administrative challenges. Through real-world examples, we'll demonstrate agents handling everything from performance monitoring and job scheduling to capacity planning and automated troubleshooting. Whether you're analyzing system logs, or optimizing Db2 for i performance, you'll leave with actionable knowledge to implement AI-powered automation in your own environment. This session is designed for system administrators who want to enhance their productivity without becoming AI experts, focusing on practical implementations using open-source tools and the official IBM i MCP server.
Speakers
Tuesday June 16, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

10:30 CEST

Securing your IBM i without Destroying your Business
Tuesday June 16, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
The potential to break a critical process when changing your security configuration is real. But with the proper investigation and analysis, security changes can occur without disrupting your business. During this session Carol Woodbury will provide the methods she uses to investigate a system prior to making changes. The goal is to give you the confidence to make IBM i Security changes (system value, user profile, object authority and more) with confidence and without fear of breakage.
Speakers
avatar for Carol Woodbury

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco

Tuesday June 16, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
02 - Auditorium

11:40 CEST

Navigator for i, the Tools Within!
Tuesday June 16, 2026 11:40 - 12:40 CEST
As an IBM i administrator you’ve either used Navigator for I, or you’re living under an AS/400! While you’re getting this done though, you’ve likely missed many of the capabilities built into Navigator to make your job easier and a better fit for your specific needs and environment.In this session, Tim and Larry will go beyond the basic capabilities of Navigator and show you the buttons and the options and capabilities that are built into Navigator for I that turbocharge the capabilities of Navigator for i. Come for the Ooh’s and the Ah’s !!
Speakers
avatar for Larry Bolhuis

Larry Bolhuis

Principal IBM Power Systems Architect, Service Express
Larry has grown up with computers since his father became a CE in 1967. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Calvin College in 1982.After 2 years working with early PCs and servers her began working on IBM midrange equipment with the S/34 and S/36 He moved to AS/400 at its introduction In 1988. Early in his career he was a developer, then migrated to networking, system design, upgrades and general systems... Read More →
avatar for Tim Rowe

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM USA
Tim Rowe is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Architect for Application Development and Systems Management. He has been working on the IBM i operating system since 1989. Tim is a frequent author, industry speaker and... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 11:40 - 12:40 CEST
02 - Auditorium

14:00 CEST

A Practical Approach to IBM i SQL Performance
Tuesday June 16, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
When working with SQL and query tuning on IBM i, it’s essential to understand the free tools available to you. This session will introduce tools that leverage SQL Plan Cache data and DB Monitor traces for in-depth SQL analysis.You’ll also learn about Visual Explain, a powerful feature for understanding query execution plans. We’ll discuss:The best approaches for viewing and interpreting performance dataPractical tips for identifying quick wins to improve SQL performanceBy the end of this session, you’ll have actionable strategies to optimize your queries and make your IBM i systems run more efficiently.
Speakers
avatar for Morten Buur Rasmussen

Morten Buur Rasmussen

Power Performance Specialist, IBM Expert Labs
Morten Buur Rasmussen is a performance Specialist at IBM Technology Expert Labs. Morten has 40 years of experience in the computing field. He started working with the S/38 and AS/400 in 1988 as programmer. Before joining the Lab Services and Expert Labs, he worked for IBM Denmark... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

15:55 CEST

Compliance and security management on IBM i with IBM PowerSC
Tuesday June 16, 2026 15:55 - 16:55 CEST
Managing the security and compliance on different IBM i systems and partitions can be a challenging task. Changing a setting is quite simple, but automatically checking if a security setting remains the same over time and getting notified about a change is a challenge. IBM offers a product called IBM PowerSC. This product uses compliance profiles to perform the necessary security configuration and monitors that the systems remain compliant. It offers a single user interface that lets you monitor the compliance and security of all your IBM i, Linux on Power, AIX, and VIOS partitions on your Power System. It provides more security functions for malware detection, PTF level currency checking, and more. This session shows you what PowerSC is, how it works, and based on the Center for Internet Security (CIS) IBM i benchmark how to apply a compliance profile. You also see the reporting capabilities of the product, which offers administrators and auditors a comprehensive overview of the security state of your IBM i landscape.
Speakers
avatar for Thomas Barlen

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 cryptographic programming... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 15:55 - 16:55 CEST
02 - Auditorium

17:05 CEST

Using Navigator to Securely Manage your IBM i
Tuesday June 16, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
IBM Navigator for i is a modern application built to help todays IBM i team successfully manage the IBM i in a modern and secure way. This sessions is all about live demo. Show me no slides…tell you no lies! We will use the Navigator interface to manage and monitor a wide range to system topics: Jobs, Memory Pools, Audit Journals, User Profiles, see how to configure TLS for your system and much more. Heck we even encourage you to bring your favorite topic along and we will address it live. 
Speakers
avatar for Tim Rowe

Tim Rowe

STSM - IBM i Business Architect, IBM USA
Tim Rowe is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Architect for Application Development and Systems Management. He has been working on the IBM i operating system since 1989. Tim is a frequent author, industry speaker and... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 17:05 - 18:05 CEST
02 - Auditorium
 
Wednesday, June 17
 

08:00 CEST

Systems management
Wednesday June 17, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST
Wednesday June 17, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 CEST
02 - Auditorium

09:10 CEST

Common Misconceptions in the IBM i Performance Area
Wednesday June 17, 2026 09:10 - 10:10 CEST
This session addresses key performance considerations and common misconceptions that often lead to confusion when tuning IBM i systems.Topics include:CPU utilization – what it really means and how to interpret it correctlyDisk I/O scenarios – understanding the differences between synchronous and asynchronous I/ODisk page faults – when they matter and when they don’tSQL vs. native DB access – performance implications and best practicesThe presentation concludes with a simple, practical example illustrating job characteristics and performance statistics, helping you separate myth from reality and make informed decisions.
Speakers
avatar for Morten Buur Rasmussen

Morten Buur Rasmussen

Power Performance Specialist, IBM Expert Labs
Morten Buur Rasmussen is a performance Specialist at IBM Technology Expert Labs. Morten has 40 years of experience in the computing field. He started working with the S/38 and AS/400 in 1988 as programmer. Before joining the Lab Services and Expert Labs, he worked for IBM Denmark... Read More →
Wednesday June 17, 2026 09:10 - 10:10 CEST
02 - Auditorium

10:30 CEST

Learn more about the SQL system manager approach
Wednesday June 17, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
In today's world a modern system manager no longer can limit him or  herself to using 5250 emulation only. The SQL service have been on the  menu for quite a while now. Dive into what can be done the SQL way, resulting in less errors and getting the work done faster. eaving you more time to dive into enhancing your SQL, because once you get started using SQL I promise you, you can not stop.
Speakers
avatar for Rudi van Helvoirt

Rudi van Helvoirt

Technical Director, van Helvoirt Beheer
After having started as a System/38 programmer in 1986. In 1989 the switch was made to system programming and systems management.Being passionate about systems management he founded van Helvoirt Automatisering in 1993.Rudi enjoys helping IBM i customers ever since for running their... Read More →
Wednesday June 17, 2026 10:30 - 11:30 CEST
02 - Auditorium
 
COMMON EUROPE CONGRESS 2025
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