IBM i Guided Tour 2025
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The IBM i team is announcing a series of Guided Tours on important IBM i topics. These Guided Tours are intended for IBM and Business Partner sellers and technical sellers. Customers are also welcome to attend the Guided Tour sessions.
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Join John Westcott, Terry Ford, and Joe McClure for an exclusive Guided Tour of IBM Database Expert Query for i—a powerful new solution designed to transform how you unlock insights from your IBM i data. Get a first look at its cutting-edge capabilities before the official launch in January 2026!
Join John Westcott, Terry Ford, and Joe McClure for an exclusive Guided Tour of IBM Database Expert Query for i—a powerful new solution designed to transform how you unlock insights from your IBM i data. Get a first look at its cutting-edge capabilities before the official launch in January 2026!
John Westcott
Db2 for i Consultant and Team Lead
IBM
John Westcott is the Db2 for i Team Lead in IBM Technology Expert Labs. John is highyly skilled in SQL, RPG, Data Analytics, Rest API, and both database and application modernization. John has over 35 years of experience on IBM i and it's past family of names. John has a storied career as consultant, business owner, VP, CIO, and a proud employee IBM i.
Terry Ford
Senior Managing Consultant
IBM Corporation
40+ years experience in the IT industry primarily in the S/3, S/3X, AS/400, iSeries, System i, and IBM i platform. Additional platform experiences includes WINTEL, AIX, and Mainframe environments.
Joe McClure
Advisory Delivery Consultant
IBM Corporation
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Join Steve Finnes, Brian Nordland, and Aaron Fistler in examining the HA/DR solutions available on IBM i. There will be discussions of available options and any recent updates to these platforms.
Join Steve Finnes, Brian Nordland, and Aaron Fistler in examining the HA/DR solutions available on IBM i. There will be discussions of available options and any recent updates to these platforms.
Steve Finnes
IBM Product Manager
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.
Brian Nordland
Software Architect, HelpSystems
Brian Nordland is the architect for the PowerHA SystemMirror for i product at HelpSystems. Brian has spoken at events, webinars, and users groups—including COMMON—since 2014. He is a co-inventor on multiple patent applications and co-author on technical publications in high availability and distributed computing.
Prior to joining HelpSystems Brian spent six years with IBM in Rochester, Minnesota. Roles at IBM included being the development architect for PowerHA and working on IBM i virtual I/O and communication I/O device drivers. He earned his master's degree in software engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2017.
Aaron Fistler
Principal Software Engineer
Fortra
Aaron is an experienced software developer with experience in backup and recovery software products.
He has strong communication skills, with background in object oriented programming, software design,
agile/lean development, and test. -
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In this session, Devansh Kumar, Sanjula Ganepola and Edmund Reinhardt from our IBM i Development team, explored Project Bob and its exciting impact on RPG development. You’ll also find insights into the latest innovations shaping IBM i and what they mean for developers and businesses alike.
In this session, Devansh Kumar, Sanjula Ganepola and Edmund Reinhardt from our IBM i Development team, explored Project Bob and its exciting impact on RPG development. You’ll also find insights into the latest innovations shaping IBM i and what they mean for developers and businesses alike.
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Join Yan Zhuo and Steve Will for an essential update on the IBM i strategy and roadmap. This session will provide a forward-looking view into the future of IBM i, including the latest innovations, investment areas, and how IBM is evolving the platform to meet modern business demands. Whether you're a long-time IBM i advocate or exploring its capabilities for the first time, this session will help you understand where the platform is headed and how it continues to deliver value in hybrid cloud, AI, and mission-critical workloads.
Join Yan Zhuo and Steve Will for an essential update on the IBM i strategy and roadmap. This session will provide a forward-looking view into the future of IBM i, including the latest innovations, investment areas, and how IBM is evolving the platform to meet modern business demands. Whether you're a long-time IBM i advocate or exploring its capabilities for the first time, this session will help you understand where the platform is headed and how it continues to deliver value in hybrid cloud, AI, and mission-critical workloads.
Steven Will
Chief Architect - IBM i, IBM
Steve has worked on the IBM i operating system and its predecessors since the initial development of the AS/400. Since 2007, he has been the IBM i Chief Architect, responsible for the strategy of the operating system and the plan for future releases.
Yan Zhuo
IBM i Product Management Leader
IBM
I have been with IBM for over twenty years, starting out as tech sales and consultant, then product management. Acting as a technical product manager, I worked with a development team, and together we delivered a next-gen requirements management product that was used by NASA for its mission to Mars. I launched the first multi-tenant SaaS with an on-prem delivery before IBM has the hybrid cloud infrastructure. And the multi-tenant SaaS product won the first subscription deal for IBM Cloud. Recently I have delivered business partner activation kits for watsonx.ai, watsonx.data and watsonx.governance. watsonx is IBM's generative AI platform.
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Join Steve Will, IBM i Chief Architect, as he introduces the IBM i platform and the exciting new #ProjectBob — a next-generation AI-powered code assistant designed to support developers working with IBM i.
Join Steve Will, IBM i Chief Architect, as he introduces the IBM i platform and the exciting new #ProjectBob — a next-generation AI-powered code assistant designed to support developers working with IBM i.
Steven Will
Chief Architect - IBM i, IBM
Steve has worked on the IBM i operating system and its predecessors since the initial development of the AS/400. Since 2007, he has been the IBM i Chief Architect, responsible for the strategy of the operating system and the plan for future releases.
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In this Guided Tour, Wayne Bowers explores IBM i Access Client Solutions (IBM i ACS)—a critical interface for both IT and business users interacting with IBM i. Understanding how to administer and control IBM i ACS is essential for maintaining a secure and efficient environment. This session takes a deeper dive into the tools IBM provides to administer and restrict access within IBM i ACS. We’ll examine the ACSConfig.properties file, how it can be used to manage behaviors, and how to safeguard those configurations. We’ll also explore methods to limit user access to specific ACS functions, and conclude with a brief look at how ACS features can be automated through scripting.
In this Guided Tour, Wayne Bowers explores IBM i Access Client Solutions (IBM i ACS)—a critical interface for both IT and business users interacting with IBM i. Understanding how to administer and control IBM i ACS is essential for maintaining a secure and efficient environment.
This session takes a deeper dive into the tools IBM provides to administer and restrict access within IBM i ACS. We’ll examine the ACSConfig.properties file, how it can be used to manage behaviors, and how to safeguard those configurations. We’ll also explore methods to limit user access to specific ACS functions, and conclude with a brief look at how ACS features can be automated through scripting.Wayne Bowers
Software Engineer - IBM
Wayne Bowers has been with IBM since 1997, where he works with the IBM i Global Support Center in Rochester MN. He is an Advisory Software Engineer specializing in the support of the IBM i Access (aka Client Access) products, Console, the TCP Telnet communications server, and the IFS.
Wayne has been developing and delivering presentations since 1999, and at COMMON and other User Groups and IBM Conferences since 2009.
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Amy Blea and Steve Will share how modernization doesn’t have to mean disruption. IBM i empowers business leaders and developers to modernize with confidence—building on what works instead of replacing it. With deployment flexibility, you can optimize applications across hybrid environments, integrate cloud-native solutions, and extend core systems via APIs. Developers can refactor code, automate testing, and add AI capabilities—all while keeping critical workloads running.
Amy Blea and Steve Will share how modernization doesn’t have to mean disruption. IBM i empowers business leaders and developers to modernize with confidence—building on what works instead of replacing it. With deployment flexibility, you can optimize applications across hybrid environments, integrate cloud-native solutions, and extend core systems via APIs. Developers can refactor code, automate testing, and add AI capabilities—all while keeping critical workloads running.
Steven Will
Chief Architect - IBM i, IBM
Steve has worked on the IBM i operating system and its predecessors since the initial development of the AS/400. Since 2007, he has been the IBM i Chief Architect, responsible for the strategy of the operating system and the plan for future releases.
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IBM i Access Client Solutions (IBM i ACS) is a foundational tool for interacting with the IBM i platform. This session will begin with an overview of IBM i ACS, presented by Wayne Bowers, covering its core features and capabilities. Attendees will then be guided through a structured, step-by-step approach to deploying IBM i ACS in their environments.
BM i Access Client Solutions (IBM i ACS) is a foundational tool for interacting with the IBM i platform. This session will begin with an overview of IBM i ACS, presented by Wayne Bowers, covering its core features and capabilities. Attendees will then be guided through a structured, step-by-step approach to deploying IBM i ACS in their environments.
Wayne Bowers
Software Engineer - IBM
Wayne Bowers has been with IBM since 1997, where he works with the IBM i Global Support Center in Rochester MN. He is an Advisory Software Engineer specializing in the support of the IBM i Access (aka Client Access) products, Console, the TCP Telnet communications server, and the IFS.
Wayne has been developing and delivering presentations since 1999, and at COMMON and other User Groups and IBM Conferences since 2009.
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Join Brock Chamblin as he speaks on Instana -- IBM's observability and automation tool for the entirety of the organization. He will go over the three pillars of observability with Instana, the IBM i-specific Instana features and use-cases, and how Instana can be used to benefit any organization.
Join Brock Chamblin as he speaks on Instana -- IBM's observability and automation tool for the entirety of the organization. He will go over the three pillars of observability with Instana, the IBM i-specific Instana features and use-cases, and how Instana can be used to benefit any organization.
Brock Shamblin
Software Engineer
IBM
Brock Shamblin in a Software Engineer at IBM that graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Masters of Science in Computer Science.
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Join Scott Forstie, the SQL Tutor, to learn how the very powerful SQL language can be used beyond the database. He will go over tips and tricks for system managers, security managers, database engineers, application developers, and more!
Join Scott Forstie, the SQL Tutor, to learn how the very powerful SQL language can be used beyond the database. He will go over tips and tricks for system managers, security managers, database engineers, application developers, and more!
Scott Forstie
Db2 for i Business Architect
Scott Forstie is a Senior Technical Staff Member within IBM i development and spends most of his time working as the Db2 for i Business Architect. He has worked on IBM operating system development since joining IBM in 1989.
Scott is a frequently published author, speaker at industry events around the globe and can be found @Forstie_IBMi and forstie@us.ibm.com. Scott is an avid runner and enjoys cooking.
