THE FOUR HUNDRED - Power Systems & IBM i Insights

1. Rolling The Die In 2026: IBM i Predictions, Take Two

   A traditional Chinese curse states “May you live in interesting times.”That curse may apply to IBM i shops in 2026, which opens with equal parts uncertainty and anticipation. Artificial intelligence looms large, not only over information technology, but life as we know it. Add in the other variables impacting the midrange in the second year of the second quarter of the 21st century Anno Domini, and what you get is…well, interesting.

   We start our second and final compilation of 2026 predictions with Bargav Balakrishnan, IBM’s vice president of product management for infrastructure. Balakrishnan took over the post …

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2. Perhaps 2026 Is The Year For Power Systems To Boom A Little

   In wrapping up IBM’s call with Wall Street analysts in the wake of Big Blue reporting its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025 – which was a very good one for the most part, by the way – chief executive officer Arvind Krishna referred to the IBM Company as a “software-led, platform-centric company.”

   This is no news to any of us who have been using or programming or analyzing the business of IBM over the many decades. Of course this is true. But for IBM, the main platform that is driving the big bucks at the top and …

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3. Guru: Binder Source Is Your Service Program’s Owner’s Manual

   If service programs are the backbone of modular RPG development, then binder source is the owner’s manual you didn’t know you needed. It’s not glamorous, but it’s the piece that ties everything together: Controlling what you export, defining your public API, and managing change over time. Yet, far too many shops treat binder source as optional – if they use it at all. That’s a mistake.

   Let’s start with what binder source actually does. When you create a service program, you need to tell the system which procedures should be visible to callers. You could just use EXPORT(*ALL) and call …

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4. Skills Displaces Cybersecurity As Top Concern For IBM i Shops

   Well, it was bound to happen eventually. After nine straight years as the top concern in the IBM i community, cybersecurity has finally fallen out of the number one position in Fortra’s annual IBM i Marketplace Survey. Taking its place atop the closely watched survey is IBM i skills, an issue that has been lurking in the background but now must be considered a priority for IBM i leaders.

   Fortra’s annual IBM i Marketplace Survey provides a broad barometer on what’s going on with the IBM i community. One of the most closely watched questions in the survey, …

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5. IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 28, Number 5

   This week there’s another winter storm whacking the eastern half of the United States, and we are also putting together the IBM i PTF Guide a little early in case some of the people working on The Four Hundred lose power. If all goes well, and you are reading this on Monday, then we got it all done before anything bad happened.

   This week, we start off with two security vulnerabilities.

   First, we have Security Bulletin: Multiple Vulnerabilities in IBM Java SDK affect IBM WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Application Server Liberty due to the January 2026 CPU, which you …

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