For more than a decade, Tom Huntington of Power by Fortra and IBM luminary Steve Will have kicked off the fall with a webinar on the state of IBM i. This year’s talk included the architectural principles that have kept IBM i stable for decades, new resiliency capabilities, AI tools like Bob, and a look at how Power by Fortra continues to support the platform through security and modernization. More importantly, this roundtable marks Will's last year as IBM i CTO and Chief Architect, and the first appearance of his successor, 26-year IBM i veteran Kris Whitney. "I am about to retire,” Will said, “I’m just two weeks from walking out the doors for the last time!"  

In his final presentation, Will discussed the 40-year track record of IBM i, tracing the platform's roots to when System/36's ease of use merged with the robust architecture of System/38. This combination provides four must-haves for every application developer: data management, security, flexibility, and integration. By building those four key capabilities into the operating system itself, IBM saved developers the trouble of reinventing that functionality each time. "If we manage the data for them, that will be a benefit," Will said. 

That design philosophy built the unmatched durability that is the signature promise of IBM i. Applications written decades ago still run today, largely unchanged, on a technology independent machine interface that insulates software from underlying hardware shifts. "If you could promise users the code they wrote in 1988 would still run in 2026, we’d have a winner," is how Will explained the original sales pitch.  

This strategy still guides the platform, as IBM invests in the solution providers who build on IBM i, offer customers a wide range of modernization options, and integrate what businesses need right into the OS. As none of that happens alone, Will credited the broader ecosystem of vendors, business partners, and IBM Champions (not to mention Power by Fortra’s independent marketplace survey) for keeping the IBM roadmap grounded in what clients need. 

According to Whitney, IBM i is focused on relieving three pressures felt by every CIO: uptime, cybersecurity, “the AI integrity gap,” a double-edged sword by which AI can both strengthen defenses and power new attacks. His answer is a platform that evolves nonstop without disrupting what already works. 

To this effect, Whitney announced a new technology refresh that introduces Migrate While Active for near-zero-downtime OS upgrades, building on the Db2 Mirror family already used for continuous availability. Other highlights included stronger key management options (including IBM Key Protect and a platform-level key store on Power10+), easier CVE visibility inside Navigator, human-readable journal viewing, and a performance boost for virtual Ethernet. 

AI was a major throughline as Whitney introduced enhancements to IBM's AI assistant Bob, which has been sharpened into both a developer and a database engineer for IBM i. The platform's biggest AI advantage is that businesses won’t need new infrastructure to support Bob. According to Whitney, "The most capable AI foundation in your enterprise is you already own it. You don't have to go out and buy another box."  

Rather than forcing customers to create AI tooling from scratch, Whitney declared IBM is “positioning specific AI solutions to make your life better instead of letting you build everything yourself." Power11 hardware updates, including the new entry-level S1112, plus expanded ransomware detection through the CyberVault initiative, all reinforce the growing AI-ready foundation in IBM i. 

Huntington stressed the position Power by Fortra holds as a longtime independent partner to the IBM i community, running the platform's free security scan for over a quarter century. Too many organizations own tools they barely touch, leading him to declare, "I hate Dustyware, software you're barely using." To ensure clients don’t just install their software but actually utilize it, Power by Fortra offers health checks to maximize the value of every investment. Huntington also lauded his company’s 38-year history and long-standing partnerships around PowerHA, BRMS, and RDi. 

Will looked back on his mission over two decades steering IBM i. "Since becoming chief architect nineteen years ago, I saw my job as making sure all the people using IBM i would have jobs well into the future." He departs this year, confident in what comes next, saying, "I head into retirement excited for the future, but also knowing that we've left this platform in great shape with Whitney."