Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

IBM i Brief: 📈 IBM’s AI Future Shaping Up Strong (Financial). IBM i Insights: IBM i Investment Value, Outage Risks to the IBM i, and Latest PTF Updates. IBM’s Orchestrate: Pioneering AI as the Universal Interface 🎙️.
AI: 🤖 AI Skills: Key to Future Workforce? 🧠 Intel’s Gaudi 3 AI chip joins IBM’s cloud offerings. IBM’s Orchestrate: Pioneering AI as the Universal Interface 🎙️. 📊 Has generative AI has only made executives even more disgruntled with the state of IT?
Development: How can I find the largest IFS Folders on my IBM i System? 🔍 Retrieving Printer File Information Using SQL 🖨️.
Modernization: 🔄 Companies navigate aging through renewal and adaptation.

IBM i Brief

📈 IBM’s AI Future Shaping Up Strong (Financial)

IBM is making strides in AI implementation and consultancy, surpassing expectations with Q2 results. The company reported solid growth in core areas—software, consulting, and infrastructure—amid rising revenue and free cash flow. With watsonx AI platform and Granite models addressing data privacy concerns, IBM offers enterprises secure AI solutions. Their holistic approach to consulting, software, and AI development positions them as a go-to partner for scalable AI projects, appealing to companies seeking compliant solutions in a growing market.

Is IBM is poised to leverage its expertise and technology for sustained growth in the AI sector?

IBM i Insights: IBM i Investment Value, Outage Risks to the IBM i, and Latest PTF Updates

We have covered the below in recent issues, but here is a nice recap of some of the main stories for August 2024.

📄 DDC Whitepaper on IBM i Advantages and Challenges. DDC highlights IBM i’s strengths including reliability, scalability, and security. They address challenges like skill gaps and modernization, proposing solutions such as training programs and interface updates.

🚨 Could a CrowdStrike-like outage impact the IBM i? In July, a CrowdStrike outage disrupted tens of thousands of businesses globally. Despite initial cyberattack suspicions, it was due to testing flaws in the security software update. Concerns about IBM i vulnerability arose later. By implementing rigorous testing, staged deployment, and strong documentation practices, IBM i can mitigate risks and prevent similar disasters in its environment.

📊 IBM delivers quiet PTF updates. IBM’s latest PTF releases didn’t bring any major surprises, bringing relief to IT Admins handling updates. Improvements and fixes were made in ACS, SAP 7.5 for enhanced security, and fixes in Websphere’s Java management builder and Apache enhancements.

AI

🤖 AI Skills: Key to Future Workforce?

The emergence of generative AI introduced new dynamics to a labor market already in a state of change.

Organizations adapting to digital shifts faced a skills gap.

AI prompted a shift towards skill-based recruitment and development. The unknown lies in assessing the quality and quantity of emerging skills, paralleling software engineering’s evolution. CompTIA noted a 16% surge in AI-related job postings and skills demand, signaling AI’s integration into all facets of IT operations.

In IT, where will AI be useful?

🧠 Intel’s Gaudi 3 AI chip joins IBM’s cloud offerings

IBM plans to integrate Intel’s Gaudi 3 AI processor into its public cloud platform, positioning it as a competitor to Nvidia’s H100 GPU. The Gaudi 3 boasts improved power efficiency for AI inference and faster training times for large models. Based on a 5nm node, it features specialized MME and TPC modules optimized for various AI tasks, enhancing overall performance and data processing speed. IBM will make Gaudi 3 available in its Cloud Virtual Servers and watsonx suite.

Why this matters? The GenAI strategy for IBM i is built on the watsonx suite. IBM is all in on AI and trying to catch the other players in the market.

IBM’s Orchestrate: Pioneering AI as the Universal Interface 🎙️

Is IBM onto something here that will revolutionize AI?

At IBM Think, we had the chance to talk about Orchestrate and I mentioned that it felt like IBM might be exploring what I call the holy grail of natural language AI—which is making AI the next-generation computer interface to any and all software. Today in the marketplace there’s some confusion—people are hearing about AI assistants, chatbots and agents, but those are piecemeal interfaces. None of them really meet that vision of a single interface, where we can simply ask an AI to do something and they do it, regardless if it takes multiple applications.

Read the interview.

📊 Has generative AI has only made executives even more disgruntled with the state of IT?

The trend in information technology focuses on advancing tech capabilities, including AI. However, business leaders show a decreasing confidence in IT services. An IBM study reveals executives’ dissatisfaction despite technological advancements like generative AI.

Development

How can I find the largest IFS Folders on my IBM i System? 🔍

Here is a quick tutorial on how to find the largest IBM i IFS Folders

Retrieving Printer File Information Using SQL 🖨️

A new SQL View called PRINTER_FILE_INFO in the SYSTOOLS library now provides an easier way to access printer file information on IBM i systems. This feature, introduced in the recent Technology Refreshes, eliminates the need for APIs or DSPFD commands for retrieving such data.

Modernization

🔄 Companies navigate aging through renewal and adaptation

Every business undergoes a lifecycle from startup to maturity and potential decline.

While leaders often resist decline, accepting and adapting to a company’s age can be beneficial. Companies can fight aging through renewals (fixing existing operations), legacy technology (modernization), revamps (expanding into new markets), or rebirths (transforming the business model).

However, psychological factors and management incentives often push companies to pursue risky growth strategies instead of accepting their current stage.

Full Story: MIT Sloan Management Review

Take away: For IBM i shops looking to modernize, it is important to consider that the tech stack is only one aspect of revitalizing an organization. It is equally important for leadership to also recognize that legacy technology is deeply embedded in the organization. While much of it may seem to be old and outdated (the look and feel), much of the core business processes are the secret sauce that makes the organization successful and really are not outdated at all under the covers.

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