Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

IBM i Brief: 🚀 IBM shifts to open-source approach with Granite AI models. 🔍 UK Competition Authority investigates IBM’s $6.4B HashiCorp acquisition. 🚗 IBM predicts 80% of new vehicles will be electrified by 2035.
AI: AI Will Never Take Our Jobs Away. 🎓 IBM commits to massive AI training initiative. 🔄 IBM predicts shift from Gen AI to Agentic AI.
Development: 🎉 RPGPGM.com reflection on 2024’s achievements.
Data: 📊 Data lakehouses set to dominate analytics in 2025.
ERP: 🎂 Oracle’s PeopleSoft acquisition turns 20.
History: The Many Hats of the IBM i.

IBM i Brief

🚀 IBM shifts to open-source approach with Granite AI models

IBM’s latest Granite 3.0 model release adopts Apache 2.0 licensing, emphasizing transparency in security and safety features while demonstrating their commitment to open-source development in GenAI technology.

🔍 UK Competition Authority investigates IBM’s $6.4B HashiCorp acquisition

The CMA launched a Phase 1 probe into IBM’s HashiCorp acquisition, examining potential competition concerns in the UK cloud infrastructure market.

🚗 IBM predicts 80% of new vehicles will be electrified by 2035

According to IBM’s latest automotive study of 1,230 executives, 74% believe cars will be AI-controlled by 2035, with software development budgets expected to increase from 21% to 58%.

AI

AI Will Never Take Our Jobs Away

Throughout history, people have repeatedly feared that technological innovation would eliminate jobs. While some jobs do disappear, new opportunities and job categories always emerge.

If we were smart enough to invent Scrum Masters and convince an entire generation to use Jira and meet every 15 minutes in the name of “productivity”, then we can figure this one out.

😂

🎓 IBM commits to massive AI training initiative

IBM announced a commitment to train two million learners in AI over three years, focusing on underrepresented communities. The initiative leverages IBM SkillsBuild, offering free courses from AI fundamentals to generative AI, complete with hands-on simulations and digital credentials. The program includes AI-powered learning paths and partners with organizations globally to ensure equitable access to AI education.

🔄 IBM predicts shift from Gen AI to Agentic AI

It seems as though every time you read a headline there is a new AI term that is referenced.

According to IBM Philippines, 2025 will mark a transition from generative AI to agentic AI – intelligent agents capable of autonomous task execution. While Gen AI focuses on content creation, agentic AI promises to handle complex tasks independently, from travel planning to customer service. IBM emphasizes this shift represents ‘intelligence beyond assistance,’ with AI agents that can learn, self-correct, and proactively support users.

Gen AI vs agentic AI

Generative AI (Gen AI) refers to artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content, such as text, images, music, and more, by learning from existing data. Examples: ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, DALL-E.

While early systems in manufacturing excelled at repetitive tasks in controlled environments, today’s Agentic AI thrives in dynamic, unstructured settings.

Modern advancements like machine learning, IoT connectivity, and computer vision enable AI to adapt, learn, and make nuanced decisions.

From autonomous vehicles to smart factories, today’s systems surpass their predecessors in intelligence, scalability, and ethical design, transforming industries and redefining what autonomy means in the age of AI.

Here is more on what Agentic AI is and it’s potential use cases.

Development

🎉 RPGPGM.com reflection on 2024’s achievements

The beginning of the year is always a good time to recap the past year as well as share some insight or predictions on the year to come.

Here are the 10 most popular posts from Simon Hutchinson’s popular blog for the IBM i community.

Predictions: IBM Servers come will the Power11 chip and a new IBM i release (likely 7.6) are expected to launch in 2025.
Notable Anniversary: Did you know that Modern RPG (Totally Free) is 10 years old?

Data

📊 Data lakehouses set to dominate analytics in 2025

As the IBM i ecosystem becomes more intermingled and integrated with various tech stacks and technologies, it is important to understand the shift that has taken place from Cloud data warehouses to Lakehouses.

The world has seen all sorts of patterns for analytics: data lakes, data warehouses, in-memory analytics, and embedded analytics.

Industry experts predict over 50% of analytics workloads will run on lakehouse architectures next year, driven by cost savings and flexibility.

Companies transitioning from cloud data warehouses to lakehouses report savings exceeding 50%, while standardization of open data formats like Apache Iceberg and Delta Lake will accelerate adoption.

Understanding these different data architectures is crucial as the IBM i community considers their data and analytics strategies.

Here are the key terms and their definitions:

Terminology:

Data Lake: Centralized storage for unstructured and structured raw data.
Data Lakehouse: Hybrid system combining data lake and warehouse features.
Data Warehouses: Structured data storage optimized for analytics and reporting.
In-Memory Analytics: Analyzing data directly in memory for faster insights.
Embedded Analytics: Integrating analytics within applications for seamless user experience.

Cloud Data Warehouse vs Data Lakehouse:

While a cloud data warehouse is optimized for structured data with predefined schemas, which makes it ideal for high-performance analytics and complex querying…

A data lakehouse combines the capabilities of data lakes and warehouses, allowing it to handle both structured and unstructured data while supporting advanced use cases like machine learning.

While cloud data warehouses focus on SQL-based analytics and reporting, data lakehouses expand functionality by integrating AI/ML workloads alongside traditional analytics.

ERP

🎂 Oracle’s PeopleSoft acquisition turns 20

Do you remember PeopleSoft’s acquisition of JD Edwards, and then Oracle’s hostile takeover of PeopleSoft months later?

Twenty years ago next week, Oracle closed the $10.3 billion deal to buy HR and finance software specialist PeopleSoft after a fraught, drawn-out, hostile takeover.

I remember this well, at the time a large majority of my clients were running JD Edwards. Needless to say, there was a lot of uncertainty in the market.

The deal, which included JD Edwards, transformed Oracle from a database company into an applications giant, though faced fierce resistance through lawsuits and “poison pill” tactics before its eventual success.

This acquisition marked a significant shift in Oracle’s strategy and the broader ERP landscape. Today, Oracle continues to maintain both PeopleSoft and JD Edwards product lines while pushing customers toward its cloud offerings.

If you are up for a technology thriller of sorts, read the article in it’s entirety here.

History

The Many Hats of the IBM i

I stumbled upon this post highlighting the many hats of the IBM i.

IBM has developed a new computer that you can really hang your hat on🤠

Do you remember this ad?

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