Talsco Weekly: It's Like 1999 All Over Again on IBM i

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

IBM i Brief: 🤝IBM and Anthropic unite on Project Bob. 📈 IBM TechXchange 2025 tackles AI adoption challenges. 💻 IBM Power Systems posts strong Q3 growth—but how much comes from IBM i?
AI: ↔️ IBM replaces Watson with Project Bob. 📈 IBM tackles the AI ROI challenge.
Career: 👨‍💻 Developers are driving strategy beyond code.
Development: 🗂️ IBM i audit journal receivers hit critical limit.
Modernization: 🤔 Rethinking digital transformation strategy.
Open Source: 🚀 IBM launches beta MCP server for IBM i.
Security: ✈️ Brussels Airport ransomware attack offers IBM i lessons. 🛡️Defend IBM i Against Ransomware: Live Webinar Nov 12th.

IBM i Brief

Commentary:

AI is no longer a buzzword—it’s reshaping enterprises at a pace Zeus Kerravala calls “faster than anything seen in three decades,” comparable to the internet revolution itself.

This week’s Talsco Weekly proves it: IBM partnering with Anthropic on Project Bob, Power Systems surging on AI demand, and even AI stumbling over Persian politeness.

One theme dominates: AI is here, it’s accelerating, and the enterprise landscape will never be the same.

🤝IBM and Anthropic unite on Project Bob

Announced at IBM TechXchange, Project Bob merges IBM’s enterprise expertise with Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4.5—widely regarded as the best LLM for code analysis.

The collaboration extends beyond Watson, supporting RPG and COBOL developers with code explanation, refactoring, and generation.

Built on Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol standard, Project Bob aims to bridge industrial automation and AI-driven development workflows.

📈 IBM TechXchange 2025 tackles AI adoption challenges

At TechXchange in Orlando, IBM focused on moving AI from vision to reality. Despite generative AI hype, only 5% of organizations report success with pilots. IBM announced its Anthropic partnership, Project Bob (delivering 45% developer productivity gains), and Project Infragraph to unify infrastructure complexity.

The pace of technological change is faster than I’ve ever seen it in my almost three decades as an analyst. - Zeus Kerravala

Furthermore:

It’s important to note that this isn’t just an incremental change to businesses; it’s a fundamental overhaul of the tools we use, the data we rely on, the security we build and the systems we deploy. It’s akin to the massive change we saw with the internet.

IBM emphasized ecosystem partnerships and enterprise-grade security as keys to scalable AI adoption.

💻 IBM Power Systems posts strong Q3 growth—but how much comes from IBM i?

Power Systems revenue hit $259 million in Q3 2025, up 12.5% year-over-year, outpacing IBM’s broader Distributed Infrastructure category.

The Power11 upgrade cycle is driving momentum, with analysts projecting Q4 could be the strongest quarter since 2018.

IBM expects full-year 2025 Power revenues to reach $1.67 billion, up 4.6% from 2024, with potential for accelerated growth through 2027 as AI integration expands.

💡 Takeaway:

IBM i quietly anchors one of IBM’s most profitable businesses — a steady, high-margin base that sustains the Power Systems division even when the company itself barely acknowledges it.

Why is this so?

IBM i shops renew maintenance consistently.
Purchase software (DB2/IBM i licenses) with high margins.
Require little sales overhead compared with large mainframe or Linux deals.

🔍 Reading between the lines

Based on the numbers in this article, it is possible that:

Roughly $600 million of IBM’s estimated $1.67 billion Power Systems revenue — and likely more than half of its profit — comes from IBM i customers.

AI

↔️ IBM replaces Watson with Project Bob IBM is consolidating its Watson X Code Assistant for i and System Z’s Code Assistant for COBOL into Project Bob, powered by Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet. The new tool expands functionality beyond the original Watson assistant, including support for RPG, CL, DDS, and SQL code explanation, refactoring, generation, and testing. While no delivery timeline exists, interested users can join a limited preview waitlist at ibm.com/products/bob. 📈 IBM tackles the AI ROI challenge

While C-suite executives pour budgets into AI pilots, only 1 in 5 successfully scale to production. IBM’s AI Academy episode explores how organizations can drive real returns by boosting productivity, building AI control centers, and reimagining operating models. The key insight: scale AI by breaking down silos to unleash human creativity, focusing on high-impact roles rather than chasing potential without measurable value.

Generative AI delivers immediate productivity gains while enabling digital products and services that create new revenue streams. As organizations scale gen AI, they’ll transform backend operations and democratize development—empowering everyone to code faster and smarter.

Driving this change requires defining strategy and use cases through both top-down vision and bottom-up innovation.

Focus on what moves the needle: if you could launch a new product in three months instead of twelve, how would that reshape your business?

Career

👨‍💻 Developers are driving strategy beyond code

IBM’s keynote explores how developers now shape experiences and fuel innovation in an AI-driven era. The role has expanded from writing code to influencing business strategy, designing user experiences, and leveraging hybrid integration tools.

New AI-powered development tools enable developers to build next-generation solutions faster.

The shift reflects how modern development requires strategic thinking alongside technical skills.

Development

🗂️ IBM i audit journal receivers hit critical limit “QAUJRN is the system’s audit journal that captures various pieces of information that you want it to. A friend has a job that uses the Display Journal command, DSPJRN, to retrieve the data from QAUDJRN. One day his job errored. Then what happened?

Modernization

🤔 Rethinking digital transformation strategy

European enterprises are pushing back against vendor pressure to migrate to cloud ERP platforms like SAP S/4HANA, questioning whether centralized cloud systems actually improve resilience or just create dependency.

Organizations are negotiating harder with big tech, resisting AI hype that oversells immature capabilities, and deliberately pausing transformations to assess risk and stabilize existing systems before committing to costly, disruptive platform changes that may not deliver clear business value.

Open Source

🚀 IBM launches beta MCP server for IBM i

IBM’s open-source team released a Model Context Protocol server enabling seamless AI integration with IBM i systems.

MCP facilitates communication between AI agents, tools, and data sources, transforming legacy platforms into AI-driven environments.

This strategic shift from Watson Code Assist to open-source MCP reflects IBM’s commitment to democratizing agentic AI capabilities across enterprise infrastructure.

Security

✈️ Brussels Airport ransomware attack offers IBM i lessons

In August 2024, Brussels Airport suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted operations for days. The incident highlights critical vulnerabilities that In August 2024, Brussels Airport suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted operations for days. The incident highlights critical vulnerabilities that IBM i systems share:

reliance on legacy protocols, insufficient network segmentation, and weak access controls.

IBM i shops can learn from this by implementing exit point monitoring, disabling outdated file sharing protocols, and adopting defense-in-depth strategies to prevent similar attacks from crippling mission-critical operations.

Ransomware is an operational threat. IBM i teams can prevent major disruptions by monitoring early indicators and reducing exposure.

If ransomware is on the top of mind, and it should be, you’re in luck.

🛡️Defend IBM i Against Ransomware: Live Webinar Nov 12th

Led by IBM i Security experts Carol Woodbury, CISSP, CRISC, Steve Riedmueller, and Justin Loeber, all IBM Champions, this webinar delivers defense-in-depth strategies using native OS tools to secure IFS NetServer.

⚠️ Why This Matters Now

IBM i CTO is sounding the alarm. Steve Will recently stated that the IBM i has experienced more attacks in the last 5 years than the entire history of the platform.

The threat is accelerating. Over 50 CVEs have been published for IBM i since January 2024 alone, and IBM is warning that their platform is under active threat.

The financial stakes are existential. IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report puts the U.S. average at $10.3 million. For mission-critical IBM i operations, a breach isn’t just expensive—it’s existential.

Most shops are exposed. Penetration tests consistently show a 99% probability that IBM i security configurations don’t meet NIST, DORA, CMMC, or PCI DSS standards.

Your perimeter won’t save you. Firewalls don’t address insider threats, misconfigurations, or lateral movement. IBM i systems face the same risks as Brussels Airport—but often with higher stakes.

🎯Make November 12th your deadline. The day you stop postponing and start protecting.

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