The Paradigm Shift

Nov 12, 2025

@NealWhittle brings us "The Paradigm Shift" - SDLC vs ADLC.

 

Neal states: "When hashtag#IBM announced a strategic partnership with Anthropic to accelerate the development of enterprise-ready hashtag#AI, it released a first-of-its-kind guide focusing on the Agent Development Lifecycle (ADLC). The report describes a paradigm shift from SDLC (Software Dev Life Cycle) to ADLC (Agent Dev Life Cycle). If you understand the three fundamental differences, you are well ahead of the crowd."

 

"From deterministic to probabilistic: software follows predictable execution paths, while agents make dynamic decisions."

 
"From static to adaptive: Software has fixed functionality whilst agents can learn and evolve."

 
"From code-first to evaluation-first: Traditional software metrics can't predict agent success, so the ADLC must rely on systematic measurement of agent behavior and evaluation of business outcomes." 

 

Here is a cheatsheet to help visualize "The Paradigm Shift" 

 

 

 

There is a corresponding IBM document titled: 

"Architecting Secure Enterprise AI Agents with MCP (Model Context Protocol) - A Strategic Guide to Agentic Development" which can be found here. 

 

@Gemini defines SDLC vs ADLC this way:

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

• Definition: A process used in the software industry to design, develop, and test high-quality software.
• Focus: A broad, traditional approach to software development, often viewed as more linear.
• Phases: Typically includes phases like planning, design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance.
• Goal: To produce high-quality software, minimize costs, and complete the project in the shortest possible time.   
  Agent Development Life Cycle (ADLC)
  • Definition: A new lifecycle specifically for developing AI agents, addressing their unique probabilistic and adaptive nature.
  • Focus: Building reliable, robust, and adaptive AI agents, with a strong emphasis on tuning and optimization.
  • Phases: Combines continuous loops for experimentation (between build and test) and runtime optimization (between operate and monitor) with traditional phases like design, build, and deploy.
  • Goal: To ensure successful, reliable, and secure AI agents, with continuous adaptation and governance integrated throughout the process. 

IBM i on Power - Performance FAQ: November 2025

Nov 7, 2025

  

 

 

IBM has released the latest "IBM i on Power - Performance FAQ" dated Nov 2025.

The online PDF to it can be found here 

Note: It is also listed on the "IBM i Extras" page. 

 

IBM Unveils Beta MCP Server to Transform AI on IBM i

Oct 31, 2025 

"IBM's release of the beta MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server for IBM i marks a groundbreaking moment ... " Read the article here

 

ITJungle article "Beta Of MCP Server Opens Up IBM i For Agentic AI" 

can be found here

 

GitHub MCP Server site can be found here 

IBM "i on GRC - ISO 27001"

Oct 21, 2025

 John Flack - IBM i Engineer | GRC & Quantitative Risk Specialist has written the      

 "i on GRC" which has explored ISO / IEC 27001 clause by clause translating one 

 of the world’s most influential governance frameworks into the language of IBM i 

 security, audit, and modernization.

 John states "Together, these articles form a complete walk-through of the ISO 

 27001 management system as applied to IBM i." 

 

 ISO 27001 is defined as:                                                                                                                         The leading international standard that formally specifies the requirements for 

 establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an Information 

 Security Management System (ISMS).

 In essence, it provides a systematic, structured, and risk-based approach to  

 managing and protecting an organization's sensitive information assets to ensure 

 their:

• Confidentiality: Ensuring information is accessible only to those authorized to have access.

• Integrity: Safeguarding the accuracy and completeness of information and processing methods.

• Availability: Ensuring authorized users have access to information and associated assets when required.

The standard is applicable to organizations of all types and sizes across all sectors, helping them manage security risks, reduce vulnerabilities to threats like cyberattacks, and meet contractual and regulatory obligations.

  

 In order, the clauses are: (Right click to open each clause in a new tab).

 

 Leadership 

 Planning 

 Support 

 Operation 

 Performance 

 Improvement 

 

 John goes on to say:

 "Each installment follows the same principle: governance only matters when it  

 lives in the system.

 I hope you'll see in this series that a 'legacy platform' running decades-deep 

 workloads in some cases can meet modern standards of governance, risk, and 

 compliance when we learn to speak both its technical and organizational dialects.  

  

Together, these articles form a complete walkthrough of the ISO 27001 management system as applied to IBM i from intent to implementation, and from evidence to improvement." 

 

 

Free IBM i Educational Courses

Oct 17, 2025  

There was an IBM "TechXchange Community Daily" email dated Oct 16, 2025. In the email was a message stating:    

                                                                                                                                                                 "Announcing two free IBM i courses: DL06004G and DL06005G."

 The link to this announcement can be found here. 

 

 

DL06004G: Introduction to IBM i 

DL06005G: Getting Started with IBM i Development 

 

DL06014G: IBM Power VS Workshop 

 

Note: An IBM ID is needed to logon or an IBM ID can be created on the fly.

 

 

"Project BOB"

Oct 14, 2025

 

 

IBM has announced "Project BOB" for developing better code. Per @Steve Will on his IBM i blog on Tech Channel:

 

"The IBM i community has been waiting for an AI coding assistant to help with the immense volume of critical software written in RPG and other languages. We’ve been talking about such an assistant, and how it can help address the need for IBM i skills while also guiding application modernization. Today, that assistant was announced. These requirements are some of the many which are addressed by Project Bob. We are excited to use Project Bob as the foundational tool to help our clients move forward on IBM i and Power." 

 

Steve's Tech Channel "You and I" Blog can be found here.

The IBM "Project Bob" page can be found here.

 

Article from ITJungle can be found here.

 

Project "BOB" YouTube Channel can be found here 

 

Tech Channel Article: "Project Bob Supercharges IBM i’s Plans for an AI Code Assistant" can be found here 

 

Link to the IBM i Reference Pages Blog "MCP Server" posting can be found here 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

From @Neil Whittle - IBMi Consultant, Author, Speaker, AI Enabler, RPG expert: 

 

"Bob is more than just a coding assistant. Whether it's a modernization project or building something new, with agentic workflows, built- in security and enterprise-grade deployment flexibility, Bob has the power to transform across the full SDLC to become the go-to IDE."

 

"Bob is an ai-powered IDE and pair developer. More thanjust auto-complete or suggestions, a developer can use Architect Mode to scope and design complex systems or collaborate in Code Mode to move fast and iterate efficiently."

 

"Throughout the SDLC, from design through  coding, testing, deployment and maintenance,B ob retains context across editing sessions, so developers don't have to switch tools or lose track."

 

"Bob supports enterprise constraints (security, governance, on-prem/cloud, compliance) more deeply than consumer grade or single-task A1 tools so tasks can be done with full awareness of dependencies to help you deliver secure,
production-ready code."

 

"Bob breaks down complex tasks and coordinates specialized agents across code, tests, documentation and pipelines. There is in-built functionality to bring in quantum security and other compliance and vulnerability scans directly into the IDE."

 

"You can run Bob on macOS, Windows or Linux and deploy in your cloud to meet governance and data-residency requirements. Use 'BobShell' to create
repeatable, self-documenting workflows, deal for CI/CD pipelines and recipe-driven
upgrades."

 

"It seems likely that both the Watsonx Code Assistant for Z for Cobol (released in
October 2028) and Watsonx Code Assistant for RPG on the IBM I (still in
preview) will be integrated directly into Project Bob, offering developers an
unrivalled ai-powered IDE!"

 

 

Diagnostic QSYSOPR Message Queue SQL

Oct 10, 2025 

 

Sometimes you need a method to diagnose the QSYSOPR message queue to find out when a message was answered, who answered it and how it was answered.

 

This SQL provides that for you. The SQL posted here looks back 7 days and is adjustable.

 

--- QSYSOPR System Messages ---
--- Who answered the message? ---

--- Columns prefixed with the "A" come from the error result
--- and those "B" from the reply result. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------       

 

SELECT A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP AS "Date/Time of Error Msg",
       A.MESSAGE_ID AS "Msg ID",
       A.FROM_JOB AS "Job Generated Error Msg",
       A.MESSAGE_TEXT AS "Msg Text",
       B.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP AS "Reply Date/Time",
       SUBSTR(B.MESSAGE_TEXT, 1, 10) AS "Reply",
       A.FROM_USER AS "Reply by"
         FROM TABLE (QSYS2.MESSAGE_QUEUE_INFO(QUEUE_LIBRARY => 'QSYS',
                QUEUE_NAME => 'QSYSOPR', 
                SEVERITY_FILTER => 99)) A,
           LATERAL (SELECT MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP,
                    MESSAGE_TEXT, FROM_USER
                FROM TABLE (QSYS2.MESSAGE_QUEUE_INFO(QUEUE_LIBRARY => 'QSYS', 
                             QUEUE_NAME => 'QSYSOPR',
                             SEVERITY_FILTER => 99))  

                WHERE CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) >= CURRENT DATE - 7 DAYS AND 
                      CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) <= CURRENT DATE
                      AND ASSOCIATED_MESSAGE_KEY = A.MESSAGE_KEY) B
          
     ORDER BY "Date/Time of Error Msg" ASC 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Other date options are:

 

---  Single Date             
---                 WHERE CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) LIKE '%2025-08-03%'
---                   AND ASSOCIATED_MESSAGE_KEY = A.MESSAGE_KEY) B
 

--- Or 

                  
---  Range of Hard Coded Dates               
---                WHERE CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) >= YYYY-MM-DD' AND 
---                  CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) <= 'YYYY-MM-DD'
---                 AND ASSOCIATED_MESSAGE_KEY = A.MESSAGE_KEY) B

 

IBM i V7R5 TR7 & V7R6 TR1 Announcements

Oct 7, 2025 

IBM has announced IBM i V7R5 TR7 and V7R6 TR1. The planned availability date is Nov 21, 2025.

 

The V7R5 TR7 page can be found here. 

 

The V7R6 TR1 page can be found here. 

 

  

Nostalgia Vault & Vintage "AS400" TV Ads

Oct 2, 2025

 

I thought this would be a good time to bring a few smiles to the fall season. On that note, may I present the "Nostalgia Vault & Vintage 'AS400' TV Ads" page.

 

I think you'll enjoy some of the pictures and links on this page which can be found

here. 

 

 

IBM Product Security Central

Sept 25, 2025 

This came to my attention from a tech thread. It was about IBM i CVE's being able to be SQL'd against the PTF's installed on a system / partition. There is an "IBM Product Security Central" site that looks like this: 

 

It can be found here.       

 

Simply enter IBM i in the "Search Security Bulletins" dialog box and the IBM i CVE's will be displayed:

 

 

 

 

IBM Product Security Central is also listed on the "CVE's" page in the "Other Assets" area of the blog.

 

The IBM "RFE - Request for Enhancement" / "Ideas" page can be found here.

                            

IBM i Podcast: "You, Me and IBM i"

Sept 24, 2025 

Some of you may be aware of this but if not, it's the IBM i "You, Me and IBM i" Podcast. Brought to you by IBM'ers Alex Marquis and Kurt Schroeder.

The site states: "The You, Me, and IBM i podcast offers an inside look at the real lives of the technical support experts at the IBM i Global Support Center. Each episode explores a new aspect of support, and leaves listeners better able to solve their own issues and get back to business." 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. It's a wealth of info.

The home page can be found here. 

IBM i PRTCMDUSG Command

Sept 23, 2025

Nick Litten @Nick Litten brings us this article about IBM i command PRTCMDUSG. I don't know about you, but I haven't used this command in quite some time. It's extremely handy when planning an OS upgrade. As Nick states: "Even a PTF can change a command's behavior".   

Nick's article can be found here 

IBM i System Limits / Maximum Capacity

Sept 22, 2025

This is something that is overlooked. It is the IBM i System Limits / Maximum Capacity values. The values can be found here. (Change the OS Version as Needed). 

Per IBM "If you exceed system limitations, you might experience an application outage or a system outage. Avoid these types of outages by being aware of the maximum capacities and system limitations in advance."

An example of the # of spooled files allowed on a system / partition:                                                              Maximum number of spooled files in the system and basic user ASP's                                                    Approximately 2,610,000  

 

An SQL like this can quickly provide the answer to how many spooled files are on your system / partition:                                                                                               

 

Select NUMBER_KEYS from QSYS2.SYSPARTITIONINDEXES 

  Where (TABLE_SCHEMA = 'QSPL') and 

              (TABLE_NAME = 'QASPLINFO') and 

              (INDEX_NAME = 'QASPDEVQ') 

 

Here is a breakdown of the query:
Select Number_Keys: This specifies the column to be returned. Number_Keys indicates the number of key columns defined for an index.

From QSYS2.SYSPARTITIONINDEXES: This is the target table for the query. SYSPARTITIONINDEXES is a system catalog view that provides details about all indexes built on tables within the database.

Where (TABLE_SCHEMA = 'QSPL'): This condition filters the results to only include indexes in the QSPL library. On an IBM i system, QSPL is the dedicated library where the system stores its spooled file data.

and (TABLE_NAME = 'QASPLINFO'): This further narrows the search to indexes on the QASPLINFO table. This is a system-maintained table within the QSPL library that holds information about spooled files.

and (INDEX_NAME = 'QASPDEVQ'): This specifies the exact index to be queried, which is QASPDEVQ. This index is used by the system to manage spooled file information. 

In summary, the query is asking the database for the number of key fields that make up the QASPDEVQ index, which is used internally by the IBM i operating system to manage spooled files.