2025 IBM i Predictions, Part Three

January 27, 2025 Alex Woodie

What will happen this year in the little neck of the IT wood that we call the IBM i community? It’s hard to say for sure, but one thing is certain: It sure a lot of fun guessing what might happen or what could happen! And who knows? Some of these predictions may actually come true.

After 20 years with IBM i software vendor PKS Software, Heidi Schmidt has seen a thing or two in the midrange. There have been many ups and downs over the years, and a wide array of names. But Schmidt is bullish that the IBM i community is currently on the way up, and so what better way to solidify that momentum than a new name and identity? Schmidt, the chief executive officer and managing director of PKS, speaks at length about this:

2025 could mark a pivotal moment for the IBM i platform as IBM introduces a bold new identity to reframe perceptions and assert its relevance in the modern IT landscape. While the platform’s technical strengths have stood the test of time, its branding has struggled to keep pace with its innovation. This year might finally bring the refresh that long-time users and prospective adopters have been waiting for.

Here’s the rationale for that: IBM i’s roots trace back decades, and while the platform has consistently evolved to embrace modern workloads, the perception of IBM i as “legacy” persists, especially among younger IT professionals unfamiliar with its capabilities. IBM’s marketing strategy has often emphasized the technical merits of the platform but has not fully addressed this perception gap. As businesses increasingly focus on modernization, cloud adoption, and digital transformation, IBM i risks being overlooked due to outdated branding rather than technical limitations.

What a rebrand might look like: IBM could retire the ‘IBM I’ name and introduce a fresh, modern branding that reflects its cutting-edge capabilities, such as integration with hybrid cloud, AI, and APIs. A name like “IBM CoreOS” or “IBM QuantumEdge” might evoke innovation and align with broader enterprise trends.

IBM’s rebranding campaign could emphasize stories of successful modernization on IBM i, positioning it as the bridge between rock-solid reliability and future-ready technology. A focus on cloud-native development, API-driven architectures, and integration with emerging technologies like quantum computing could reshape its image.

The rebrand could celebrate the community that has built and maintained IBM i applications for decades while also highlighting efforts to onboard new talent. Featuring young developers and startups innovating on IBM i could further its appeal to the next generation of IT professionals. The branding refresh would likely include a sleek new logo, a bold color palette, and a redesigned interface for IBM i tools and resources to align with modern design aesthetics. This would extend to educational materials, developer resources, and even the IBM i Access Client Solutions interface.

A modernized identity could capture the attention of startups, cloud-native developers, and younger IT professionals, expanding IBM i’s reach beyond traditional enterprise environments. A well-executed rebrand would also energize the existing IBM i community, providing validation that their platform of choice is not just relevant but at the forefront of innovation. By shifting the narrative from “legacy platform” to “modern powerhouse,” IBM i could attract businesses looking for a dependable yet innovative backbone for their IT operations.

A rebrand could align IBM i with IBM’s broader strategic goals, such as hybrid cloud and AI leadership, creating a unified vision that resonates across industries. But convincing long-time users that a rebrand does not mean abandoning the platform’s core values of stability and reliability. Ensuring that the rebrand is more than cosmetic and includes substantial investments in tools, resources, and partnerships.

With the right strategy, a rebranding effort in 2025 could transform IBM i from a misunderstood legacy platform to a celebrated cornerstone of modern IT infrastructure. This fresh identity would honor its rich history while embracing the future, making IBM i indispensable for the next wave of enterprise innovation.

We noticed a boost in the number of younger folks at the POWERUp Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, in May. That youthful trend will continue in 2025, predicts Amy Williams, principal security consultant for Fortra, who tells us:

For the year of 2025, I predict that there will be a greater influx of newcomers to the IBM i community, and they will positively affect the community with fresh perspective and new ideas. With the new pipeline of students and programs being introduced in the IBM i community and as people are retiring from full time administration and programming, there is an energy that will fill in the gaps and possibly bring more innovation and excitement to the ecosystem.

Christopher Burns, an IBM i developer with Tri-Delta Resources, shared a non-IBM i related prediction that is still quite pertinent to the IBM i ecosystem:

I believe that in 2025, the next great wave of AI applications will focus on verifying the authenticity of digital images. As AI is used more and more to produce life-like images, distinguishing the physical from the virtual can be a challenge for those of us whose eyes have logged a lot of miles, if you know what I mean. There is no shortage of smarty pants social media hacks who will be quick to point out that the person in the background has a sixth finger, or condescendingly ask “where did this person’s leg go?”

But for those of us with more important things to do in life besides study images with a microscope, an application to give us a quick thumbs up or thumbs down on an image’s authenticity would be useful. I see a few tools in their infancy, but in 2025, I think they will become much more mainstream and perhaps standard fare on smart phones and tablets.

Richard Dolewski, who holds the title of VP Hybrid Enterprise Solution-Evangelist at Lightedge (formerly Connectria), has three predictions for us revolving around the novelty of cloud-first, the notion of a “holistic” cloud strategy, and AI’s broad impact on data, resiliency, scalable performance, and security:

Hybrid cloud strategies will continue to evolve, with more businesses shifting away from “cloud-first” silos and moving toward application workload-specific deployments. The limitations of one-size-fits-all cloud models have proven this door is closing fast. Companies must analyze which applications benefit from public cloud capabilities and which workloads are better suited for on-premises or private cloud environments.

In 2025, IT leaders need to make strategic decisions based on workload analytics (data) rather than committing to a cloud posture strictly because of a trend or reactive pressure. Businesses recognize the importance of having flexibility in where and how they deploy their workloads to meet the challenges of digital evolution.

The evolving role of GenAI in the IBM Power community will push enterprises to rethink how they approach their data and systems management. The power of AI lies in its ability to automate routine tasks while also enabling higher-level predictive insights delivering operational awareness and insights.

One example is to consider staying away from the green screen and automate system checks using QSYS2 System tables to simplify operations and gain access to structured metadata about your DB, security, system objects, and configurations. Business leaders can utilize proven IBM i scripts to schedule checks and provide real time analytics. This seamless integration of AI into operational workflows has the potential to transform system utilization, performance, and cloud consumption, freeing up team bandwidth for more strategic activities and system resources by saving you dollars on your monthly billable resource consumption.

IBM i is the foundation for innovation, agility, and unstoppable business capabilities. Embrace 2025 with purpose towards continuous improvement.

The graying of the IBM i user base is a perpetual concern. That will drive many of the personnel and technology decisions for IBM i shops in 2025 and beyond, predicts Chuck Losinski, the director of technical solutions for Fortra:

A wide swath of our community members will be retiring in 2025 or soon thereafter. In general, the community has been doing a pretty good job backfilling with internal and external resources either human, software tooling (including cloud) and MSPs to continue the viability of the platform for our respective businesses for another few decades and beyond. Our veteran IBM i experts have been making sure they “leave a legacy” and in good order.

IBM continues to up their game regularly with updated Power chips and servers so the hardware side looks bright. Artificial intelligence will allow the AppDev folks to be extra productive given the reduction in overall body count. Also, to this day the support of SQL and modern languages has given robust access to IBM i as the background database server. You don’t need to be an RPG expert to be productive on the platform anymore, though the RPG of today doesn’t resemble what we learned on AS/400.

Bob Losey, the president of IBM business partner Source Data Products in Newport Beach, California, says that, while predicting the future with certainty is impossible, IBM’s consistent patterns over the decades provide valuable insights. Based on these patterns, here’s what he expects for 2025:

1. Higher Prices: Price increases for hardware, software, and related support services are likely. IBM has already announced hikes in these categories, likely for two main reasons: To encourage customers to purchase new Power10 servers before the end of 2024; and to adjust pricing in response to inflation. Additional price increases are expected, with further adjustments likely by the end of the second quarter of 2025.
2. Power 11 Announcement: IBM unveiled Power11 design details on November 13, 2024. If the timeline follows the Power10 announcement sequence, additional details about large Power11 systems (P20, P30, and P40 software tiers) for IBM’s largest IBM i installations may emerge between February and July 2025. Based on this pattern, IBM is likely to officially launch Power11 systems between April and September 2026.
3. New IBM i OS: IBM announced version 7.4 of IBM i on April 19, 2019. Given the historical pattern – version 7.3 was announced on April 12, 2016, and reached End of Life on September 30, 2023 – it is likely that IBM will introduce a new version of IBM i alongside Power11. A reasonable expectation would place version V7.4 End of Life between mid-2025 and mid-2026.
4. Power11 Performance Benefits for Large IBM Users: The performance enhancements with Power11 are expected to primarily benefit IBM’s larger user base. By leveraging PowerVM virtualization, these organizations can achieve improved price/performance ratios, reducing costs per user while maximizing value.

Moreover, most large IBM users rely on proprietary business software that has been tailored to their specific needs over decades (10–40 years). Combined with IBM i’s exceptional reliability (99.9999 percent uptime) and advanced support for AIX and Linux, this ensures long-term continuity and stability for these organizations.

However, small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face challenges with Power10 pricing. Many SMB users find Power10 over-provisioned, unable to fully utilize its substantial performance capabilities. For example, 80% of SMBs can adequately run their businesses on IBM i servers with 500–5,000 CPW, far below the 24,000 CPW rating of a single Power10 core. Consequently, many SMBs delay upgrading to Power10, transition to hosting solutions, or even consider moving away from the IBM i platform altogether.

5. Growth of IBM i Cloud Hosting Among SMBs: Cloud hosting for IBM i is projected to experience continued strong growth, particularly among SMBs. Businesses familiar with virtualization on other platforms have already seen how it can significantly lower total costs per user. Similarly, IBM i virtualization offers SMBs a compelling alternative, with hosting services often being significantly less expensive than maintaining an on-premise server. The cost advantages strongly favor hosting over on-premise solutions, making it an increasingly attractive option for SMBs.

Roger Pence is many things: A tireless product evangelist for ASNA, a talented writer and editor, and a fearless truthteller. Based on the 2025 predictions he shared with us, we can add one more item to that list: A lover of bad music from the 1970s (sorry, Roger):

AI continues to mature as a go-to tool for developers. But more importantly, C-level types and IBM i managers begin to reel in unreasonable AI expectations. They’ll begin to understand that AI is a tireless junior programmer, not a replacement for the seasoned programming team. By the end of 2025, generative AI will still be behind the eight-ball providing enterprise-level help with RPG. The perceived threat to intellectual properties rights and competitive advantages of RPG applications keeps RPG from comprehensive LLM discovery.

The reality of RPG programmers retiring looms large for many shops. Savvy shops will start planning on how to persist their system-of-record RPG applications (and their business) as RPG teams retire.

The jig is up for RDi. Code for IBM i becomes the de facto dev environment for the IBM i. Everyone but IBM will realize this and will continue to persist RDi for no good reason Microsoft’s October 2025 retirement of Windows 10 causes big headaches all around.

Disco makes a comeback! Get your dancing shoes ordered now.

Editor’s Note: After Pence made his ludicrous prediction, the MGM Grand Las Vegas announced it will spend $300 million to renovate its nearly 5,000 hotel rooms with a disco theme. We’re still not ordering the shoes, Roger.

That’s it for this year’s batch of predictions. Now let’s see which of them actually come true! (Except for the one about disco, God help us.)

Editor’s Note: TPM loves disco, and so do his wife and kids, and he learned to dance with his teachers in them there 1970s when he was in 5^th and 6^th grade. He also likes Hank Williams and Led Zeppelin and all kinds of bluegrass, folk, and classical music. Disco is just plain fun, cleaned up P-Funk for AM radio to make the mainstream shake their rumps. . . .

RELATED STORIES

2025 IBM i Predictions, Part Two

2025 IBM i Predictions, Part One