2025 has already been an exciting year for everyone involved with the mainframe. The announcement of the z17 machine earlier this year has already generated a lot of buzz across the industry. The next SHARE conference coming up later this month in Cleveland represents a great opportunity for mainframe users to get together and learn more about not just the latest hardware technology but also the software that exploits and optimizes the opportunity the latest generation of IBM Z provides.

Within the IBM Z software team, we have a number of important updates that deliver the next level of operations and management tooling. From a major announcement around OMEGAMON integration with Grafana, to further developments on exploitation of open standards like OpenTelemetry, the focus has been on simplifying the experience for mainframe operations team across all skill levels.

As usual, we will have a mix of technical presentation sessions, demonstrations and hand-on lab experiences to enable attendees get the most out of their time in Cleveland. Our team of technical leaders and product managers will be available to meet throughout the week to discuss your requirements and feedback. Please reach out and connect with us at one of the sessions or at the IBM expo booth.

I've highlighted three sessions in particular here that we think will be "must attend" updates:

• You may not yet have heard about Concert for Z, IBM's new AI-powered IT operations management hub offering focused on simplifying mainframe operations to help maintain business resiliency while managing risk, compliance, and security. Get the full lowdown on how Concert for Z can help your business keep on top of operational management (Wednesday - 2:30pm - Session: 646 - "Introducing IBM Concert for Z: A Better Way to Empower IT Operations Using AI and Built-In Expertise")
• Since IBM's acquisition of IntelliMagic last year, there have been several significant enhancements delivered including new IMS performance reporting and day one support for z17 processor metrics. Learn about the latest capabilities and best practices for mainframe performance management (Wednesday - 10am - Session: 332 - "Access, Curate and Analyze Operational Data to Help Understand and Optimize System Performance")
• OMEGAMON has been a trusted tool for mainframe monitoring for nearly 50 years, yet it is constantly evolving and focused on delivering real-time insights across the entire mainframe infrastructure. Learn about the latest enhancements including AI-based use cases and modernized user experience through a Grafana-based interface (Wednesday - 3:45pm - Session: 399 - "Simplify Mainframe Operations With the Latest IBM Z OMEGAMON Enhancements")

Here's the full list of AIOps sessions available throughout the week. From IMS tools to Netview and OMEGAMON, there will be sessions you'd want to add to your personal agenda. Use the Session number to find them within the technical agenda in the SHARE app:

Monday August 18

• ·      1:15 pm - IMS, Analytics, and Data Streaming, Oh My! (Session ID: 562)
• ·      2:30 pm - What You Need to Know About IBM Z NetView's REST Server  (474)

Tuesday August 19

• 10:30 am - Workload Automation With Infused AI to Better Manage SLA Compliance (648)
• 11:00 am - Introducing the Next Generation IBM Z OMEGAMON User Interface (398)
• 2:15 pm - What’s New in IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for CICS   (801)
• 3:30 pm - Zowe CLI V2 and IBM Z NetView Plug-ins (471)
• 3:30 pm - Customer experience with IMS transaction orchestration accessing REST APIs in Cloud environments (544)

Wednesday August 20

• 7:30 am - Gaining Insights from Exploring MQ Statistics and Accounting Data (338)
• 8:45 am - The Fundamentals of Observability, OpenTelemetry and z/OS (420)
• 10:00 am - Access, Curate and Analyze Operational Data to Help Understand and Optimize System Performance (332)
• 1:15 pm - The Journey to Trusting AI for IT Operations Using Machine Learning (647)
• 2:30 pm - Introducing IBM Concert for Z: A Better Way to Empower IT Operations Using AI and Built-In Expertise (646)
• 2:30 pm - BYOD Lab: IMS Buffet of Labs (566)
• 3:45 pm - How to Recover Your Systems Effectively and Efficiently (366)
• 3:45 pm - Simplify Mainframe Operations With the Latest IBM Z OMEGAMON Enhancements (399)

Thursday August 21

• 8:45 am - BYOD Lab: Unlocking Mainframe Performance and Capacity Insights with IntelliMagic Vision (643)
• 10:00 am - BYOD Lab: Integrate Your Mainframe Into Your Enterprise-Wide Observability Strategy With Instana, OpenTelemetry and OMEGAMON (419)
• 10:00 am - Best Practices for Ensuring Compliance With DORA Requirement (367)
• 11:30 am - Lunch and Learn (sponsored by Rocket Software) - Simplify Mainframe Operation: OMEGAMON & Grafana (909)
• 1:45 pm - BYOD Lab: Hands-On AIOps Experience for Linux on IBM Z (113)