The IBM Z Deep Dive Series is a monthly, practitioner-focused technical webinar series designed to help professionals deepen their expertise in IBM Z technologies. Each session focuses on a specific technology topic and brings together subject matter experts through engaging and interactive discussions.
I recently attended the z/OS Deep Dive Session and wanted to share my key takeaways, insights, and how I plan to apply what I learned.

Why I Joined This Session

When I first heard about this series, it was immediately clear that this could be something for me. As a Development Manager at an ISV with many large clients in the banking and insurance sectors, automotive manufacturers, municipal data centers, and more, I must constantly monitor the latest developments in the market. I always strive not just to chase trends, but rather to stay ahead of them from the very beginning. Only in this way can we offer our clients products and services that are on par with current market developments.
The topics this Deep Dive session promised to cover are exactly the ones I deal with in my work—topics we’re already working on, as well as new ones that could become important in the near and distant future. 
I really appreciated the opportunity to watch the session later and at my own pace. This made it much easier for me to integrate it into my daily routine, replay sections (as a non-native speaker, you can easily miss a detail or two otherwise), and pause to take detailed notes or look up related information.

Key Highlights

Highlight #1: What’s New in z/OS 3.2

As an ISV, we participate in the IBM ETP program, which means we’re aware of (many) of the new features long before a new z/OS release is available. Generally, we install it as soon as it’s available. Still, it was simply great to see how IBM doesn’t just discuss cutting-edge topics in theory but makes them available through rapid hardware and software updates. Topics such as AI, the cloud, and especially energy consumption—in times of very high costs—are absolutely critical to ensuring that z/OS remains the best platform for our customers.
The use of industry standards over proprietary solutions not only offers advantages when integrating applications in a distributed environment but also significantly shortens the onboarding time and reduces the learning curve for our employees. 
However, it is also particularly important for us to deliver features in the previous version through Continuous Delivery. Our large customers, in particular, require more time to upgrade their operating systems due to their complex processes. This gives us the opportunity to implement support for new features in z/OS in our products much earlier, thereby offering customers the best and most up-to-date performance.

Highlight #2: The Next Generation z/OS Experience

For me, this was the most visionary session—Fiona King and Rolando Perez presented ideas on what a modern work environment could look like. The real highlight for me, however, was a demo that used two personas, “Chris the Newbie” and “Zach the Experienced,” to show how an employee with limited experience on z/OS can customize and activate an SMF configuration.
Starting with an email to Chris, the demo showed exactly how the adjustments were made in a modern VS Code development environment. Chris was supported by the AI assistant throughout. He was guided step by step through the process until he successfully completed the task. His reply to Zach, “Task done,” brought a small smile to my face—just how proud Chris must have been to have completed this task all on his own. 
From a technical perspective, I again found the use of industry standards like VS Code, YAML files, the AI assistant, etc., to be very forward-thinking—it’s precisely these things that make it easier for us to get young people excited about this platform and offer them quick successes. 

Highlight #3: AI-infused z/OS in Action

AI is currently THE hot topic in the software industry. Having already been impressed by how the IBM z17 hardware, powered by the new Telem 2 CPU and the IBM Spire Accelerator processor, can hold its own against other AI hardware solutions, I was naturally very excited about this presentation: what real benefits can AI bring to the data center?
In this session, Anastasiia Didkovska and Steve Partlow demonstrated how an AI trained on SMF data can reduce wait times by up to 70% in WLM Batch Initiator Management by predicting upcoming activities in the batch. As a second idea, they demonstrated that optimizing the network interface can reduce interface calls by up to 18%. Both are absolutely fascinating, real-world possibilities.
Even though neither falls directly within the scope of a Development Manager’s responsibilities, I found the solution’s approach very interesting: the use of the AI Framework for z/OS and Common Data Provider. Both are components that come at no additional cost.
I also see a direct connection to my work in this topic—we, too, are looking for ways to leverage AI to the advantage of the z/OS platform. Therefore, we will take a very close look at the two examples presented here as a team.

Technical Deep Dive

The many interesting details—whether in hardware or software—presented in the six sessions make it hard for me to choose my favorites.
From the perspective of a development manager, with the intention of implementing these things directly, they would likely be:

AI Framework for z/OS

A combination of core components that together can support the entire lifecycle of an AI model. It enables seamless integration of AI functions into z/OS without specialized knowledge. Other z/OS subsystems can also be connected.
The key components are the Common Data Provider for collecting SMF data, Machine Learning for z/OS for training the models, and the EasyNoSQL database. Processes are controlled via the AI Control Interface, which runs on z/OSMF. All training and evaluation calculations can (for the most part) be performed on the zIIP processors. 
The framework is available starting with z/OS 3.1 and can access AI functionalities via REST APIs and plugin mechanisms through the z/OS components.

Project Polaris

Here, all Parmlib definitions are converted and stored in standard YAML format. This makes all the features of a modern development environment like Visual Studio available: autocompletion, syntax highlighting and checking, as well as the AI assistant IBM Watsonx Assistant for Z. Backing up the project, including all changes, is easily possible via GIT.


What I Plan to Apply

One idea that really stood out to me during the session was the AI Framework for z/OS. I especially enjoyed learning how to use the framework and that nearly everything can be done on the zIIP processors.
IBM mainframe data centers typically have a vast amount of SMF data. We quickly recognized the opportunities this presents for analyzing critical or security-related situations. But optimizing processes, reducing required computing power, and improving response times are also at the top of our customers’ wish lists as an ISV. In particular, we will take a very close look at the capabilities of the AI Framework as a team, and of course, the use of zIIP processors in training AI models is a decisive advantage.
We will certainly also take a closer look at the Polaris project. 
Even though the specific example shown was from the field of system programming, it aligns 100% with our philosophy in software development. For years, we have increasingly relied on Visual Studio Code with the Zowe add-on and z/Explorer.
That’s why I find the use of YAML files very interesting.

Community Experience

At a virtual event, the community experience isn’t the same as at an in-person event where you can network during coffee breaks.
Nevertheless, I had a very positive impression. The sessions were very clearly structured, and questions from others often opened up a different perspective.
I consider the series to be very valuable: we’ve had—and will certainly continue to have—more discussions among colleagues about the presentations shown here.

Looking Ahead

I’m looking forward to the next IBM Z Deep Dive session on IMS and continuing to learn alongside the IBM Z community.
I’ve also already looked at the topics for the upcoming sessions and noted all the dates in my calendar. The series is a huge asset for me, and I will definitely recommend it to others.