As hybrid IT environments become the norm, AIX is evolving to meet the demands of modern enterprises by embracing open-source technologies, automation, and AI integration.

With a strong focus on open-source integration, automation, and AI enablement, AIX is a modern and flexible platform ready for the next generation of workloads.

IBM’s commitment to modernization is transforming AIX into a platform that’s not only powerful but also flexible, developer-friendly, and future-ready.

IBM’s AIX Toolbox for Open Source Software now hosts over 500 packages, enabling developers and administrators to use familiar tools from opensource world.

With dnf support, package installation and dependency resolution are seamless, bringing Linux-like package management to AIX. Here is short summary of recent developments

New Open Source Packages on AIX Toolbox

Recent additions to the AIX Toolbox include:

• Networking & Security: openvpn, haproxy, google-authenticator, syslog-ng
• Python Ecosystem: python3-wheel, lxml, maturin, pytest-html-reporter, fsspec, networkx, sympy, tzdata
• Dev Tools & Utilities: rclone, cppzmq, autoconf-archive, wget2, netperf, ncdu, rpm-macros-tboxcompilers
• Security: To ensures integrity and authenticity of the AIX Toolbox rpm packages, packages from AIX toolbox are now signed.

AI-Ready with Power

AIX is now equipped with a growing set of AI tools and frameworks:

• AI Libraries: numpy, scipy, pandas, scikit-learn, lightgbm, xgboost, faiss, torch
• AI Frameworks: onnxruntime, onnxruntime-genai, pytorch, llama.cpp
• Optimized for Power: Libraries like OpenBLAS leverage Power10 and Power11’s Matrix Math Accelerator (MMA)for high-performance inferencing.

Recent Ansible Enhancements

IBM continues to expand automation capabilities with Ansible:

• Patching: New roles for NIM Master migration and LKU via HMC/PowerVC.
• Security: Modules for volume encryption, password policies, and Linux-compatible password hashing.
• Observability: Modules for snap, vmstat, errpt, nmon, and system dump management.
• Ansible Lightspeed: Now powered by IBM Watsonx Code Assistant, improving playbook accuracy from ~15% to 70–75%.

AIX is evolving into a modern, open, and intelligent platform, ready to support hybrid cloud, AI, and automation at scale. Whether you're managing infrastructure, deploying AI models, or automating operations, AIX is built to keep up.

References:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/aix-toolbox-open-source-software-downloads-alpha

https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/repo/published/ibm/power_aix/

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/blogs/shreyansh-chamola/2025/06/10/ansible-aix-collection-power-aix-version-210-avail

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/blogs/shreyansh-chamola/2025/02/13/aix-ansible-collection-power-aix-v203

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/blogs/shreyansh-chamola/2024/07/10/availability

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/blogs/shreyansh-chamola/2024/07/10/availability

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/blogs/rodney-burnett1/2022/06/29/openblas-on-power10-with-mma

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/blogs/sangamesh-mallayya1/2025/05/07/aix-toolbox-rpm-packages-signature