Written by Fiona King

Introducing IBM Project Polaris, the ‘Next Generation z/OS Experience’ designed to accelerate the understanding of and proficiency using the Z platform, enabling organizations to accelerate adoption of Z technologies critical to market competitiveness.

What is IBM Project Polaris?

Built with and for early-tenure Z users, the Next Generation z/OS Experience is guided by three key principles:

• making the platform easier for new users to learn and navigate

• aligning with industry standard practices and tools to make the platform more accessible

• and eliminating historical and unnecessary differences that add unnecessary complexity without value

Across IBM Z, a significant skills transition is underway. Many experienced system programmers are retiring, while newer professionals are entering environments that assume deep historical knowledge and years of accumulated expertise. Today, it can take 2-6 years for a new-to-Z system programmer to reach full proficiency. This new z/OS user experience aims to reduce the time-to-proficiency for early-tenure system programmers down to 2-6 months, enabling new users to confidently complete z/OS tasks independently faster.

By adopting industry paradigms and tools that align with modern software development practices, z/OS operations are simplified without compromising z/OS's core values. The new experience provides:

• a YAML-based configuration as code model

• guided, task-oriented experiences to complete key z/OS tasks

• agentic AI and integration with IBM watsonx Assistant for Z (WXA4Z) to provide contextual guidance and best practice insights

• embedded validation and guardrails to prevent errors

• clear visibility into system configuration and impact

• modern, industry-aligned tooling and interfaces

THINK Boston

Clients at THINK got a first-hand look at how the different components of the new user experience work together to help a client perform z/OS tasks, such as making configuration changes to their systems. What they saw included:

• AI in action: Contextual recommendations, proactive validation, and best-practice checks.

• Human-readable configuration: YAML format replaces legacy Parmlib syntax

• Built-in learning: Each step is transparent in the new experience— users can see what’s changing and why

• Traceability: Version-controlled configurations for easy audit and rollback

Technical Preview Program

The Next Generation z/OS Experience is launching an initial Tech Preview, planned for Summer 2026. This program will focus on YAML-based configuration, supported by AI assistance, contextual recommendations, VS Code, and Git. 

If you are interested in learning more about the tech preview program, or would like to get involved as a sponsor user, please reach out to Fiona.king@ibm.com for details.