2025 marked one of the most strategically important years for the IBM i platform in the last decade.
With IBM i 7.6, TR1 for 7.6, and TR7 for 7.5, IBM delivered updates designed around three themes:
Watsonx Code Assistant for IBM i continues to evolve as IBM’s flagship AI modernization engine for RPG/COBOL/SQL workloads.
As of late 2025, IBM is also working on an initiative for IBM i called Project Bob. Project Bob is described as an “AI-powered IDE” that will incorporate the capabilities of watsonx Code Assistant for IBM i and support modern development workflows.
Power11-enabled Secure Boot and chain-of-trust architecture that verifies every major layer of system startup from firmware to hypervisor to operating-system boot code. Each component is digitally signed and validated against a hardware root-of-trust, preventing tampered or unauthorized code from loading.
Power11 with IBM I 7.6 also introduces quantum-safe cryptography for key security functions (such as firmware validation and partition migration), helping protect systems against both modern cyberthreats and future “harvest-now, decrypt-later” quantum attacks.
Complementing the hardware-level protections, IBM i 7.6 introduced integrated Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as a native system capability. This enhancement allows organizations to enforce MFA policies directly within the IBM i security model without relying exclusively on third-party add-ons.
The built-in MFA support integrates with:
This native integration reduces complexity, standardizes authentication across environments, and brings IBM i into alignment with modern zero-trust strategies, which is especially important in regulated industries.
IBM i 7.6 includes updates that support smoother migrations between systems and hardware generations, especially when moving to Power10 or Power11. Improvements in tools such as Migration Utility, save/restore processes, and system copy procedures help reduce downtime and improve reliability during transitions.
IBM has also introduced new capabilities, such as partition-mirror–based migration, which allows certain migration scenarios to proceed with less disruption and supports side-by-side migrations for HA/DR or datacenter refresh planning.
IBM i 7.6 can run on PowerVM in both Power10 and Power11 environments, benefiting from updates in the virtualization layer, HMC enhancements, and refinements to resource allocation, shared processor performance, and I/O virtualization.
While these enhancements do not radically change IBM i’s virtualization model, they improve stability, performance, and administrative flexibility for LPAR-based deployments, particularly for consolidated environments or hybrid infrastructure.
IBM continues to modernize IBM i’s systems management stack with updates to Navigator for i, SQL Services, REST APIs, and integration points commonly used in automation and cloud tooling.
These enhancements improve monitoring, scripting, and remote operations, making IBM i easier to manage as part of a hybrid-cloud or multi-platform environment.
IBM i 7.6 also brings expanded support for modern storage, encryption, and virtualization hardware capabilities that improve compatibility with cloud-connected backup, DR, and observability tools.
These updates do not make IBM i “cloud-native,” but they strengthen its ability to participate in hybrid deployments and integrate with cloud-based HA/DR strategies and automation pipelines.
On December 8, 2025, IBM announced its intent to acquire Confluent. This move is designed to strengthen IBM’s enterprise data + AI + hybrid cloud ecosystem with Confluent’s world-leading data-in-motion capabilities.
What Confluent Brings :
IBM describes this acquisition as foundational for a “smart data platform” spanning applications, analytics, AI agents, and cloud environments.
The acquisition is expected to close in 2026 pending shareholder and regulatory approval.
These enhancements reinforce IBM i’s position as a modern, integrated, and cloud-capable enterprise platform, not a legacy artifact. But the biggest strategic shift came in December 2025.
IBM i’s new virtualization, storage, and migration enhancements complement IBM’s push toward unified hybrid-cloud pipelines.
Confluent integration would serve as the data fabric connecting IBM i transactional data with cloud analytics and AI services.
Confluent allows organizations to layer modern, real-time capabilities on top of existing IBM i applications without needing to rewrite RPG or COBOL code.
By streaming IBM i data through standard interfaces, businesses can enable:
This approach extends the value of IBM i’s transactional systems while preserving their stability and logic.
It also aligns with IBM i’s modernization direction with Watsonx Code Assistant for IBM i which focuses on understanding and refactoring legacy code, while Confluent provides the data streaming and integration layer needed to connect those applications to cloud, AI, and microservice architectures.
Together, they support IBM’s broader strategy of enabling incremental modernization by enhancing existing systems rather than replacing them.
IBM i :
With 2025’s platform updates and the Confluent acquisition underway, IBM is signaling a clear intent. IBM i is not being sidelined. It is being recontextualized as a stable, intelligent, AI-ready foundation within a modern, data-driven enterprise architecture.
Businesses that act now, not later, will get the most value from this transition.
Briteskies, an IBM partner for 25 years, offers comprehensive services for IBM i (AS400) systems, including consulting, development, staffing, security audits, EDI solutions, and integrations. Our team combines over 40 years of IBM i expertise with fresh talent, delivering both legacy knowledge and innovative perspectives. Skilled in every RPG iteration and modern technologies like Node and API solutions, we seamlessly integrate applications to support business goals. Dedicated to modernization, security, and efficiency, we help businesses optimize and upgrade their IBM i environments for long-term success.
No Comments Yet
Let us know what you think