TechChannel: Recent Episodes
TechChannel
(8:07)Why organizations are racing to scale AI in the first place (12:42) Why so many organizations are unprepared to leverage their data for AI (16:41)Why scaling AI is a matter of policy and procedure (23:42)How database and enterprise architects can make sure their skills are still relevant in the AI age (32:58) Why the core fundamentals of data management still matter (37:24)
Rael Rodning, principal intelligent operations architect at Evolving Solutions, joins Andy Wig on IT Social Hour to share tips and tricks she's learned as an early adopter of the new AI-driven IDE, IBM Bob. Rodning explains how how users can maximize their Bobcoins (6:25), manage hallucinations (10:45) and shift their focus from low-level coding to high-level orchestration and spec writing (29:50) ... and much more!
Data and AI expert Dr. Fern Halper discusses how organizations should be addressing the risk of cognitive atrophy as machines take over human mental tasks. Dr. Halper, author of “Data Makes the World Go ‘Round: The Data, Tech, and Trust Behind AI Success,” has been thinking about AI since the 1990s, when she served as a lead analyst working on machine learning at Bell Labs. Currently, she advises leaders on AI strategy, governance and risk management. The organizations that succeed in the world of AI, Dr. Halper says, will be the ones that effectively combine AI capabilities with human judgment, trust, expertise and accountability.
In the final days of his COMMON Europe presidency, Juan Manuel Alcudia reflects on the challenges and triumphs of the last four years, the multicultural extravaganza that is COMMON Europe Congress 2026, and why European IBM Power shops are ahead when it comes to modernization. Then, he closes the conversation by explaining why communities like COMMON Europe might be all the more important as AI continues to progress as a technology.
Steve Bradshaw, a longtime member of the COMMON Europe Advisory Council (CEAC), joins Andy Wig on IT Social Hour to discuss the top priorities of the European Power community, how he helped bring the F8 key to IBM i, the challenges and joys of serving a diverse constituency, and how to make tech conferences pay for themselves.
Jaqui Lynch, a current IBM Power consultant and former mainframer, recounts how her sense of humor and work ethic helped her persevere in a male-dominated field.
John Rhodes, CTO at CM First Group, joins Andy Wig on IT Social Hour to look at the Q1 survey results of TechPulse, TechChannel's new micro-survey program. Rhodes provides insights on the rapid rise of AI as an essential technology, how technologies that lower barriers to entry help address the skills gap, and why some organizations put security on the back burner ... until they get burned.
Mike Schuett, marketing director at TL Ashford, joins Andy Wig to look at the first three months of TechChannel's new micro-survey program, TechPulse. As he inspects the results, Schuett provides his thoughts on the predominance of hybrid cloud, the challenges of posed by the skills gap, and the value of having a trusted centralized data source.
Niall Ashley, a technical consultant at Vertali, shares his unique perspective on the mainframe industry in this episode of IT Social Hour. Ashley describes his professional origins in the aerospace industry, the value of challenging the “because we’ve always done it this way” mentality, how mainframers are like bakers, and the mainframe’s past—and potentially future—role in the video game industry.
IBM i consultant Marius Le Roux joins Charlie Guarino on TechTalk SMB to discuss the friendly community surrounding IBM i, why authoring the IBM i 7.6 Redbook made him feel like a spy, why AI might one day be seen as an OS, and more.
Coming from an array of unique backgrounds, this collection of standout early-career technologists explain the keys to their success on IBM Power and IBM Z systems.
'IT Social Hour': Meet the 'Big Iron Bits' Team (Including Chaz and Reg!) by TechChannel
Son, an appliance and electronics retailer with 60 stores in the northeastern U.S., has about 35 developers on its IT team. And in this current age of job-hopping, they have an average tenure of just under 17 years with the company. Steve Wolk, the company's CTO and a distinguished IBM i evangelist, goes on TechTalk SMB to explain how other companies might enjoy similar success in attracting and retaining IBM i talent. Speaking with host Charlie Guarino, Wolk divulges some of his favorite—if unusual—interview questions and explains what IBM i shops should be looking for in new hires. (Hint: It has nothing to do with coding skills.)
For this episode of TechTalk SMB, Charlie Guarino interviews worldwide thought leader on AI for IBM Power, Dr. Sebastian Lehrig. Dr. Lehrig describes unique value the Power platform provides for AI workloads and discusses the challenges many organizations are facing in moving pilots to production and achieving measurable ROI.
George Totev, chief information security officer at Trustero, joins Charlie Guarino on TechTalk SMB. He addresses the new security considerations accompanying the rise of AI, such as shadow AI and the ramifications of agentic AI, including its implications for proof of identity and hacking.
explains the factors that companies must consider as they develop a plan to leverage the capabilities of AI. Silverman also addresses the ethical considerations of AI implementation, IBM's AI focus and the way AI will impact businesses in the years to come.
Charlie Guarino, Dawn May and Liam Barry Allan tell us what it's like putting themselves out there as expert presenters.
The executive director of COMMON North America joins Charlie Guarino to provide an update on the user group, highlighting the community and familial atmosphere found at COMMON events and providing an overview of COMMON's international expansion.
NOVIPRO's Karoline Pierre has seen a lot on her personal journey from Brazil to Canada.
Scott Forstie of IBM i joins Charlie Guarino on TechTalk SMB to talk about enhancements in the new IBM i releases, including new SQL capabilities, improved authority collection for IFS and security advances such as MFA.
Modernization, a continuous process that goes beyond code re-writes, means many different things to many different people, IBM's Amy Anderson tells Charlie Guarino on TechTalk SMB.
Mainframers Reg Harbeck, Craig Mullins, Janet Sun and Sean Rooney explain the responsibilities and perks that come with being an IBM Champion and recount how they earned the distinction.
Duane Baer joins Reg Harbeck on TechTalk Enterprise to describe the 43 years he has spent running a mainframe consulting company, assisting clients with everything from installations to disaster recovery.
Executive coach and former Marine Walter Yenkosky joins Charlie Guarino to explain what good leadership looks like—in IT or any other industry.
To kick off the new roundtable-style conversation series, Robyn Lafleche and Isaac Thibault talk about their paths to IBM Power, share their observations on the skills gap and try to predict the future.
Jen Nelson, founding CEO of Izzi Software, joins Reg Harbeck on TechTalk Enterprise to recount her journey in the mainframe world, her work acquiring founder-led companies focused on both IBM Z and i systems, and much more.
The IBM i security expert joins Charlie Guarino on TechTalk SMB, stressing the importance of updating password levels and ACS, among other insights.
Bigger isn't always better. In this edition of TechTalk SMB, host Charlie Guarino speaks with data scientist Arthur Van Schendel about the virtues of small language models.
Floyd Del Muro, president of COMMON North America, and Juan Manuel Alcudio, president of COMMON Europe, join Charlie Guarino to discuss their user groups' mission, initiatives and place in the IBM i community.
ProData's Nick Thelen and Alex Olvera highlight the company's RDB Connect and DBU tools, discuss the security factor, and explain why IBM i developers are the best database creators
TechTalk SMB host Charlie Guarino and data scientist Thomas Decorte talk all things AI, from machine learning to the wide world of LLMs
Software Developer Chris Craddock explains what's great about the open, modern mainframe
IBM software engineer Ryan Moeller on SQE, AQP, query optimization and the rewards of interacting with the IBM i community
A look at retrieval augmented generation and its role in AI's ongoing evolution, with Miho Ezawa
Polverini & Partners CTO Pascal Polverini on the critical role of testing in IBM i application development
Truth: Sabine Diemt, a Learjet pilot and IBM Champion, said those words about the mainframe
IBM i application architect Sven Jansson on SQL partition tables and the exciting new possibilities for organizing data
Arcad Software's Phillippe Magne on the evolution of DevOps and its critical role in IBM i modernization initiatives
John Connors and Milt Rosberg on Mainframe Security and Pervasive Encryption by TechChannel
iTalk With Tuohy: Rudi Van Helvoirt on COVID-19 and the Future of SQL Programming by TechChannel
iTalk With Tuohy: Steve Bradshaw Discusses the Global IBM i Community and NVME by TechChannel
TechTalk SMB Susan Gantner, Jon Paris and Paul Tuohy on the Future of Virtual Conferences by TechChannel
TechTalk SMB: Charlie Guarino Speaks With the Original Voice of Aussie Siri, Karen Jacobsen by TechChannel