The 2025 edition of IBM Power Week highlighted the convergence between AI-assisted software engineering, IBM i modernization, and the rise of Power 11. An overview of the five key trends to watch.

1. Project Bob: the tool that redefines IBM i application modernization

Project Bob (for Build, Observe, Benefit) is a development environment (IDE) designed by IBM, integrating artificial intelligence to simplify, secure, and accelerate the software development cycle. It combines code generation, refactoring, testing, security, and compliance through orchestration of language models (Anthropic, Mistral AI, Llama, Granite) selected according to their specialty: accuracy, latency, or compliance. Designed for complex or legacy environments, Project Bob supports numerous languages: Java, JavaScript/TypeScript and Python, but also more historical languages used on IBM i, such as RPG, CL, DDS, or SQL. It thus helps teams modernize their existing applications with confidence.

Currently in private preview, Project Bob has already attracted developers’ interest. Its official release and pricing details have not yet been communicated by IBM.

2. The developer experience: openness and automation

Power Week confirms the evolution of the developer experience on IBM i, driven by new practices such as vibe coding and DevOps. The integration of VS Code through the Code for IBM i extension, the rise of Ansible, and the use of PASE, a UNIX-like environment, are reshaping practices. These tools unify code management and bring IBM i methods closer to those of other environments. This enables smoother continuous integrations and better cooperation between Power and Cloud teams.

3. Power 11: performance, security, and embedded AI

 Unveiled in July 2025, the new generation Power 11 server brings key advancements: native tolerance to planned outages, quantum-resistant encryption, and ransomware detection in under one minute. The architecture includes a local AI accelerator, Spyre, dedicated to inference. It enables processing more data on-site while reducing dependence on cloud GPUs. These improvements aim to strengthen the resilience of critical environments and fully leverage on-premise AI.

4. Hybrid cloud and Licensing as a Service: a more flexible operating model 

The maturity of the PowerVS hybrid cloud now makes it a cornerstone of business continuity and flexibility strategies. In parallel, IBM is rolling out the Licensing as a Service model, which adjusts license costs based on actual usage. This model meets the needs of companies seeking to combine local performance, cloud elasticity, and control over their data.

5. Govern data to reduce technical debt

The emergence of Data Platforms, real-time replication, the arrival of watsonx.data on IBM Power, and the growing adoption of RAG models all reflect the same trend: data must now be treated as an asset to be managed, just like infrastructure or security. Without coordination between these initiatives, technical debt could worsen. The challenge is to connect infrastructure, security, and data quality in order to efficiently leverage AI and cloud innovations.

About IBM Power Week

Organized from November 18 to 20, 2025 in Paris, IBM Power Week brings together the French community each year around the latest hardware and software innovations of the IBM i ecosystem.

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