For 2026, SHARE returns to sunny Orlando, Florida Feb. 22-26, with a focus on increasing productivity by reducing manual tasks, reducing deployment times, maximizing mainframers’ performance on their systems, and strengthening security through career development and education. As SHARE President Art Gutowski mentioned in December, a new lab experience is coming to the conference to provide that hands-on learning members are craving.
SHARE knows that career development and education are cornerstones of the organization, and with SHARE Orlando’s learning objectives (Automate Data Center Operations & Reduce Manual Tasks, Implement Modern Development Practices, Maximize System Performance & Throughput, Strengthen Security & Access Controls, and Career Toolkit Essentials), members will get even more out of their experience.
Automate Data Center Operations & Reduce Manual Tasks
Browse the technical agenda for the latest sessions on automating routine system administrative tasks, implementing intelligent job scheduling and dependencies, and setting up proactive monitoring and alerting to reduce the need for manual interventions in daily operations.
For instance, the “Data Center Automation - Z System Automation and Agentic AI” session with Johannes Hausch and Bernd Jostmeyer of IBM R&D Germany, will explore how Z system automation can automate policy-driven responses to operational situations in a data center with agentic artificial-intelligence (AI) technology. It can provide new ways of interacting with the Sysplex and more, relieving operators of manual tasks.
Other sessions focused on reducing manual tasks include:
Implement Modern Development Practices
For those looking to modernize their development practices to accelerate business value, sessions focused on reducing deployment time, enabling rapid testing and quality assurance, integrating mainframe development with modern toolchains, and implementing automated build and deployment pipelines are available.
Marcos Eduardo Michelin and Eduardo Henrique Rocha from Kyndryl will provide Unix System users with the open source tools they need to improve usability in their session, “Revolutionizing Unix System Services Usability.” With help from the Open Mainframe Project, the session will explore the endless possibilities with the zopen package manager and its library of mainframe compatible versions of Unix tools.
For systems programmers using Rexx, BMC Software’s Roland Kinsman will talk about how members can supercharge their coding in “Supercharge Your Rexx Coding with AI: Tips, Tricks, and Real-World Wins.” He plans to share some practical Rexx tips that can be used in the mainframe workplace, including how AI tools can streamline debugging and inspire coding shortcuts. With real-world examples, Kinsman expects Rexx experiences to be more enjoyable and meet the needs of the business faster.
Some other possible sessions to speed up development practices are:
Maximize System Performance & Throughput
Mainframe system performance and throughput are key to business success. To maximize that performance, mainframers need to find ways to optimize memory usage and eliminate bottlenecks, reduce CPU consumption and improve MIPS efficiency, maximize transaction throughput and response times, and improve I/O performance and storage efficiency.
Tackling these issues takes a keen eye and the right tools, as well as collaboration with all stakeholders. In “Can We All Share Fairly? Detection and Remediation of inter-LPAR Performance Impacts,” Enterprise Performance Strategies CIO Scott Chapman will explore the misconception that having production and development on different LPARs cannot impact performance. Members will learn how poor configurations can impact throughput and performance. Although some of these configurations may be necessary, mainframers can learn ways to protect LPARs from interference and which performance measures can detect possible problems before they become significant.
Check out these other sessions on maximizing performance:
Strengthen Security & Access Controls
Access control and strong security are hallmarks of the mainframe environment. Proper External Security Manager (ESM) policies, security monitoring and audit trails, addressing regulation requirements and compliance, establishing encryption for data at rest and in transit, and applying security best practices are all essential. With new threats emerging every day, mainframers need to stay ahead of the problem.
SHARE members learn about some key storage features to improve security in the session “How to Exploit the Latest Features and Functions of CA 1 Flexible Storage.” Broadcom’s Russell Witt and Amy Mueller will explore CA 1 Flexible Storage’s new functions and features to reduce MIPS usage, run times on tape jobs, and to improve auditability. The goal is to help mainframers take advantage of these new features and how to properly implement them.
Other key sessions on security and access controls include:
Career Toolkit Essentials
Career development often means improving technical or soft skills, but it also relies on succession planning and mentorship. Smooth operations are key to enterprises running mainframes. Succession planning can be a catalyst for career development when mainframers acquire new technical skills and utilize the latest tools and technologies. It can involve using AI to create mainframe learning for early-career mainframers or strategies for workers who are returning to the mainframe environment after time away.
IBM’s Frank DeGilio and Ensono’s Steven Perva are back with Sun Coast’s Ray Sun and Catepillar’s Karla Houser for the “UNSESSION: Surviving and Thriving in the Mainframe Landscape - You Choose the Topics.” Everyone attending this session can participate in the discussion and weigh in on what topics should be tackled regarding career development. With diverse backgrounds and education, mainframers will open the doors to discussions on what challenges the mainframe ecosystem faces today, how the mainframe can achieve business goals in new ways, and more.
Check out these other sessions on career development:
No matter what questions mainframers have, SHARE Orlando offers sessions that can help solve enterprise business problems, career development questions, and offer new tools to reduce manual tasks and bolster security. With these focused learning objectives, SHARE members can easily home in on which sessions meet their current and future education needs. Don’t wait until Orlando to pick your selections, the technical agenda is already live for you to curate your own experience.
Haven’t registered for SHARE Orlando? Do so today! Check out SHARE’d Knowledge’s new, members-only learning bundle, “Accelerating Recruitment and Retention of the New SHARE Z Workforce.”