Last week, Triton Consulting attended GS Forge26, one of the UK’s leading events for the mainframe community. With Triton’s own Alan Roberts and Rob Gould both presenting during the week, GS Forge provided an excellent opportunity not only to share expertise but also to engage with the wider community on the topics shaping the future of enterprise computing.
A Conference Built by the Community
One of the aspects that stood out the most to Alan Roberts was the level of engagement from across the community.
“I was very impressed with the support from both mainframe users and vendors. The number of presenters is particularly impressive when you consider that everyone presenting is a volunteer.”
Alan was equally impressed by the exhibition area, where vendors showcased innovative ways to engage delegates while highlighting the ongoing value and evolution of the mainframe platform.
“The vendor area was brilliant, with companies using innovative ways of attracting attention, but fundamentally they were all there supporting and highlighting how brilliant the mainframe is.”
AI Dominates the Discussion
Artificial intelligence featured heavily throughout the conference.
For Alan, it was one of the most noticeable themes across presentations and conversations.
“The continued mention of AI is interesting. It is a major topic of conversation, but much of the discussion is about protecting ourselves from it rather than using it to make things better, which is worrying.”
That theme emerged from the opening session, where David Stokes of Broadcom and Karen Hanlon of Barclays highlighted a growing challenge for organisations: as AI becomes more effective at identifying vulnerabilities, the pressure to deploy security patches to production systems more quickly increases. At the same time, organisations must balance that need for speed against one of the core principles of enterprise IT, maintaining availability for critical business services.
The discussion reflected a wider trend seen throughout the week. While organisations are understandably focused on governance, security and risk management, there is also growing interest in how AI can be used to improve productivity, streamline operations and deliver tangible business value.
Encouraging Signs for the Future
Another theme that emerged throughout the event was the presence of younger attendees.
For an industry that has spent years discussing skills succession and attracting new talent, this was a particularly positive takeaway for Alan.
“It felt like all the senior people were impressed by the number of younger attendees. There is always a positive feel to this conference because we all love the platform.”
The enthusiasm shown by the next generation of mainframe professionals reinforced the sense that the IBM Z ecosystem continues to evolve and attract fresh talent.
As Alan joked afterwards, one sign of the changing demographic might have been that “the bar was far less busy this year than usual”, perhaps another indication that a new generation of mainframers is joining the community.
Triton Takes to the Stage
GS Forge26 also provided an opportunity for Triton to contribute to the conversation, with both Alan and Rob delivering presentations during the event.
Rob Gould presenting at GS Forge26.
Rob Gould presented “Db2 Load – Strategies to Speed Up Loading Very Large Tables”. With the push for more and more availability replacing the data in very large tables with many indexes can be problematic especially when the business is enforcing small outage windows. Rob’s presentation outlined how a process was designed to replace the data in a 1.6bn row table in the required outage window when the initial load time was nearly 5 times the available window. Continue reading more about our Db2 Consultancy services or for more information Contact Rob.
Alan Roberts presented “Reorg, Runstats and Copy Strategies – An Overview of Best Practice”
Most housekeeping was designed and implemented many years ago. This session was a reminder that your companies’ policies need regular reviewing. Alan looked at selective RUNSTATS including a high-level view on how to set them up and the importance of cleaning up old or stale statistics. Read more about Expert on Demand or for more information contact Alan to find out how we can help you.
Rob Gould attended Alan’s session, describing it as both
“well presented and well received by attendees.”
There was even a little help from a supply of sweets to keep the audience energised in the challenging post-lunch slot.
More importantly, the session delivered practical advice that organisations can apply immediately.
“If you’re not sure how your housekeeping works, go and find out.”
There remains a strong appetite for practical operational guidance that helps organisations run their environments more effectively, securely and efficiently.
Looking Ahead
If there was one overriding message from GS Forge26, it was optimism.
The discussions around AI, modernisation and operational efficiency demonstrated a community that is actively evolving, while the strong attendance from younger professionals highlighted growing interest in the platform’s future.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat with Rob and Alan during the conference. It was great for them to catch up with familiar faces and make lots of new connections. A final thank you to the GS UK committee, presenters, sponsors and volunteers who make GS Forge possible each year. We are all looking forward to the next one!