IDUG EMEA 2026: Full Schedule

10:20am BST

A1 Spotlight: Db2 for z/OS Trends and Directions

Monday September 28, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST

Come to listen to the architects of Db2 for z/OS explain overall strategy, review recent new features delivered in Db2 and also take a look at the future - where Db2 is going and why. We will talk about planning for the next version and you will learn what you need to know and actions you should start to take now to prepare for the future of IBM's flagship database.

Speakers

Haakon Roberts

DE, CTO, IBM

Haakon Roberts is an IBM Distinguished Engineer based at the Silicon Valley Laboratory in San Jose, California. He is the chief architect for Db2 for z/OS and Tools and CTO of IBM z Data & AI. He holds several patents and is a leading expert in database management, data integrity... Read More →

Monday September 28, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Latest and Features z/OS
Audience All
Platform z/OS

11:30am BST

A2 Hard Lessons Learned with High Performance DBATs for Db2 for z/OS

Monday September 28, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST

Infante

High Performance DBATs (HP DBATS) is a very important performance feature of Db2 for DDF workloads. If applied and used intelligently this feature can generate significant savings in CPU resource consumption. This session will cover the following topics: what is a connection?; what is a DBAT (THREAD)?; thread (DBAT) pooling and DRDA inactive connections; what are High Performance DBATs; good candidate application workloads for High Performance DBATs; general guidance for configuring High Performance DBATs; performance metrics and monitoring; WLM and High Performance DBATs; Issues; Summary.

Speakers

John Campbell

Customer Success Engineer - Data Strategic, Broadcom

John is an IBM Alumni, a retired IBM Distinguished Engineer, and now works as a Distinguished Technical Consultant for Broadcom Inc. He has worked with Db2 for z/OS for over 40 years and has extensive experience with Db2 in terms of systems, database and application design. He specialises... Read More →

Monday September 28, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Best Practices, Performance and Monitoring
Audience All
Platform z/OS

2:00pm BST

A3 What’s New in Db2 for z/OS Performance

Monday September 28, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST

Infante

Db2 for z/OS continues to advance through Db2 13 continuous delivery, introducing performance‑focused enhancements that impact SQL execution, system scalability, resource efficiency, and operational behavior. Effectively exploiting these capabilities requires understanding not only what has changed, but how the changes interact with workloads, subsystem configuration, and the underlying IBM Z platform.
This session provides a technical deep dive into recent Db2 for z/OS performance enhancements, including features delivered through Db2 13 continuous delivery and insights gained from real customer experiences. We will examine how these updates influence critical performance areas such as CPU consumption, concurrency behavior, and subsystem scalability.
In addition, we will cover monitoring and instrumentation updates, discussing how to interpret new or enhanced metrics and how they can be used to validate performance behavior and guide tuning decisions.
Attendees will leave with concret

Speakers

Akiko Hoshikawa

Distinguished Engineer - Db2 for z/OS and Db2 AI for z/OS, IBM

Monday September 28, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Latest and Features z/OS, Performance and Monitoring
Audience All
Platform z/OS

3:20pm BST

A4 Supercharging Db2 with Generative AI: From Natural Language Queries to Autonomous Performance Optimization

Monday September 28, 2026 3:20pm - 4:20pm BST

Infante

Enterprises are under pressure to deliver faster insights and streamline operations - the ultimate Boss Fight of managing large Db2 for z/OS environments. Generative AI is your new power-up for development and administration and your secret weapon against complexity. This session will show how to flip on the Auto-Pilot to tune SQL with expert-level precision, master complex schema management, and drive utilities intelligently for object maintenance. We'll walk through real speedruns (use cases) that demonstrate how GenAI simplifies workloads, cuts troubleshooting time, and improves efficiency, giving your team the cheat codes to unlock Db2's full value and achieve the High Score in productivity.

Speakers

Chris Crone

Distinguished Engineer, Broadcom

Chris is a Distinguished Engineer for Database Technology and a lead architectfor the Data Management portfolio within the Mainframe Division of BroadcomSoftware Group. He oversees strategy and architecture decisions for theBroadcom database products IDMS and Datacom, as well as for... Read More →

Monday September 28, 2026 3:20pm - 4:20pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic AI GenAI and Machine Learning, Modernization in Operations, Working with SQL
Audience All
Platform z/OS

4:30pm BST

A5 Starter’s Guide to Db2 for z/OS Group Buffer Pool Monitoring and Tuning

Monday September 28, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm BST

Infante

Db2 group buffer pools are an important component of a Db2 for z/OS datasharing environment. They help to insure data consistency across members of aDb2 data sharing group.As such, group buffer pool interactions represent additional work that Db2 hasto perform in a data sharing environment, and are one of the main contributorsof Db2 data sharing overhead.Therefore, from a performance perspective it is important that your group bufferpools are in good shape.This session will introduce group buffer pool concepts, but focusses on how tomonitor group buffer pool performance, the available options and metrics touse.

Speakers

Bart Steegmans

Db2 for z/OS L2 Performance, IBM

Bart Steegmans is a Consulting Db2 Product Support Specialist from IBM Belgium. He is working remotely for the Silicon Valley Laboratory in San Jose and providing technical support for Db2 for z/OS performance problems. He has over 35 years of experience in Db2. Before joining IBM... Read More →

Monday September 28, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Performance and Monitoring
Audience Intermediate
Platform z/OS

10:20am BST

A6 Strategic Efficiency: Maximizing Db2 Utilities

Tuesday September 29, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST

Infante

Are you running maintenance because it’s Sunday, or because the data actually needs it? With shrinking windows and massive data growth, "business as usual" is no longer an option. This session explores how Broadcom Db2 utilities provide the precision and confidence needed to manage modern environments. We will discuss establishing data-driven housekeeping practices, leveraging recovery toolkits to validate resilience without production impact, and optimizing high-speed data movement to support DevOps and rapid testing. Learn to transform your batch utilities from a routine expense into a high-performance engine.

Speakers

Denis Tronin

Product Manager, Broadcom Mainframe Software

Denis Tronin is an experienced IT professional and product manager, skilled in mainframe technologies (Db2 for z/OS, system performance, workload automation), API management (Zowe API Mediation Layer), and DevOps. He is an IBM Champion and a frequent speaker at major industry con... Read More →

Tuesday September 29, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Best Practices, Database Resiliency, Data Movement and Integration, Utilities
Audience All
Platform z/OS

11:30am BST

A7 Db2 for z/OS Utilities Best Practices

Tuesday September 29, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST

Infante

As IBM continues to deliver new utility enhancements, it's important to take a step back and review what options really matter and how to get the best performance and availability from utility executions. This session will explain general recommendations for utility performance as well as look at specific utilities to see how they can be optimised to make a real difference to performance, application availability and usability.

Speakers

Haakon Roberts

DE, CTO, IBM

Tuesday September 29, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Best Practices
Audience All
Platform z/OS

2:00pm BST

A8 BMC AMI Db2 Utilities - What's New

Tuesday September 29, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST

Infante

Quickly and Easily solve your most demanding Db2 utility challenges using the latest capabilites available in the BMC AMI Db2 utilities. This presentation covers the latest enhnacements in the BMC utilities for Db2 zOS. Come learn how BMC customers solve their hardest operational problems every day using the Db2 utilities from BMC. Gain deep insights on the advanced performance, useability and automation features available today in the BMC Db2 Utilities that set us apart from the competion.

Speakers

Michael Cotignola

BMC Db2 Solution Engineer, BMC Software

Michael Cotignola is a Principal Software Consultant supporting BMC's DB2 Mainframe Solutions. In this role, he helps his clients maximize the value they receive from BMC's DB2 products. Michael has worked in IT since 1975 in numerous IT disciplines, including operations, application... Read More →

Tuesday September 29, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Utilities
Audience All
Platform z/OS

3:20pm BST

A101 Your GenAI Journey Takes CenterStage

Tuesday September 29, 2026 3:20pm - 4:20pm BST

Infante

Sponsors

Broadcom

Tuesday September 29, 2026 3:20pm - 4:20pm BST
Infante

PSP, PSP

Topic PSP
Audience All
Platform z/OS
Company Broadcom

4:30pm BST

A9 Db2 zOS Utility Internals — and How to Get the Most Out of Them

Tuesday September 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm BST

Infante

Db2 utilities are fundamental to database availability, performance, and recoverability—yet many sites treat them as black boxes.
This session explores the internal behaviour of key Db2 z/OS utilities such as REORG, RUNSTATS, COPY, and LOAD. We examine how these utilities interact with data, logging, locking, and system resources, and how understanding their internals helps DBAs run them more efficiently and safely.

Description:
How Db2 utilities really run
How Db2 utilities use buffer pools, logging, IRLM, and the catalogWhy utilities should be treated like normal Db2 work, not background jobs
REORG utility explained
What happens during each REORG phase: unload, sort, reload, rebuild, and switchHow REORG affects locking and loggingWhen REORG improves performance and when it provides little or no benefit
RUNSTATS and the optimizer
Difference between table statistics and index statisticsHow histograms and sampling influence query plansWhy the timing of RUNSTATS matters for access pa

Speakers

Preetham Kannan

Director of IT Services, Rocket Software

I am a Principal Software Engineer at Rocket Software India and a Subject Matter Expert for Db2 on z/OS, with over 20 years of experience supporting critical systems across Retail, Banking, and Manufacturing industries. I’m passionate about solving real‑world Db2 challenges and... Read More →

Kiran Seela

Senior Director, Rocket Software

I am a Senior Director at Rocket Software India with more than 25 years of experience driving technical excellence in mission‑critical enterprise environments. With a strong foundation in Db2 on z/OS and enterprise architecture, I lead modernization and innovation efforts that bridge... Read More →

Tuesday September 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Utilities
Audience Intermediate
Platform z/OS

10:20am BST

A10 Linuxification of Db2 for z/OS - a journey from ISPF and JCL to Shell and Playbooks

Wednesday September 30, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST

Infante

This session will be about bridging existing legacy programs with "modern"interfaces, such as the Unix shell and Ansible. Next-generation mainframers are typically well-versed in Unix shells and scripting, largely due to Linux's dominance in the server market. But how does this apply to traditional mainframe tools? That is what we want to show you.

Speakers

Emil Kotrc

Principal Software Architect, Broadcom

Emil is a software architect at Broadcom Mainframe Software, he holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Engineering, is a member of the IDUG Content Committee, and an IBM Champion since 2015.

Marketa Muzikova

Software Architect, Broadcom

Markéta is an experienced software engineer with expertise in mainframe automation, including Ansible and Zowe. Markéta is a recognised expert on Ansible and facilitates the Broadcom Ansible Collection.

Wednesday September 30, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Automation, Latest and Features z/OS, Modernization in Operations
Audience Beginner
Platform z/OS

11:30am BST

A11 From Pay Slips to P1 Incidents: Db2 for z/OS in a Payroll Company

Wednesday September 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST

Infante

In this session, I provide an inside look at how Db2 is used, operated, and evolved within SD Worx, a payroll/HR service provider, running running a mixed COBOL and .NET application landscape.
The presentation walks through the Db2 environment at SD Worx and illustrates real-world production workloads (with its struggles). We'll explore trends in Db2 growth, the impact of data integration (including the migration from IDMS), and how replication technologies are used to offload reporting, analytics, and decentral processing without impacting core workloads.
Special attention is given to Db2 Connect and connection management challenges in distributed .NET environments. Including real‑world P1 incidents (don't trust your distributed teams blindly!) and how to avoid them using Db2 Profiles, driver configuration and monitoring.Db2 Profiles are also used to regain control over legacy clients and get rid of the soon to be deprecated (and this time for real!) synonyms, which will be explained

Speakers

Tim Vermeulen

Senior Technical Staff Member, SD Worx

Tim Vermeulen started his career where many Db2 problems are first observed: as a mainframe operator, watching production at 3 a.m. and wondering who scheduled that job. From there, he grew into an application DBA, then a Db2 for z/OS system DBA - a role he still actively performs... Read More →

Wednesday September 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic User Stories
Audience All
Platform z/OS

2:00pm BST

A12 Db2 13 for z/OS – DDF Connection Security controls

Wednesday September 30, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST

Infante

Db2 for z/OS offers advanced capabilities to strengthen security management in distributed environments. This session discusses best practices for establishing secure connections including protected ID authentication using SSL, IDT, or trusted connection. This session also reviews the key system parameters that govern distributed access and discusses how system profile tables can be leveraged to enforce granular connection controls and secure TCP/IP connectivity.

Speakers

Gayathiri Chandran

Customer Success Manager and Principal Consultant, IBM

Gayathiri Chandran is a Senior Technical Staff Member in Db2 for z/OS development at IBM Silicon Valley Lab driving Db2 security strategy and delivery. She provides technical leadership across enterprise security initiatives, contributes to database security standards, and is a frequent... Read More →

Wednesday September 30, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Best Practices, Security and Compliance
Audience All
Platform z/OS

3:20pm BST

A102 Z Data and Application integration for Analytics and AI

Wednesday September 30, 2026 3:20pm - 4:20pm BST

Infante

Sponsors

IBM

Wednesday September 30, 2026 3:20pm - 4:20pm BST
Infante

PSP, PSP

Topic PSP
Audience All
Platform z/OS
Company IBM

4:30pm BST

A13 Db2 for z/OS Expert Panel

Wednesday September 30, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm BST

Infante

Wednesday September 30, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Expert Panel

Topic Expert
Audience All
Platform z/OS

5:40pm BST

A14 DDF Best Practice

Wednesday September 30, 2026 5:40pm - 6:40pm BST

Infante

Db2 Distributed Data Facility (DDF) is the gateway to delivering business enterprise data in our modern world of cloud computing. DDF is widely exploited in the information technology space and this session aims to share best practices and success stories to optimize your business with DDF. Some of the topics includes, infrastructure, security, protecting data over the network, monitoring resources (threads/connections), sysplex workload balancing, and so forth. The objective of this session is provide you with practical, useful knowledge that you can take back to your work and manage DDF confidently.

Speakers

Derek Tempongko

PM, IBM Silicon Valley Lab

Derek Tempongko is a Senior Software Engineer on the Db2 for z/OS distributed development team at the IBM Silicon Valley Laboratory. With over 20 years of experience in Distributed Data Facility (DDF), presented at previous IDUG events, authored a Redpaper on TLS/SSL which has been... Read More →

Wednesday September 30, 2026 5:40pm - 6:40pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Best Practices, Database Resiliency, Performance and Monitoring
Audience All
Platform z/OS

9:00am BST

A15 JC Greatest Hits, War Stories and Best Practice 2026

Thursday October 1, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am BST

Infante

This session will share experience from client studies and engagements: sharing proven recommended best practice; learning good, bad and ugly; providing answers ti important, frqeeunt or difficuly questions. This session will cover the following topics: Complacency about component failure and ability to absorb workload failover in a dat asharing environment; missed opportinity for elapsed time performance improvementnfor skip sequnetial batch processing; misteps in evaluating the performance benenfit of CICS-Db2 thread reuse and RELEASE(DEALLOCATE); SQL coding to avoid update anomaly when using cursor stability isolation; misadventures when using High Performance DBATs;monitoring WLM policy achievement; options for mass data recovery following logical data recovery and data loss; performance issue with remote DDF batch workload; tuning ogf GBPs; thorough Disaster Restart testingh.

Speakers

John Campbell

Customer Success Engineer - Data Strategic, Broadcom

Thursday October 1, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Best Practices, Database Resiliency, Latest and Features z/OS, Performance and Monitoring, User Stories
Audience Intermediate
Platform z/OS

10:20am BST

A16 Get ready for Db2 version 13+1

Thursday October 1, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST

Infante

In the next version of Db2 for z/OS IBM is removing some deprecated functions. I will describe how to find the affected objects and functions and how to convert them. I will also touch on some pitfalls and share our experiences. Some examples are non-UTS tablespaces, but there are more. And there are some more things that is not documented yet.
The presentation will not cover the conversion from VTAM to TCPIP.

Speakers

Martin Ålund

STSM (Senior Technical Staff Member), Handelsbanken

Started my Db2 career in 1998 as a development DBA. Since 2020 working as a system programmer and tech lead for Db2 for z/OS.

Thursday October 1, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Latest and Features z/OS, User Stories
Audience Intermediate
Platform z/OS

11:30am BST

A17 DB2 for z/OS Workfile Deep Dive - How to Survive and Thrive

Thursday October 1, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST

Infante

This presentation explains how DB2 uses workfiles for a range of purposes, including SORT, scrollable cursors, and temporary tables. It also describes how workfile allocation and usage behave both before and after the enhancements introduced in V13 FL508. Finally, it reviews the workfile monitoring capabilities available today, with particular emphasis on the enhancements introduced over the past decade and how they can be leveraged to identify tuning opportunities.

Speakers

Adrian Collett

Consultant, Expertise4IT

Adrian is a partner and Senior DB2 Specialist for Expertise4IT S.r.l. based in Milan, Italy. Although specialising in System and Application Performance Tuning, Adrian has been involved in all aspects of DB2 for z/OS: from Systems Analysis, Data Modelling and Database Design to Implementation... Read More →

Bart Steegmans

Db2 for z/OS L2 Performance, IBM

Thursday October 1, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Technical Session

Topic Best Practices, Latest and Features z/OS, Performance and Monitoring, User Stories
Audience Intermediate
Platform z/OS

2:30pm BST

A203 From Problem SQL to Proven Gains: Tuning Performance on Db2 for z/OS

Thursday October 1, 2026 2:30pm - 6:30pm BST

Infante

SQL performance tuning is a core DBA skill, yet many efforts remain reactive and inconsistent. This session presents a practical, end-to-end tuning workflow for Db2 for z/OS from identifying problem SQL to validating improvements. Attendees will walk through real tuning decisions using metrics, access path analysis, and supporting tools to achieve measurable performance gains.

Speakers

Carlos Davis

Back-End Developer, Rocket Software

Carlos Davis is a Solutions Advisor at Rocket Software with more than 20 years of hands-on experience powering mission critical Db2 environments across a wide range of industries. As a trusted advisor to his clients, he helps organizations maximize performance, minimize risk, and... Read More →

Thursday October 1, 2026 2:30pm - 6:30pm BST
Infante

Track A, Workshop

Topic Best Practices, Performance and Monitoring, Working with SQL
Audience Intermediate
Platform z/OS

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2:30pm BST

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