Join us for our sponsored Lunch & Learns, brought to you by our esteemed SHARE partners. These educational sessions offer attendees the opportunity to enjoy a complimentary lunch, courtesy of our sponsors, while gaining insights into the latest updates and innovations from the companies.
Reminder: Lunch & Learns will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis with no pre-registration required. Schedule subject to change.
Monday, Aug. 17 | Noon - 1 p.m.
BMC Software
- Title: The Agentic Mainframe: How Networks of Specialized AI Agents Will Change the Mainframe Experience
- Speakers: Anthony Anter and Anthony DiStauro
- Abstract: The next evolution of enterprise AI isn't a better assistant — it's a network of specialized AI Agents working together to solve complex challenges across the mainframe. Rather than relying on a single AI to do everything, organizations are beginning to adopt purpose-built agents that excel at specific tasks and collaborate across development, operations, security, and infrastructure. This session explores the architectural foundations of Agentic AI, including how Model Context Protocol (MCP) enables shared context, how Agent Gateways coordinate trusted communication between agents, and why Human-in-the-Loop governance remains essential for enterprise adoption. We'll also examine emerging use cases, where developers are already building specialized agents to automate focused tasks, and how coordinated agent networks can help experienced teams accomplish more, preserve institutional knowledge, reduce repetitive work, and improve the efficiency of day-to-day mainframe operations.
- What You'll Learn:
- Why no single AI Agent can solve every enterprise challenge
- How specialized agents collaborate through MCP and Agent Gateways
- What it takes to build trusted Human-in-the-Loop AI systems
- Room: 303
Broadcom
- Title: The Platform Behind the Business: The Talent Multiplier
- Speakers: Geoffrey Decker, Greg Lotko, and Leslie Theiss
- Abstract: What does it take to keep the business moving? Business is constantly evolving — and the mainframe continues to evolve with it. Join Broadcom as we explore how the platform embraces today’s technology shifts — from DevX to Quantum to AI — but it’s talent that ultimately turns tech into business value.
- Room: 317/318
Hitachi Vantara
- Title: Building an Always-On DASD Infrastructure: High Performance, Advanced Replication, and GDPS Integration
- Speakers: Alain Beauregard, Karl Leverknight, and Laura Tuller
- Abstract: This presentation explores a DASD subsystem designed to meet the availability and performance requirements of modern enterprises. Attendees will learn how the solution delivers continuous operations, high-performance I/O processing, and best-in-class asynchronous replication for disaster recovery. The session also highlights IBM compatibility and GDPS integration, enabling seamless deployment within existing mainframe environments while enhancing resilience and operational continuity. This session will also highlight Brocade’s SAN Fabric Intelligence to eliminate finger pointing, reduce MTTR, and gain total visibility into your FICON storage infrastructure.
- Room: 315
IBM
- Title: The zSecure Transformation
- Speaker: Bryan Childs
- Abstract: The threat landscape has become AI-accelerated, while security standards and regulatory requirements continue to evolve. What does modern threat management look like on z/OS? How is the concept of anti-malware expanding? What visibility do you have into suspicious activity, including accelerated cryptography, privilege escalation, file integrity, anomalous access, and potentially destructive commands? Can you respond to threats with near real-time mitigation? How do you integrate with Cyber Vault to enhance data resiliency? How do you dynamically create micro-segmentation to defend against lateral movement? And how do you manage secrets, particularly digital certificates, in light of the upcoming 47-day certificate renewal mandate? Join us to learn how the zSecure portfolio is evolving to help organizations strengthen their defense-in-depth security posture on IBM Z.
- Room: 112
Rocket Software
- Title: Closing the Mainframe's Identity Security Gap Before AI Exploits It
- Speaker: Barbara Ballard
- Abstract: AI has changed how quickly adversaries can exploit your organization’s technical debt — like the gap where users access the mainframe. Green screen access sits outside the IAM controls governing the rest of your environment. And the mainframe IT team spends too much time resetting passwords, so they can’t focus on potential threats. AI-powers attackers don’t need to find a new weakness — they just need to exploit this one. In this session, Rocket Software security expert Barbara Ballard will show how Rocket can help:
- Identify identity security gaps in your environment before adversaries exploit them
- Explore how AI-powered threats target user access
- Bring MFA, session monitoring, and centralized IAM controls to often-overlooked green screen environments
You'll leave with a practical path to identify exposures, close gaps, and extend consistent identity security standards to your host environments — where compliance naturally follows.
Tuesday, Aug. 18 | Noon - 1 p.m.
Broadcom
- Title: Broadcom’s Bingo & Bites: Fuel Up and Laugh Out Loud
- Speaker: Greg Lotko
- Abstract: Ready for a lunch break with a side of high stakes? Broadcom invites you to fuel up and have fun with a friendly game of bingo hosted by a live comedian. Come for the great food and company; stay for the laughs and prizes!
- Room: Spirit of Pittsburgh Ballroom A & B
Thursday, Aug. 20 | Noon - 1 p.m.
IBM
- Title: Changing the Game for Mainframe Developers With IBM Bob
- Speaker: Ryley Wharton
- Abstract: AI is bringing massive change to software development across the technology world — with new workflows emerging, productivity benefits being realized, and barriers to entry being lowered. You might be wondering if your mainframe application team can participate in this evolution! Enter IBM Bob and modern DevOps on IBM Z.
- A git-based CI/CD pipeline? Check! An agentic IDE with cutting edge AI capabilities? Check!
- Specialized mainframe modernization and development domain knowledge integrated throughout. Check!
- AI integrated build, test, and deploy? Check!
- In this session, we will explore these technologies how they can enable any mainframe developer to have the same modern capabilities at their fingertips as any other developer working on any other platform, accelerating modernization and SDLC for any mainframe shop.
- Room: 304/305