IBM Z and LinuxONE Ecosystem Podcast

As AI agents begin moving beyond answering questions and toward taking action on behalf of customers, financial institutions face a new challenge: how to enable this emerging channel without losing control of the systems and data at the heart of the bank.In this episode of z/Action, we sit down with Glen Kelley, Chief Revenue Officer at OvationCXM to explore the evolution of the partnership with IBM and how their technology works alongside IBM Z and LinuxONE. We discuss OvationCXM's Agentic Transaction Control Layer, designed to give financial institutions a governed way to connect customer AI agents with existing banking infrastructure while maintaining the controls required in regulated environments. We also look at OvationCXM's latest research into how finance leaders are adopting AI agents, what this means for banks, and how agentic banking could reshape the way customers interact with financial institutions.One day. Ideas that could shape your next career move. Join IBM Z Day on 18 November 2026, from 8 AM to 4:30 PM ET. Learn from 300+ industry experts and earn IBM digital badges while exploring what’s next for IBM Z.Make time for your next step: Register now.Stay ConnectedBe part of the conversation! Join the ISV Ecosystem User Group to explore the latest blogs, events, videos, and more from IBM Z partners and innovators.And don’t forget to subscribe to z/Action!Each month, we spotlight some of the world’s most innovative companies and how they’re driving success with IBM Z.

CockroachDB was built to keep applications running even when infrastructure fails. IBM LinuxONE was engineered to minimize failures in the first place. Together, they create an architecture designed for organizations that cannot afford downtime.In this episode, we explore Cockroach Labs’ partnership with IBM, what supporting IBM Z and LinuxONE means for enterprise customers and how distributed SQL is helping organizations prepare for AI, hybrid cloud and modern application architectures. We'll discuss the technical journey behind bringing CockroachDB to the s390x platform and explore how OpenShift supports modern deployments on IBM LinuxONE.Stay ConnectedBe part of the conversation! Join the ISV Ecosystem User Group to explore the latest blogs, events, videos, and more from IBM Z partners and innovators.And don’t forget to subscribe to z/Action!Each month, we spotlight some of the world’s most innovative companies and how they’re driving success with IBM Z.

Every bank has one - the engineer who is the only one that understands a critical system, and who is about to retire. In this episode, Tweezr CEO Ohad Kotler argues that the reason AI has transformed software development everywhere except the banking core isn't the code, it's the missing feedback loop: no machine-readable requirement, no visible dependencies, no fast tests. He discusses building a deterministic blueprint of an entire estate - COBOL, PL/I, Natural, Assembler, RPG, Java and the distributed systems around them - running on IBM Z and LinuxONE, and what becomes possible when agents can finally do root-cause analysis against something they actually understand.Stay ConnectedBe part of the conversation! Join the ISV Ecosystem User Group to explore the latest blogs, events, videos, and more from IBM Z partners and innovators.And don’t forget to subscribe to z/Action!Each month, we spotlight some of the world’s most innovative companies and how they’re driving success with IBM Z.

In this episode, we explore how organizations can make their systems more efficient without starting over. Discover how VSAM data can flow seamlessly between batch jobs and CICS - no code changes needed.Learn how this boosts availability, cuts risk, and modernizes your systems while keeping what already works. Whether you're technical or just curious, we break it down in a clear, easy-to-follow way.Stay ConnectedBe part of the conversation! Join the ISV Ecosystem User Group to explore the latest blogs, events, videos, and more from IBM Z partners and innovators.And don’t forget to subscribe to z/Action!Each month, we spotlight some of the world’s most innovative companies and how they’re driving success with IBM Z.

AI isn't just changing how we build software — it's changing how attackers operate. In this episode of the z/Action Podcast, we sit down with Trend Micro to unpack the accelerating security risks of the AI era and what a modern defense strategy looks like across IBM Z and LinuxONE, hybrid cloud, containers, and modern application platforms.The central challenge: agentic AI attacks demand agentic AI defenses. We explore why reactive, siloed tooling falls short — and how organizations can actually reduce tool sprawl and alert noise while gaining more control.We walk through Deep Security and the Zero=Day Initiative as the foundation, then build upward: security for OpenShift Container Platform, and a path toward full-stack visibility that spans every workload touching Z environments. The goal isn't just detection — it's the ability to correlate threats, predict attack paths, and act with precision before damage is done. This conversation maps out a practical approach to addressing this accelerating threat with speed and automation.Stay ConnectedBe part of the conversation! Join the ISV Ecosystem User Group to explore the latest blogs, events, videos, and more from IBM Z partners and innovators.And don’t forget to subscribe to z/Action!Each month, we spotlight some of the world’s most innovative companies and how they’re driving success with IBM Z.

Tune in as Devonte’ Hawkins and Caitlin Mooney chat with Niall Ashley, Security Technical Consultant at Vertali and IBM Champion. Niall shares his unexpected journey into mainframe security, having transitioned from aeronautical engineering. He discusses what makes mainframe security unique, strategies for learning complex concepts, and the importance of making education engaging. The conversation also touches on maintaining a healthy work-life balance and the value of giving back to the community through volunteering.

In this episode, we speak with Christian Friberg from PPI and Ralf Schopohl from SIZ to explore the evolution of EBICS, the implementation of verification of payee in the European savings banking sector, and the critical role the Mainframe plays in ensuring secure, resilient and compliant transaction processing. We discuss how PPI and SIZ began their collaboration, the origins of EBICS as a German standard now adopted across Western Europe, and how core server-side programs running on IBM Z support the security and integrity of modern banking services.Stay ConnectedBe part of the conversation! Join the ISV Ecosystem User Group to explore the latest blogs, events, videos, and more from IBM Z partners and innovators.And don’t forget to subscribe to z/Action!Each month, we spotlight some of the world’s most innovative companies and how they’re driving success with IBM Z.

In this episode, we sit down with Gil Peleg, Co-founder and CEO of Geniez, which is enabling developers to connect their AI agents and applications directly to real-time mainframe data—without requiring deep mainframe expertise. This conversation explores how simplifying access to mainframe data is helping organizations retain talent, attract new developers, and keep critical workloads on the platform. Stay ConnectedBe part of the conversation! Join the ISV Ecosystem User Group to explore the latest blogs, events, videos, and more from IBM Z partners and innovators.And don’t forget to subscribe to z/Action!Each month, we spotlight some of the world’s most innovative companies and how they’re driving success with IBM Z.

In this episode of New to Z: Road to SME, we’re joined by Richelle Anne Craw—Mainframe Software Engineer, IBM Champion, and community leader—for an honest and fun conversation about growth, curiosity, and confidence on the road to SME.Richelle shares her journey from early‑career developer to trusted expert, why teaching is often the moment you realize you’re an SME, and how transferable skills, mentorship, and curiosity shape long‑term success. From COBOL and pseudocode to open source and modern tooling, this episode is all about learning one step ahead—and making space for everyone in the mainframe community.Perfect for anyone new to IBM Z, navigating their career, or questioning whether they’re “expert enough” yet.

Even the most advanced systems can be undone by a single human misstep. In this episode of the z/Action Podcast, we explore how social engineering exploits human behavior and how awareness, culture, and continuous education can help protect mission-critical environments like IBM Z. Joining us is Niall Ashley, an IBM Champion and security professional passionate about raising awareness of the human side of cybersecurity. Together, we discuss real-world examples, the psychology behind social engineering, and practical ways enterprises can strengthen their “human firewall” to complement the technical resilience of the mainframe.