The agenda for the GS UK Virtual Conference 2025 is now live! The event will take place from Tuesday, April 29 to Thursday, May 1, 2025, and will include a special track hosted by the Open Mainframe Project.
Registration is free for everyone. If you can’t join all the sessions live, don’t worry — the recordings will be available for two months after the event for both GS members and non-members. Register here.
Learn more about the event on the main conference site.
April 29, 2025
10:00 – 10:45: Diving into z/OS Open Source Development: An Overview, Igor Todorovski, IBM
Ever wondered how the zopen community project ported over 200 open-source tools in just two years? This session will unveil the details behind our success and show you how you can get involved!We’ll delve into the world of z/OS open-source development and explore the tools and techniques that make it possible. Here’s what you’ll learn:Modern Practices: Discover how we leverage Git and Github for efficient version control and how we utilize the new IBM Open XL C/C++ compilers to enable efficient portingBuilding for z/OS: See how the zopen build frameworks and libraries like zoslib simplify the process of porting open-source tools to the z/OS platform.Open Source DevOps in Action: Learn how we use Github Actions to automate testing on code submissions, as well as other tasks.
11:15 – 12:00: Embracing Modern Open Source tools on z/OS with zopen community tools and IBM Open Enterprise, Igor Todorovski, IBM
The zopen community is redefining open-source development on z/OS. In this session, we’ll explore how zopen community and IBM Open Enterprise Foundation work together to make z/OS a first-class open-source platform. Learn how developers can leverage familiar tools, modern workflows, and new capabilities to build and contribute to a thriving open-source ecosystem on z/OS.
12:30 – 13:15: Back to the Future with COBOL, Sudharsana Srinivasan, IBM
Mainframe applications are the lifeblood of the global economy. COBOL is the lifeblood of those applications. Yet few people realize or acknowledge the profound impact the COBOL language has had over its 60+ year history.
Open Mainframe Project has helped advance COBOL by training developers and offering important resources to the ecosystem. This session reveals COBOL’s secret history and the efforts of Open Mainframe Project and others to bring COBOL’s value to the public eye.
The session will cover:
1. COBOL’s enduring value – how it stood the test of time
2. Recent trends to demonstrate COBOL’s ongoing popularity
3. Open Mainframe Project’s COBOL Programming Course, COBOL Working Group and COBOL Check
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13:45 – 14:30: Basics on using Python with z/OS, Steven Pitman, IBM
This session will be about learning about & exploiting z/OS specific features with Python. It will walk through common z/OS concepts such as JCL, REXX, and HLASM, and how Python can be used to integrate with these. It will also teach about using AI on Z Systems, using the Python AI Toolkit for IBM z/OS.
15:00 – 15:45: The Next Generation of Mainframers, John Mertic, the Linux Foundation
The technology skills gap is not new. Mainframe organizations are aware of the skills gap and the difficulties of attracting new talent to the mainframe because of misguided notions that it’s an outdated system.
Far from being obsolete, many mainframes today are seeing increased workloads as they underpin high volume transactions in a number of industry sectors, boosted especially by the rise in customer facing online and mobile applications. Whole generations of people are “touching” the mainframe in this way without even realizing it.
Open Mainframe Project aims to educate the next generation through its hands-on programs including the COBOL Training Course, Mainframe Open Education and the Mentorship Program. In this presentation, attendees will learn more about these programs and how to can get involved.
April 30, 2025
16:15 – 17:00: Effective strategies for Git and source control on z/OS, Igor Todorovski, IBM
Navigating Git on z/OS comes with unique challenges, but with the right strategies, it becomes a powerful tool for managing source code. This session covers best practices for working with Git on z/OS, including repository management, branching workflows, collaboration techniques, detecting regressions and automation strategies. Learn how the zopen community optimizes Git for mainframe development, integrates with open-source tools, and streamlines contributions.
May 1, 2025
10:00 – 10:45: The Secret to Open Source on the Mainframe, John Mertic, the Linux Foundation
The open source movement has rapidly become the way code is being developed for today’s smart and agile businesses. This session will cover how an “open mainframe” is the perfect solution for deploying open source on an enterprise computing platform. Open Mainframe Project is home to 18 open source initiatives like Zowe and working groups for COBOL that aim to help overcome the the barriers between mainframes and other infrastructure to make DevOps easier and more efficient. This session will offer a quick glimpse of the challenges each project solves and how to get involved.
11:15 – 12:00: Top 5 open source mainframe powerups no mainframer should be without, Joe Winchester, IBM UK LTD.
A number of great free open source tools exist that can make mainframers lives easier. We’ll show some of these, covering ZTI, Zowe Explorer, CBT Tape, zopencommunity, …
We’ll show how to get started with each tool, how to use them for specific scenarios, and how to find out more as well as getting involved with the communities that build them.
12:30 – 13:15: 0-to-PyPI – Developing Open Source z/OS Python Packages, Chad McIntyre, IBM
In this session, learn how to start an open source z/OS python package. Starting from scratch, this session will walk through organizing your package, configuring it for build and packaging, including test cases, publishing code and wheels to the Python Package Index (PyPI).
13:45 – 14:30: Mixing Python & COBOL, Steven Pitman, IBM
This session will be about interoperability with Python and COBOL code. Learn how to take advantage of Python on z/OS & modernize your COBOL applications with Python capabilities such as using popular AI/ML open-source packages like Pandas. We will cover calling Python from COBOL, both 31 and 64-bit, and calling COBOL from Python, and be providing the samples so that you can easily do this too.
15:00 – 15:45: Bang for your z/OS buck with Go!,William O’Farrell, IBM
In this talk we focus on the many ways Go can play a central role in enterprise modernization. Go is an easy to learn, efficient to use modern programming language. On z/OS Go can be used to access data (Db2, datasets, VSAM), call other languages (C, COBOL, Assembly), and access z/OS system services. Furthermore, with Go you have access to upwards of 1,000,000 Go modules from the open source community covering a wealth of functions and API’s ready and available for use in Go on z/OS. It can also be the anchor for a containerized dev-ops strategy, participating in highly efficient multistage builds using the IBM z/OS Container Platform. We will cover these use cases plus the latest in Go capabilities.
16:15 – 17:00: Making Observability Work: User Insights on OpenTelemetry Priorities for the Mainframe, Ruediger Schulze, IBM Europe
To better understand the observability needs of practitioners, the Open Mainframe Project and the OpenTelemetry project jointly conducted a survey earlier this year, focusing on priorities for the OpenTelemetry on Mainframe Special Interest Group (SIG). This session will present key findings from both mainframe and non-mainframe users, offering insights into requirements and opportunities for mainframe observability. Based on these findings, the SIG will outline its technical focus areas and next steps to support the meaningful adoption of OpenTelemetry in mainframe environments.
Whether you are a long-time mainframe professional or just starting your journey in the open source community, the GS UK Virtual Conference 2025 offers valuable insights, expert-led sessions, and opportunities to connect with peers around the world. With the full agenda now available and free registration open to all, there’s no better time to get involved.
Learn more about the event on the main conference site. Register here.
