VM Workshop (Columbus, OH)
2025-06-12 - 2025-06-14
The VM Workshop will take place on June 12-14 at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The group is a grassroots non-profit organization made up of customers, ISVs, and business partners with an interest in the use and growth of the z/VM platform, Linux on IBM Z, and VSE (z/VSE and VSEn).
Open Mainframe Project will be on-site at the event with a few sessions:
EMMA: The Creation of a Mainframe Apprenticeship – Dr. Cameron Seay, Adjunct Professor and Co-Chair of the COBOL Programming Course
The Eli Madison Memorial Apprenticeship (EMMA) is a mainframe focused apprenticeship program. It uses the traditional apprenticeship model for technical roles. We feel this is THE solution to the “mainframe skills shortage” and have buy in from industry and the community at large. Currently involved are 3 mainframe ISVs, 185 apprentices, 6 university professors at 5 universities, and 8 full time volunteers. EMMA is ready to do business.
Dispelling the Myths Around Open Source on the Mainframe – Len Santalucia, CTO at Vicom Infinity, a Converge Company and Chair of the Open Mainframe Project Governing Board
Wondering if Open Source is right for you and your organization? Don’t know what you don’t know? Is it myth or fact? Let the experts from within the Open Mainframe Project help you weed it all out. Fact or fiction, we will help you understand why Open Source IS right for you and your organization.
Check out these sessions and more on the VM Workshop schedule here.

Community Day CFP for IBM TechXchange 2025 (Orlando, FL)
2025-06-30
The Open Mainframe Project will again be featured as part of IBM TechXchange’s Community Day, which will be held on October 6, the first day of the event. Last year, Open Mainframe had record-breaking attendance and a packed agenda highlighting open source and projects including Zowe, Galassa, Mentorship, Mainframe Open Education, COBOL Programming Course, Feilong, Software Discovery Tool, zopen Community and more.
If you are interested in speaking at Community Day, the Call for Presentations is currently open.
Submit topics by Monday, June 30: https://bit.ly/4iWwhDH.
The timeline for the CFP:

CFP opens: Thursday, May 8, 2025
Deadline to submit CFP: Monday, June 30, 2025, at 11 pm PDT
Speaker notifications: Monday, July 21, 2025
Schedule announcement: Week of August 8, 2025

Submit or register today!
Register for Community Day for free using the Open Mainframe code here. (This only registers you for Community Day on Monday, October 6. It does not give you access to the rest of the IBM TechXchange conference.)
Register with the Open Mainframe Project code and link for a 30% discount on the TechXchange conference here.
Open Mainframe Project is planning the content for October 6 as it pertains to the Community Day or Pre-Conference Day. The Linux Foundation and Open Mainframe Project are not managing TechXchange. The main TechXchange event is planned and managed by IBM. Learn more about TechXchange here.

SHARE Cleveland (Ohio)
2025-08-17 - 2025-08-21
SHARE Cleveland, happening on August 17-21 at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown, provides attendees with access to the latest enterprise IT news, key focus areas, prominent industry leaders and product highlights on emerging technologies all in one space over five days.
Open Mainframe Project will be on-site at the conference again this year with several sessions including:
Monday, August 18:

9:15–10:15 am: Which Mainframe Connection Protocol: FTP, SSH, or z/OSMF – Just Another Manic Monday? – Dan Kelosky, Broadcom Corporation

Before launching your modernization project leveraging Open Mainframe Project Zowe, it’s important to have a comprehensive understanding of the available mainframe connection protocols. REST APIs? FTP? SSH? We’ll cover the available options, the pros and cons of each and how to use them with the Zowe clients – Zowe CLI, Zowe Explorer for VSC and the Zowe Client SDKs.

2:30-3:30 pm: Dispelling the Myths Around Open Source on the Mainframe – John Mertic, Linux Foundation
Wondering if Open Source on the Mainframe is right for you and your organization? Don’t know what you don’t know? Is it myth or fact? Let the experts from within the Linux Foundation Open Mainframe Project help you weed it all out. Fact or fiction, we will help you understand why Open Source on the Mainframe IS right for you and your organization.
2:30-3:30 pm: Mainframe Modernization Trends (Including DevOps) – Len Santalucia and Jerry Edgington, Pellera Technologies
Many different definitions of What mainframe Modernizations encompasses” have been discussed.In this session we will discuss many of them along with examples, and include mainframe Devops!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, August 19:
3:30 – 4:30 pm: Customer Success Stories with Zowe – Joe Winchester, IBM
This talk will cover customer success stories and scenarios where users have been able to deploy and use Zowe technology in real work situations. It will be given jointly with a customer (TBD) to showcase their use of DevOps and operation automation using Zowe CLI and Zowe Explorer.
Wednesday, August 20:
7:30-8:30 am: Skill Up! Mainframe Learning for All – IBM’s Devonte Hawkins, Joe Winchester and Hunter Johnson, Broadcom
As the mainframe industry evolves, so does the need for accessible and engaging learning resources. This panel brings together experts from the Open Mainframe Project (OMP) Education Initiative, the COBOL Programming Course, and Zowe to discuss the future of mainframe education. Moderated from the perspective of an early-career professional, this session will highlight essential learning tools—including the OMP Education Gitbook, COBOL Programming with VS Code, and the Fundamentals for Zowe course—that empower all professionals. Join us for an insightful discussion on how these resources shape the next generation of mainframe talent.
10-11 am: Making the Mainframe Great Again With Zowe Command Line Interface (CLI) – Joe Winchester, IBM and Gene Johnston, Broadcom
The Zowe Command Line Interface opens up IBM z/OS to non mainframers who want to do anything from ad-hoc scripting, building full DevOps automation pipelines, and everything inbetween. By providing simple easy to use intuitive commands to run commands covering everything from listing data sets, submitting jobs, running REXX, as well working with CICS, MQ and Db2, non-mainframers can become versant at how to become mainframers without needing to leave their familiar PC terminal or command window, and embed scripts in their laptop’s existing technology. This talk will cover 101 getting started with Zowe CLI through to advanced tasks such as console commands, substitution variables, and will cover many scenarios for the audience from beginner mainframe students to advanced system programming.
2:30-3:30 pm: How to Captain Your Mainframe’s USS Enterprise Environment – Joe Winchester, IBM; Steven Perva, Ensono; and Reg Harbeck, Mainframe Analytics
This session will show how to become a Unix System Services power user, embracing tools like Z Open Automation Utilities, Z Open Community, ZTI, Access Control Lists, CBT Tape USS utilities, and more … We’ll show with practical examples and demos how and why its crucial for mainframers to understand the capabilities of the USS environment as well as how to configure, secure, and use it as the basis for python and bash scripting. It’s also the platform to enable Linux developers to embrace the z/OS operating system from within the comfort of a modern flexible UTF enabled shell allowing a wider range of open source and other packages to be ported and run on-prem to help continue to make the mainframe less of a steep learning curve for distributed IT staff.
3:45-4:45 pm: Open Source and Industry Standards – Joe Bostian, Chad McIntyre, Frank DeGilio, IBM
Interfaces become industry standard when they are formalized in a specification, or achieve a level of pervasive use. Standards organizations outline rules that governments and other organizations adopt as approved processes. These all have to be expressed in commonformats at public locations, and through widely accepted processes. This is the essence of open source. Come and see how open source affects standards, and how standards are adopted by open source communities.
Learn more about the event or register for it here.

IBM TechXchange 2025 (Orlando, FL)
2025-10-06 - 2025-10-09
IBM TechXchange, taking place October 6-9 at the Orange County Convention Center and Hilton Orlando, is the ultimate learning hub for developers, technologists, and techies looking to grow their skills. With 400+ learning courses and labs, 150+ available certifications, 1k+ technical events per year and a growing community of over 400k members, IBM TechXchange is on a mission to creating a better future with technology.
Open Mainframe Project will be on-site again at Community Day on Monday, October 6. Check out more details here. Additionally, Open Mainframe will also have several other sessions presented by ambassadors and project leads including:
Monday, October 6:
5:45 – 6:05 PM: The Linux Distributions Working Group as Part of the Open Mainframe Project – Sara Julia Kriesch (Kyndryl)
4:00 – 5:00 PM: Dispelling the Myths Around Open Source on the Mainframe – Len Santalucia and Ken LoCascio (Pellera Tchnologies), Elizabeth Joseph (IBM), Steven Perva (Ensono) and Louisa Denly (IBM)
Wednesday, October 8:
11:00 – 11:20 AM: Credit Agricole: How to use modern tools to facilitate IBM z/OS operations and data access – Francois Delombe (CA-GIP)
11:30 – 11:50 AM: Beyond DevOps: Unlocking New Possibilities with Zowe – Jan Prihoda (Broadcom)
1:30 – 1:50 PM: Achieving Greater Business Agility with VS Code and Hybrid Toolchains – Vaughn Marshall (Broadcom)
2:00 – 3:00 PM: ISPF and/or VS Code Zowe Explorer. how to become a power user in BOTH mainframe file editors – Jim Horne (Lowe’s Companies) and Joe Winchester (IBM)
2:00 – 3:30 PM: Using OpenTelemetry to integrate the mainframe into enterprise-wide observability solutions – Chris Walker, Rudiger Schulze, Ash Mahay (IBM)
Open Mainframe Project will also be in the Open Source Zone in the event expo. Stop by the booth and get your 10th anniversary swag!
Register with the Open Mainframe Project code and link for a 30% discount on the TechXchange conference here.
