COMMON is the largest association of users of

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Power Systems IBM Power Systems is a family of server computers from IBM that are based on its Power processors. It was created in 2008 as a merger of the System p and System i product lines. History IBM had two distinct POWER- and PowerPC-based hardwar ...

and IBM-compatible technology in the world. Power Systems are

midrange computer Midrange computers, or midrange systems, were a class of computer systems that fell in between mainframe computers and microcomputers. This class of machine emerged in the 1960s, with models from Digital Equipment Corporation ( PDP lines), Data ...

s, a class between

mainframes A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...

and

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

s. The

users' group A users' group (also user's group or user group) is a type of club focused on the use of a particular technology, usually (but not always) computer-related. Overview Users' groups started in the early days of mainframe computers, as a way to sh ...

is a private, not-for-profit organization that provides education, tools, resources and networking opportunities for

IBM i IBM i (the ''i'' standing for ''integrated'') is an operating system developed by IBM for IBM Power Systems. It was originally released in 1988 as OS/400, as the sole operating system of the IBM AS/400 line of systems. It was renamed to i5/OS in 2 ...

users. Members include users, IBMers, vendors, industry experts, recognized speakers, business leaders, and academics.

History

In 1969, the

IBM System/3 The IBM System/3 was an IBM midrange computer introduced in 1969, and marketed until 1985. It was produced by IBM Rochester in Minnesota as a low-end business computer aimed at smaller organizations that still used IBM 1400 series computers or u ...

became the first of IBM's mid-range computers, following by the

System/34 The IBM System/34 was an IBM midrange computer introduced in 1977. It was withdrawn from marketing in February 1985. It was a multi-user, multi-tasking successor to the single-user System/32. It included two processors, one based on the System/ ...

and

System/36 The IBM System/36 (often abbreviated as S/36) was a midrange computer marketed by IBM from 1983 to 2000 - a multi-user, Computer multitasking, multi-tasking successor to the IBM System/34, System/34. Like the System/34 and the older IBM Syst ...

. The

IBM System/38 The System/38 is a discontinued minicomputer and midrange computer manufactured and sold by IBM. The system was announced in 1978. The System/38 has 48-bit addressing, which was unique for the time, and a novel integrated database system. It was ...

, announced in 1978, was not very successful but its architecture was the basis of the

IBM AS/400 The IBM AS/400 (Application System/400) is a family of midrange computers from IBM announced in June 1988 and released in August 1988. It was the successor to the System/36 and System/38 platforms, and ran the OS/400 operating system. Lower-cost b ...

, released in 1988. There were 250,000 AS/400s installed in businesses at the end of 1994 with a corresponding number of people supporting the operation of those computers. A strong culture and community grew up around the IBM platform in the three decades since the AS/400 was launched and underscores its' popularity and success. The 1990s were the heyday of COMMON with thousands of members attending semi-annual educational conferences.

Financial problems

The

Late-2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

had a severe effect on COMMON activities. Event attendance, which had increased throughout the 1980s and 1990s, dropped substantially. IT professionals were working longer hours and had smaller budgets for training and education, which resulted in COMMON changing from two conferences per year to oneMorgan, Timothy Prickett
"Another AS/400 User Group Powers Down"
The Four Hundred, October 27, 2008 and shortening the conference length from five days to four. Free attendance for volunteers was also eliminated and sponsorship was required for social events.

Current status

In the 2020s, over 100,000 organizations used mid-range computers. Following a hiatus from

COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, bi-annual conferences resumed, as did additional educational offerings. As of 2021, there were over 26,000 members in

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented Social networking service, social network. It was launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly. Since December 2016, LinkedIn has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. ...

's group for AS/400 and iSeries professionals. Thousands of users have spent much, most or all of their careers using IBM i. A 2021 ''Forta'' poll showed 56% of respondents had over 30 years' experience with AS/400, many of whom would be retiring soon. Those who replace them will rely on user groups for education and help from peers, which was the reason Common was founded. As of 2020, the IBM midrange systems held a 36.3% market share, especially prevalent in critical industries such as banking, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics and retail. Most enterprises depend on the AS400/iSeries/IBMi in these sectors, with most or all of their workload operating seamlessly on this system. The platform remains an important IBM product with a bright future. IBM releases new hardware/software versions every two or three years that make quantum advancements in functionality and processing power. IBM makes new product announcements at Common events where users can ask IBM developers questions. In a 2021 survey of users, 43% were running most or all of their business applications on Power Systems. This reflects the platform's enduring legacy. Over half of those users expected to stay with their current hardware; a small percentage of users planned to move to another platform.

Member resources

Only members can utilize Common resources. Memberships can be acquired by individuals, company or user groups. A popular feature of membership is the Common Conference, held twice a year at varying locations in the US. The spring conference is named "POWERUp"; the fall conference is named "NAViGATE". Nearly nine hours of educational sessions are scheduled each day; an exhibition expo is open on the second and third day, with about 40 vendors including IBM, offering software and hardware. Common schedules internet-based education, including

Webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webca ...

s and

Webinar Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conference, conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of ...

s. A Career Center for employers and job hunters. A new collaborative effort between COMMON and IBM has been launched. New 2 IBM i (N2i) seeks to help new IT professionals learn necessary skills and optimize the platform.

Events

* POWERUp 2024,

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, May 20–23, 2024 * NAViGATE 2024,

Bonita Springs Bonita Springs is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 53,644 at the 2020 census, up from 43,914 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, on the state's sou ...

, November 4–6, 2024 * COMMON India,

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, February 24–26, 2025 * POWERUp 2025,

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

, May 19–22, 2025 * NAViGATE 2025,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, September 15–17, 2025

Local user groups

OCEAN User Group

The Omni User
--

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, IL
Fairfield AS/400 User Group

North East User Group

South East Michigan iSeries User Group

International Db2 Users Group

The Large User Group

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.common.org/ User groups IBM Organizations established in 1960 Educational organizations based in the United States