IBM i / AS/400 / iSeries Specialists

IBM i.
Kept Running. Or Made Modern.

Some of the most important business systems in North America still run on IBM i — and the pool of engineers who can operate, extend, and modernize them keeps shrinking. We’ve been in this platform since it was called AS/400, and we bring that depth to SMB and midmarket clients who can’t easily hire it in-house.

Why Networks One

A Skill Set That’s Getting Harder to Buy — and Impossible to Lose

The IBM midrange platform — AS/400 in 1988, iSeries in 2000, System i in 2006, IBM i today — has quietly kept running the most demanding ERP, distribution, banking, and manufacturing systems in the world. And it’s not going anywhere: IBM keeps advancing the Power hardware, the OS, and DB2 for i on a multi-decade cadence.

What is going away is the workforce that knows how to run it. The engineers who built these systems in the ‘90s are retiring, and the tools they used aren’t taught in most CS programs. Our clients — especially SMB and midmarket — frequently find themselves unable to hire an IBM i admin at any reasonable rate.

That’s where we come in. We’ve been operating and developing on this platform continuously since the AS/400 era, and we deliver that expertise on a fractional or managed basis so you don’t need to staff it internally.

What that means for you

  • Continuous hands-on IBM i experience — AS/400 through the latest IBM i release
  • RPG III, RPG IV, and Free-format RPG development — every generation
  • DB2 for i, embedded SQL, stored procedures, journaling, and replication
  • System admin: LPAR, HMC, BRMS, PTF strategy, security, and performance
  • Modernization on your timeline — not a rip-and-replace mandate
  • Optional 24×7 managed services from our own NOC

What We Do

Six Disciplines, One Integrated Practice

From keeping your existing IBM i healthy to putting a modern web/mobile face on a green-screen application — we cover the whole platform.

Administration & Operations

Day-to-day IBM i operations: user & group profiles, subsystem tuning, work management, BRMS backup strategy, PTF planning, journaling, HMC and LPAR management, and disaster-recovery testing.

BRMS & backups HMC / LPAR PTF strategy

RPG & CL Development

Every generation from RPG III on the AS/400 to modern Free-format RPG on the latest IBM i. New development, legacy maintenance, refactoring toward modular Free-format, and CLLE program design.

Free-format RPG RPG IV / ILE CLLE

DB2 for i

Native DB2 for i administration and development: physical & logical files, DDL, embedded SQL, stored procedures & triggers, journaling, MIMIX / iTera / Db2 Mirror replication, and performance tuning.

SQL & DDL Stored procedures Replication & HA

Modernization

Put a modern web or mobile UI on a green-screen application — without rewriting the business logic. Screen scraping, refacing (Profound UI, Presto), or full API + SPA rebuilds. Your timeline, your pace.

Green-screen → web API enablement Mobile front ends

Integration

Connect IBM i to the modern stack: REST & SOAP web services, MQ, Kafka, SFTP/MFT, EDI (X12 / EDIFACT), IFS file movement, and native adapters to Salesforce, SAP, Dynamics, and .NET.

REST / SOAP EDI & MFT IBM MQ / Kafka

Security & Compliance

Object-level authority review, exit-point auditing, user profile hygiene, single sign-on integration, encryption of data-at-rest, and audit-ready reporting for SOX, PCI, HIPAA, and internal audit programs.

Object authority Exit programs Audit reporting

Where IBM i Still Wins

Two Industries That Never Left the Platform

IBM i earned its keep in the industries where the cost of downtime is highest and the ERP has been running for decades. Ours is deepest in the two verticals where that’s most true.

Manufacturing & Distribution

JD Edwards World / EnterpriseOne, Infor XA / ERP LX / M3, MAPICS, BPCS, and thousands of homegrown ERPs run production, MRP, order-to-cash, and warehouse operations on IBM i every single day.

What We Support

  • JD Edwards World & EnterpriseOne administration and customization
  • Infor XA / ERP LX / M3 support and upgrades
  • MAPICS / BPCS legacy support and modernization
  • Warehouse Management (WMS) integrations — SPS Commerce, TrueCommerce, custom EDI
  • Shop-floor data collection and MES integration

What We Bring

  • ERP-fluent RPG developers who understand the business, not just the code
  • Modernization paths that don’t require ripping out the ERP
  • Managed services for the platform + the ERP under it

Financial Services

Core banking (Fiserv Signature, DNA), credit unions, insurance policy administration, and trust systems — many still on IBM i because it’s the most reliable, auditable platform they’ve found.

What We Support

  • Core-banking and credit-union platform administration
  • Policy-administration systems and reinsurance batch
  • Regulatory reporting: FFIEC, SOX, SOC 1/2 evidence
  • MFT and settlement-file integration with card networks and ACH
  • Read-only replication to modern data warehouses and BI platforms

What We Bring

  • Change-controlled, audit-ready development lifecycle
  • Object authority and exit-program design for FFIEC compliance
  • Managed services with monthly SLA and audit-evidence reporting

Where Clients Start

The Situations That Bring Us In

Every IBM i client we take on has one of these problems. Sound familiar?

Common Pain Points

  • Our IBM i admin is retiring and we can’t find a replacement
  • The green screens are hurting recruiting — new hires won’t work in 5250
  • We’re running an out-of-support release and PTF strategy is stalled
  • Our RPG is all fixed-format and no one wants to maintain it
  • Backups run but nobody has tested a recovery in years
  • The Power hardware is aging and IBM keeps calling about a refresh
  • The auditor keeps flagging user profiles and object authority

What We Can Do About It

  • Fractional or managed IBM i admin — on retainer, not a hire
  • Web / mobile refacing with Profound, Presto, or custom SPA + API
  • OS & PTF get-current plan with tested rollback windows
  • Free-format RPG refactoring with modular ILE service programs
  • DR tabletop & tested recovery to alternate LPAR or cloud target
  • Power hardware refresh planning — on-prem, colo, or IBM Cloud for Power
  • Security remediation: exit programs, authority collection, audit reports

Modernization

Modern Faces on Battle-Tested Business Logic

You don’t have to rewrite thirty years of RPG to give your users a modern experience. We build the layer on top and expose the business logic through APIs — on your timeline, at your pace.

Modernization Without Migration

Keep the ERP. Modernize the Experience.

The green-screen application that has run your business for two decades is doing its job. The problem is the interface — not the logic. We put a modern web or mobile UI on top, expose the underlying programs and files through REST APIs, and let your team use a browser or phone while the reliable server-side logic keeps doing what it’s always done.

The result: fewer resignations, easier training, better data, and a system your recruits will actually agree to work with — without a multi-year ERP replacement project.

Refacing ToolsProfound UI, Presto, ASNA Monarch — or custom SPA
REST APIsNative IBM i integrated web services from RPG / DB2
MobileField-service and warehouse apps on iOS / Android
Preserve the LogicBusiness rules stay in RPG where they’re trusted

Typical Modernization Sprints

  • Web reface of the order-entry & inquiry screens
  • Mobile warehouse app calling native IBM i REST services
  • Customer portal driven by DB2 for i and IBM i APIs
  • Read-only replication to Power BI / Snowflake / Fabric
  • Fixed-format → Free-format RPG refactor, module by module
  • SSO integration with Entra ID / Okta / Active Directory
  • DR tabletop & tested failover to alternate LPAR or cloud

How We Engage

Assess → Stabilize → Modernize → Operate

Almost every IBM i engagement follows the same arc — get healthy, then get modern, then stay that way.

01

Assess

Health check: OS & PTF currency, DR readiness, security posture, developer bench, and modernization opportunities. Delivered as a written assessment with a fixed-fee remediation plan.

02

Stabilize

Get current on OS releases, close audit findings, verify backups, exercise DR, and establish a change-controlled release process. Boring — and the highest-ROI 90 days you’ll spend.

03

Modernize

UI refacing, API enablement, replication to modern BI, and RPG refactoring — delivered as short sprints so business value ships every quarter, not in a five-year program.

04

Operate

Fractional or fully-managed IBM i admin and development on retainer. Monthly SLA reporting, quarterly modernization review, and no more recruiter panic when your admin retires.

Why NOCG for IBM i

Continuity You Can’t Buy Off a Rate Card

Enterprise IBM i depth — at SMB and midmarket engagement models.

AS/400 → IBM i
Continuous experience across every generation of the platform
RPG III → Free
Every dialect: RPG III, RPG IV / ILE, and Free-format
Fractional or Managed
Retainer models that avoid the impossible full-time hire
24×7 NOC
Optional monitoring & response from our own operations center

Related Practices

The Platforms That Live Alongside IBM i

Ready to Start?

Let’s Talk About Your IBM i

Whether you’re losing your admin, planning a hardware refresh, staring down an audit finding, or ready to modernize the user experience — we’ll listen first and put a plan in front of you.