BOSTON — A generally available AI coding agent and a preview detailing IBM’s plans to integrate AI-driven automation tools topped the latest information for developers and platform engineers at the IBM Think conference here this week.
IBM Bob was previewed in October, ships on April 28, and replaces the previous Watsonx Code Assistant. It can generate application code similar to previous agents, but also automates complete software deployment by coordinating other AI agents, connecting to Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, and using multiple IBM tool sets. IBM Bob can automatically route tasks between multiple large language models based on suitability. The new IBM Bob Premium Package for Z, in private preview, integrates with mainframe applications.
IBM Bob enters a market completely saturated with alternative AI coding agents for frontier model companies and enterprise IT vendors, including Anthropic Claude Code and Cowork, Microsoft GitHub Copilot and Factory, Amazon Q Developer and AWS Kiro, Gemini CLI, Code Assist, and Cloud Assist. Anthropic and AWS also offer tools specifically for mainframe application modernization and development.
However, given the central position of IBM Z mainframe systems in the market, IBM claims unique expertise.
rob thomas
“COBOL is machine-level code, which means that if you try to run it elsewhere, you typically sacrifice significant fidelity and performance characteristics,” Rob Thomas, IBM’s senior vice president and chief commercial officer of software, said at a press conference this week. “We used Watsonx Code Assistant and now we are using IBM Bob for Z to focus on scanning the code so we can really see the different business objects and business logic.”
IBM Bob joins the race for AI coding agents
“IBM Bob fills a significant gap in IBM’s product portfolio and creates a new entry point into the underlying IT automation toolset for existing customers, but it fails to outperform many competitors in its specific capabilities,” said Jason Andersen, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
“As a vendor providing back-end services, they [needed] “It’s user space specific, and it made a lot of sense to step into it from the application development user persona. IBM has a lot of so-called non-standard platforms and languages, so instead of building a set of plugins, having your own specific set of tools will give you better integration opportunities and allow you to migrate more quickly,” Andersen said.
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Concerns about the security of open source AI coding agents such as OpenClaw have also made it important for IBM to offer customers a way to create custom agent workflows they design themselves that incorporate enterprise governance, said Futurum Group analyst Bradley Shimmin.
“Claude is cool if you write code, but it’s built for the masses. When you buy an IDE from JetBrains, they try to be something for everyone, and Microsoft’s VS Code is no different,” Shimmin says. “What we’re aiming for within the enterprise is a self-driven, self-determined, curated tool chain built by the people writing the code, the people owning the results. They’re not waiting or relying on the MCP hub.” [things like] Claude Cowork. ”
IBM Concert, HCP Preview Infragraph
This week, another set of tools in preview brings Infragraph, HashiCorp and IBM’s joint knowledge graph project, to the HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) Terraform and IBM concert, expanding its AIOps capabilities. IBM started talking about integrating AIOps with HashiCorp two years ago through Concert, and the tool’s initial focus was on application security, Thomas said.
“A year ago, we talked about Concert as a way to apply AI to identify security vulnerabilities in the environment,” Thomas said. “We describe Infrafraph as a multi-cloud CMDB. [configuration management database]a way to see all your systems in real-time… and Concert is the AI applied on top of that… to automate and enforce management across your hybrid environment. ”
According to an IBM blog post, the Infragraph integration will underpin a broader new IBM Concert platform that covers six areas of hybrid cloud management. These areas include:
Concert Observer for observability with integration into IBM Instana and SevOne.
Concert optimization with performance and cost optimization with Turbonomic.
Concert operations to detect, investigate, and respond to incidents from IBM Cloud Pak for AlOps.
Concert Protect for vulnerability and risk management due to Al.
Concert resiliency for reliability insights and proactive operations.
Concert Workflow for low-code workflow orchestration and automation.
Andersen said the concert platform is another necessary step for IBM to bring its various acquisitions together more cohesively.
“IBM recognizes that we need to start integrating these products more tightly so that our customers get better benefits,” Andersen said.
Concert at the end [will] It will be the glue that holds everything together.
jason andersenAnalyst Moore Insights and Strategies
Andersen predicted that the next likely focus of the IBM concert will be resiliency, with cybersecurity becoming increasingly important among businesses.
“We plan to expand into an autonomous health overlay or engagement system across all of our individual services like Cloudability, Apptio, Instana, HashiCorp Vault, and even Red Hat products,” he said. “After all, the concert [will] Be the glue that holds everything together. ”
IBM Concert also added a feature called Secure Coder in public preview this week. This feature can automatically prioritize and remediate security vulnerabilities in code, operating systems, middleware, packages, and images through the IBM Bob and VS Code IDEs.
“The concert is [Anthropic’s] Mythos came along because every customer is looking for, ‘How can I solve a vulnerability problem that I didn’t know about?'” Thomas said.
For more IBM AI updates, visit Think
The IBM Bob and Concert updates were just two of Think’s broader product news, which also included IBM’s recently completed acquisition of the Confluent data pipeline and its first integration with the Watsonx.data lakehouse. IBM’s Sovereign Core hybrid cloud AI framework is now generally available after a two-month preview period. Additionally, the Watsonx Orchestrate AI agent orchestration platform now includes a new AI agent catalog that supports third-party AI agents such as ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Adobe.
Knowledge graphs are becoming a popular means of establishing autonomous agents within the context of a variety of vendors’ platforms. Cross-domain agent orchestration, including third-party agents and tools, is also a common selling point among enterprise vendors.
According to Shimmin, these trends reflect the widening AI skills gap, which is one of the central issues in enterprise adoption of AI agents.
In two Futurum Group data intelligence, analytics, and infrastructure decision maker surveys conducted in September and January, nearly half of the more than 800 respondents cited agent AI as a primary goal. However, in January, the number of people reporting the AI skills gap as their biggest organizational challenge doubled from 5% to 10%.
“What an integrated stack.” [such as Watsonx Orchestrate] “It’s about delivering performance improvements and cost optimization,” Shimmin said. “An integrated stack will also lead to things like what we’re seeing with HashiCorp and IBM. They’ll take some of the heavy lifting off, even if it’s arbitrary.” [for customers]. ”
Beth Pariseau, senior news writer at Informa TechTarget, is an award-winning IT journalism veteran. Any tips? send an email to her or connect linkedin.
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