Hello!

In early November, our sponsored events at at Embedded World and the TBM Conference sparked great conversations and valuable connections. Exciting opportunities lay ahead as we continue helping organizations optimize their technology investments and FinOps practices.

Our own Tahte Perkins, along with SodiusWillert’s Jeff Pilato, were recently in Tampa, FL for the 29th Annual Systems & Mission Engineering Conference, meeting leaders from across industry and government and sharing ideas on improving defense programs and mission success.

🎉 We are thrilled to welcome Julia Demko to the Gang as our newest Account Manager. Julia brings valuable expertise and will be helping us drive success for our customers and initiatives.

Read on to find out what else we are up to!

💙🤍💛 321 Gang

Partner News and Announcements

IBM Apptio, Turbonomic, Targetprocess, Instana, Cloudability, and Kubecost

Learn how FinOps practices must evolve to address today’s emerging workloads – from AI and containerization to edge computing. It outlines how organizations can build automated cost visibility, define new cost units (e.g., GPU-hours, pod-minutes), and implement governance that converts financial risk into business agility. Here>>>

Apptio in Action: Real Results from Leading Organizations From its customer stories, Apptio is helping companies gain real financial insight and drive meaningful ROI:

IBM used Apptio’s TBM suite to uncover $ savings across its hybrid cloud stack, optimize application TCO, and align IT spend with strategic business initiatives. Here>>>
Red Hat cut 13% from its non-labor budget by using Apptio to bring transparency to its cloud costs. Here>>>

321 Gang can help guide you through your FinOps journey – from gaining clarity on cloud spend to building mature cost-optimization practices supported by Apptio and TBM expertise. More>>>

SodiusWillert

OSLC Connect for Jira Cloud Preview Series Launch

We’re excited to share the first two demos in our “OSLC Connect for Jira Cloud: The Journey Begins” series.
Episode 1 offers a first look at OSLC Connect for Jira Cloud, showing how the powerful traceability, linking, and reporting you rely on today will continue seamlessly as we move toward full availability in January 2026.
Episode 2 highlights IBM Global Configuration support, demonstrating how artifacts and links automatically align to the correct configuration when using Jira Cloud with IBM DOORS Next. Stay connected Here>>>

In the latest conversation from SodiusWillert, experts Walter van der Heiden & Andy Lapping explore how AI is transforming model-based systems engineering (MBSE). They explain how AI is helping engineers break free from the “blank page” challenge while still preserving the rigor, traceability and human expertise that regulated engineering demands. Read>>>

It’s Rhapsody Power Pack Time with Andy Lapping #74 Find Unresolved

Pure Variants

Update alert: Pure Variants 7.1.3 now available! The latest release of Pure Variants (version 7.1.3) is now ready for download. This update includes the full installer for new users (with Eclipse 4.31/4.37 support) and an archived update site with all extensions. Existing users can upgrade via the integrated update action. For detailed changes, check the included Changelog.

Why it matters: Whether you’re just starting or updating your toolchain, this version delivers compatibility improvements, ease of installation, and more streamlined upgrades—helping your variant-management workflows stay efficient and up to date. HERE>>>

IBM

🛠️ Check out our updated IBM Services Page! Filter by role, industry, discipline, or specific products to give your team the support they need. Our tech team is the cream of the crop, with over 20 years of experience using systems engineering tools to help organizations in highly regulated industries design and develop systems and software for better business outcomes. Check it out>>>

Buy IBM Software Easier – Through AWS Marketplace Thanks to our role as an authorized AWS CPPO reseller, you can now purchase IBM cloud solutions (like Apptio, Turbonomic, Maximo, Instana, and more) directly through AWS – and apply your existing AWS commitment spend. We can help streamline procurement & onboard you fast. Here>>>

Explore IBM Innovation – Live Webcast Tomorrow! Join IBM for a live webcast on their digital innovation platform, where you’ll get real-time demos, expert insights, and a look at how their leading technologies are driving business transformation. Register now to tune in, ask questions, and discover solutions that could reshape your organization. Register>>>

Discover how the shift from document-centric engineering to model-based systems engineering (MBSE) can be accelerated by integrating MBSE tools into CI/CD pipelines. This blog explores how models, simulations, and code generation become continuous, traceable, and automated – bridging the gap between system intent and execution reality. Read>>>

💡IBM Joins OpenSearch Foundation IBM has joined the OpenSearch Software Foundation to advance open-source search and AI capabilities, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). The move highlights growing support from major players for community-driven, transparent, and innovative search tools. Here>>>

GitLab

GitLab Update — GitLab 18.5 has landed! Released in mid-October, the update brings the Duo Planner and Security Analyst Agents (beta), a new personal homepage to help users pick up work easily, and a Maven virtual registry UI. HERE>>>

IBM Maximo

See IBM Maximo IT in Action: Explore a live demo that showcases how Maximo IT delivers intelligent incident, change, and asset management — driving operational efficiency and reducing downtime. DEMO>>>

Jira Align

Jira Align Update (v11.17 & looking ahead to 11.18): The Jira Align 11.17 release brings enhanced usability for backlog views (deep-linking with full context of teams, releases, view types) and expands the beta roadmap experience with new filters, colour-by-health, group-by-owner, and more. Analytics users should note the new “Project Mapping Enforced Flag” column in Enterprise Insights. Looking ahead, version 11.18 (now expected mid-November) introduces Slack smartlink preview support (requires Atlassian Identity), with preparations underway to decommission legacy roadmaps in v11.19 this December. HERE>>>