Join COMMON and connect to a powerful network of your peers, industry experts, and IBM executives and developers. Membership in COMMON is your key to one-stop, direct access to the key experts and solution providers in the Power Systems world.

COMMON Membership

• As a member of COMMON, you are part of the world’s largest community of IBM Power Systems users and solution providers.
• Through this community, you have invaluable opportunities to network and learn best practices from peers, industry experts, and IBM.
• You are part of the collective voice to IBM and other solution providers that resonates through the larger IT community as the voice of expert authority on Power Systems and related technologies.
• The exclusive "COMMON...Customized" education model provides you with numerous choices to stay up-to-date on leading-edge Power Systems-related education (traditional conference, in-depth workshop, web-based education, and more).

COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition

• The premier Power Systems-related educational conference and annual meeting of the COMMON membership.
• Offering over 300 educational sessions, pre-conference in-depth workshops, and labs to choose from over four days.
• The largest Power Systems-related Exposition to supplement your education - nearly 80 of the leading solution providers offering the latest products and solutions.
• Provides extraordinary networking opportunities with other members of the COMMON community - connect with your peers, renowned speakers, IBM executives, and fellow members and leave with a wealth of knowledge.
• Leading-edge educational topics on the newest Power Systems-related technologies, including POWER 7 and IBM i 7.1.

COMMON Fall Conference and Expo

• Our newest conference offering specifically designed to meet the needs of the Power Systems community as defined by the members.
• Choose from over 100 educational sessions on a large variety of topics over three days.
• Includes vendor-led sessions presented by leading solution providers on their products to provide attendees even more choice on how to maximize their time at the conference.
• Numerous networking events so that attendees can further enhance their education through one-on-one sharing of knowledge.
• A tabletop-style Expo of leading solution providers to provide access to the latest products and solutions available for the Power Systems community.

Web-Based Education - Webcasts and Webinars

• The COMMON Online Member Directory is an exclusive member benefit that brings together the COMMON community at your fingertips.
• You have access to a strong and vibrant community that you can turn to for advice and technical expertise year-round, anytime you need it.
• Open only to active COMMON members that choose to be included, you can search for fellow members by one or more of several search criteria, including name, location, industry, type of technology, functional responsibility, and more.
• You can contact fellow members anonymously after searching, ensuring your and your fellow members’ privacy is protected.

COMMON Certification Program

• Recognizes current and future IT professionals as those that have demonstrated a high-level of technical and business knowledge through achievement of certification.
• The program consists of two levels of credentials, the COMMON Business Computing Associate and the COMMON Certified Business Computing Professional. 
  The program was developed by long-time members and industry experts - those that know what knowledge and skills are needed in today’s competitive job market.
• The COMMON Business Computing Associate credential exam launched at the 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition and is aimed directly at IT professionals who are new to the workplace, recent college graduates looking for jobs in the IT industry, and college students approaching gradution.
• The COMMON Business Computing Associate is someone who is qualified to enter the business world with a credible business computing background.
• Receiving this credential signifies that COMMON attests to the professional competence, and to the knowledge and skills represented by defined tasks in the exam.
• Certified individuals will stand out from the ever-growing job seeking crowd, and gain a competitive advantage.
• The COMMON Certified Business Computing Professional certification exam focuses on in-depth education and will test experienced professionals on their technical and business knowledge. 

Virtual Labs

• One of COMMON's newest virtual offerings, the Virtual Labs allow members to get hands-on, in-depth, all-day lab training from the convenience and comfort of their office or home.  It's a great way to stay up-to-date on technology changes with this type of hands-on training in a very cost-effective manner.  The instructor uses a combination of lecture, demonstrations, and labs to help attendees understand the subject matter.

• COMMON.CONNECT is the official publication of COMMON and focuses on delivering value to members by engaging and informing the COMMON community.
• The bi-monthly magazine reaches a very receptive and niche audience of nearly 20,000 recipients as a fully-interactive digital magazine.
• The content is driven by the members of the COMMON community, not professional writers, so it is also a forum for members to share knowledge and expertise with fellow members.
• It includes technical articles, member-relevant content, member and company profiles, member benefits, event information, user group updates, and other articles that are of benefit to the membership and the broader COMMON community.

COMMON Connector e-Newsletter

• COMMON’s monthly e-newsletter is sent to members of the COMMON community to provide updates on your user group.
• You can learn about all the initiatives and successes of each COMMON pillar (Community & Networking, Education, and Leadership & Advocacy).
• Connector provides up-to-date information on all upcoming COMMON events, keeping you informed about the latests details and changes for each event.
• You can view the full education calendar and learn more about COMMON member benefits.

COMMON Career Center

• The COMMON Career Center is the only online job board that brings together employers and job seekers specifically in the Power Systems area.
• Job Seekers can search for jobs and apply directly, post their resumes confidentially, create search agents, and save jobs for future application.
• Employers looking to hire Power System users benefit from targeted advertising, the ability to easily list their jobs, resume search options, e-mail notification, and competitive pricing.
• The COMMON Career Center is not the one-size-fits-all approach of the monster-sized job boards, its targeted for the most qualified users of Power Systems and related solutions.