IBM reported it was named a leader in the 2025 Omdia Universe on No-Low-Pro IDE Assistants. The company says the recognition reflects its focus on developing AI-based solutions to help developers.
Against growing interest in such tools, IBM cites a Gartner estimate: by 2028 75% of enterprise software engineers will use AI assistants to write code.
What distinguishes IBM watsonx Code Assistant
According to IBM, watsonx Code Assistant uses generative AI and automation to speed up work with code across multiple programming languages, including Python, Java, and JavaScript. Claimed capabilities include real-time suggestions, generation of unit tests, and translation of code between languages.
Michael Azoff, principal analyst at Omdia (Cloud Native Computing), notes that enterprises are adopting code assistants to compensate for shortages of skilled developers and increase productivity across roles, accelerate code delivery, and help junior engineers ramp up on new technologies faster.
Integration with Ansible and mainframe modernization
IBM also emphasizes the integration of watsonx Code Assistant with Ansible Automation Platform. It is reported to help generate playbooks and roles, as well as provide explanations using natural-language prompts and following Ansible best practices.
A separate focus for the company is support for IBM mainframe modernization: transforming legacy systems to more modern platforms with emphasis on code quality, performance, and security.
Impact for development teams
According to IBM, research and user experiences show increased productivity and time savings on code explanations, documentation, and code generation. As an example, the case of rKube (Morocco) is mentioned, which in a pilot project was able to automatically convert more than half of traditional WebSphere application code.
IBM says the development of watsonx Code Assistant is aimed at:
- broadening access to AI tools for developers of varying skill levels;
- strengthening collaboration capabilities;
- supporting the full development lifecycle (SDLC) — from planning to deployment;
- reducing manual tasks and accelerating automation.