Latest news with #IBMz16
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IBM unveils AI-integrated z17 mainframe
Tech major IBM has unveiled the latest version of its mainframe hardware engineered to support artificial intelligence (AI) across software, hardware, and systems operations. Powered by the IBM Telum II processor, the IBM z17 is designed to extend beyond transactional AI workloads, aiming to deliver real-time analysis for 100% of enterprise transactions. The system introduces capabilities that process up to 50% more AI inference operations per day than its predecessor, the IBM z16. The z17 incorporates feedback from more than 100 enterprise clients and reflects a five-year development process, the company said. The company revealed that it filed more than 300 patent applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office during this period. The new system integrates AI to support over 250 use cases such as risk assessment for loans, chatbot management, among others. At the core of the z17 is a second-generation on-chip AI accelerator within the Telum II processor, offering 40% more cache and the ability to perform over 450 billion inferencing operations daily with one millisecond response times. Concurrently, the tech major previewed the IBM Spyre Accelerator which will offer additional AI compute capacity via a PCIe card. The accelerator is intended to enable generative AI capabilities on the mainframe, such as AI assistants using enterprise data. The z17 introduces tools like IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z and IBM watsonx Assistant for Z to enhance developer and IT operations productivity. For the first time, watsonx Assistant for Z will integrate with Z Operations Unite to provide chat-based AI incident detection and resolution using live system data, the company said. IBM also introduced IBM Z Operations Unite, a solution designed to unify key performance metrics and logs using OpenTelemetry. Scheduled for general availability in May 2025, it is aimed at improving incident detection, impact assessment, and resolution times. The z17 also includes features such as IBM Vault for secrets management across hybrid cloud, leveraging technology from HashiCorp. Additionally, the system introduces AI-powered tools for data classification and threat detection, including IBM Threat Detection for z/OS. Support for the z17 will be provided through IBM Technology Lifecycle Services, offering AI-driven processes to enhance case resolution and operational efficiency. The z17 will be generally available from 18 June 2025, with the IBM Spyre Accelerator to follow in late 2025. IBM LinuxONE and IBM Z general manager Ross Mauri said: 'The industry is quickly learning that AI will only be as valuable as the infrastructure it runs on. 'With z17, we're bringing AI to the core of the enterprise with the software, processing power, and storage to make AI operational quickly. Additionally, organisations can put their vast, untapped stores of enterprise data to work with AI in a secured, cost-effective way.' Recently, IBM and Tokyo Electron (TEL) renewed their partnership to advance semiconductor technologies for the next five years. "IBM unveils AI-integrated z17 mainframe" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IBM releases a new mainframe built for the age of AI
IBM is releasing the latest version of its mainframe hardware that includes new updates meant to accelerate AI adoption. The hardware and consulting company on Monday announced IBM z17, the latest version of its mainframe computer hardware. This fully encrypted mainframe is powered by an IBM Telum II processor and is designed for more than 250 AI use cases, the company says, including AI agents and generative AI. Mainframes might seem like old hat, but they're used by 71% of Fortune 500 companies today, according to one source. In 2024, the mainframe market was worth an estimated $5.3 billion, per consulting firm Market Research Future. The z17 can process 450 billion inference operations in a day, a 50% increase over its predecessor, the IBM z16, which was released in 2022 and ran on the company's original Tellum processor. The system is designed to be able to fully integrate with other hardware, software, and open-source tools. Tina Tarquinio, VP of product management and design for IBM Z, told TechCrunch that this mainframe upgrade has been in the works for five years — well before the current AI frenzy that started with the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in November 2022. IBM spent more than 2,000 research hours getting feedback from over 100 customers as it built the z17, Tarquinio said. She thinks it's interesting to see that, now, five years later, the feedback they got aligned with where the market ended up heading. "It has been wild knowing that we're introducing an AI accelerator, and then seeing, especially in the later half of 2022, all of the changes in the industry regarding AI," Tarquinio told TechCrunch. "It's been really exciting. I think the biggest point has been [that] we don't know what we don't know about what's coming, right? So the possibilities are really unlimited in terms of what AI can help us do." The z17 is set up to adapt and accommodate where the AI market heads, Tarquinio said. The mainframe will support 48 IBM Spyre AI accelerator chips upon release, with the plan to bring that number up to 96 within 12 months. "We are purposely building in headroom," Tarquinio said. "We're purposely building in AI agility. So as new models are introduced, [we're] making sure that we've built in the headroom for bigger, larger models — models that maybe need more local memory to talk to each other. We've built in that because we know it's really the approach that will change, right? The new models will come and go." Tarquinio said that one of the highlights of this latest hardware — although she joked it was like being asked to pick her favorite child — is that the z17 is more energy-efficient than its predecessor and supposedly competitors, too. "On-chip, we're increasing the AI acceleration by seven and a half times, but that's five and a half times less energy than you would need to do, like, multi-model on another type of accelerator or platform in the industry," Tarquinio said. The z17 mainframes will become generally available on June 8. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IBM releases a new mainframe built for the age of AI
IBM is releasing the latest version of its mainframe hardware that includes new updates meant to accelerate AI adoption. The hardware and consulting company on Monday announced IBM z17, the latest version of its mainframe computer hardware. This fully encrypted mainframe is powered by an IBM Telum II processor and is designed for more than 250 AI use cases, the company says, including AI agents and generative AI. Mainframes might seem like old hat, but they're used by 71% of Fortune 500 companies today, according to one source. In 2024, the mainframe market was worth an estimated $5.3 billion, per consulting firm Market Research Future. The z17 can process 450 billion inference operations in a day, a 50% increase over its predecessor, the IBM z16, which was released in 2022 and ran on the company's original Tellum processor. The system is designed to be able to fully integrate with other hardware, software, and open-source tools. Tina Tarquinio, VP of product management and design for IBM Z, told TechCrunch that this mainframe upgrade has been in the works for five years — well before the current AI frenzy that started with the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in November 2022. IBM spent more than 2,000 research hours getting feedback from over 100 customers as it built the z17, Tarquinio said. She thinks it's interesting to see that, now, five years later, the feedback they got aligned with where the market ended up heading. "It has been wild knowing that we're introducing an AI accelerator, and then seeing, especially in the later half of 2022, all of the changes in the industry regarding AI," Tarquinio told TechCrunch. "It's been really exciting. I think the biggest point has been [that] we don't know what we don't know about what's coming, right? So the possibilities are really unlimited in terms of what AI can help us do." The z17 is set up to adapt and accommodate where the AI market heads, Tarquinio said. The mainframe will support 48 IBM Spyre AI accelerator chips upon release, with the plan to bring that number up to 96 within 12 months. "We are purposely building in headroom," Tarquinio said. "We're purposely building in AI agility. So as new models are introduced, [we're] making sure that we've built in the headroom for bigger, larger models — models that maybe need more local memory to talk to each other. We've built in that because we know it's really the approach that will change, right? The new models will come and go." Tarquinio said that one of the highlights of this latest hardware — although she joked it was like being asked to pick her favorite child — is that the z17 is more energy-efficient than its predecessor and supposedly competitors, too. "On-chip, we're increasing the AI acceleration by seven and a half times, but that's five and a half times less energy than you would need to do, like, multi-model on another type of accelerator or platform in the industry," Tarquinio said. The z17 mainframes will become generally available on June 8.
