IBM debuts compact z17 mainframes and LinuxONE servers for on-premises enterprise AI
IBM Corp. today announced a massive expansion of its on-premises enterprise infrastructure lineup, with new single-frame and rack-mount versions of its iconic z17 mainframes and more compact LinuxONE 5 server platforms.
The new lineup includes the IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper 5 and IBM LinuxONE 5 Express systems, which are the first to be offered in more flexible form factors at a lower price point. Meanwhile, the smaller z17 systems, which have been reduced to a standard 19-inch rack-mountable size, are part of an effort to democratize access to the venerable mainframe so that smaller organizations can take advantage of its high-performance processing and industrial-grade security.
IBM Chief Product Officer Tina Tarquinio introduced the new mainframes in a blog post, saying that they’re designed to address a couple of converging headaches for enterprises of all sizes: the need to run sensitive, data-intensive artificial intelligence workloads on-premises to adhere to strict regulatory requirements, and the pressure to reduce their energy costs and data center footprints.
Tarquinio said the company has solved these challenges with some impressive hardware engineering feats. For instance, the new single-frame and rack-mount z17 systems squeeze massive amounts of computing power into a smaller physical space. They can support up to 82 cores and provide a hefty 18 terabytes of memory across just two processor drawers. They’re powered by IBM’s most advanced Telum II processor, which delivers a 10% single-threaded improvement and up to 20% greater capacity overall than the older z16 mainframe systems.
