IBM has launched new z17 and LinuxONE Systems offerings in an effort to address costs and space constraints within data center environments.The expanded portfolio includes both single frame and rack mount options, with IBM noting that this is the first time it has offered a full portfolio of Z and LinuxONE in these form factors and price points.According to the company, the systems support up to 82 cores and 18TB of memory across two processor drawers, representing about a 20 percent increase in core count and a 12 percent increase in memory capacity. Each system has been designed to help organizations “reclaim space, improve energy efficiency” and can be integrated into existing environments, IBM said.The IBM z17 single frame is a fully packaged solution that comes in an IBM rack and sits alongside intelligent power distribution units (iPDUs), while the z17 rack mount allows customers to install IBM Z components directly into their own rack.The LinuxONE additions include the Rockhopper 5 and the LinuxONE 5 Express. The Rockhopper 5 is a scalable, multi-drawer system that has been designed for high-density workloads and offers on-chip AI acceleration, confidential computing, and post- quantum-cryptography. It is available in both single-frame and rack-mount configurations. The LinuxONE 5 Express is a single 19-inch rack-mountable system that fits into standard data center racks alongside your existing x86 infrastructure.“The number of mission-critical workloads is rising at an incredible pace, forcing organizations to make tough decisions about performance, AI integration, and infrastructure footprint,” said Tom McPherson, GM, IBM Z and LinuxONE. “With these new IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE systems, we’re making it easier to run workloads where they make the most sense, while opening the door for a wider range of organizations to benefit from these technologies for the first time.”The z17 single and rack mount offerings, IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper 5, and IBM LinuxONE 5 Express will all be generally available on August 12, 2026.IBM launched its z17 mainframe generation in April 2015, with the company stating that the systems had been specifically engineered to support AI capabilities and are the result of five years of development. Featuring a second-generation on-chip AI accelerator built on the IBM Telum II processor, it can process 50 percent more AI inference operations per day than its predecessor, the z16.