IBM has unveiled new single frame and rack mount configurations of IBM z16 and IBM LinuxONE 4, expanding their capabilities to a broader range of data centre environments.
Based on IBM’s Telum processor, the new options are designed with sustainability in mind for highly efficient data centres, helping clients adapt to a digitised economy and ongoing global uncertainty.
Introduced in April 2022, the IBM z16 multi frame has helped transform industries with real-time AI inferencing at scale and quantum-safe cryptography. IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4, launched in September 2022, features capabilities that can reduce both energy consumption and data centre floor space while delivering the scale, performance and security that clients need. The new single frame and rack mount configurations expand client infrastructure choices and help bring these benefits to data centre environments where space, sustainability and standardisation are paramount.
“IBM remains at the forefront of innovation to help clients weather storms generated by an ever-changing market,” said Ross Mauri, General Manager, IBM zSystems and LinuxONE. “We’re protecting clients’ investments in existing infrastructure while helping them to innovate with AI and quantum-safe technologies. These new options let companies of all sizes seamlessly co-locate IBM z16 and LinuxONE Rockhopper 4 with distributed infrastructure, bringing exciting capabilities to those environments.”
Organisations in every industry are balancing an increasing number of challenges to deliver integrated digital services. According to a recent IBM Transformation Index report, security, managing complex environments and regulatory compliance were cited as challenges to integrating workloads in a hybrid cloud. These challenges can be compounded by more stringent environmental regulations and continuously rising costs.
IBM z16 and LinuxONE 4 offerings are built for the modern data centre to help optimise flexibility and sustainability, with capabilities for partition-level power monitoring and additional environmental metrics. For example, consolidating Linux workloads on an IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper 4 instead of running them on compared x86 servers with similar conditions and location can reduce energy consumption by 75% and space by 67%. These new configurations are engineered to deliver the same hallmark IBM security and transaction processing at scale.
Designed and tested to the same internal qualifications as the IBM z16 high availability portfolio, the new rack-optimised footprint is designed for use with client-owned, standard 19-inch racks and power distribution units. This new footprint opens opportunities to include systems in distributed environments with other servers, storage, SAN and switches in one rack, designed to optimise both colocation and latency for complex computing, such as training AI models.
For critical industries, like healthcare, financial services, government and insurance, a secure, available IT environment is key to delivering high-quality service to customers. IBM z16 and LinuxONE 4 are engineered to provide the highest levels of reliability in the industry, 99.99999% availability to support mission-critical workloads as part of a hybrid cloud strategy. Emerging threats require protection and the new configurations offer security capabilities that include confidential computing, centralised key management and quantum-safe cryptography to help thwart bad actors planning to ‘harvest now, decrypt later’.
