INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres

IBM Z is built to redefine AI at scale, positioning enterprises to score 100 % of their transactions in real-time. z17 enables businesses to drive innovation and do more, including the ability to process 50 % more AI inference operations per day than z16. The new IBM z17 is built to drive business value across industries with a wide range of more than 250 AI use cases, such as mitigating loan risk, managing chatbot services, supporting medical image analysis or impeding retail crime, among others.

Additionally, organisations can put their vast, untapped stores of enterprise data to work with AI in a secured, cost-effective way.”

z17 AI inferencing capabilities are powered by a second-generation on-chip AI accelerator built into the IBM Telum II processor, featuring increased frequency, compute capacity, a 40 % growth in cache, enabling more than 450 billion inferencing operations in a day and one millisecond response time.

z17 is designed to bolster the skills and efficiency of developers and IT operations with the use of AI assistants and AI agents, including IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z and IBM watsonx Assistant for Z. In addition, for the first time, watsonx Assistant for Z will be integrated with Z Operations Unite to provide AI chat-based incident detection and resolution using live systems data.

IBM z17 is a system designed from the ground up to fully integrate into hybrid environments by tightly joining hardware innovations, software capabilities for AI, and rich support for open-standards and tooling. This enables differentiated performance and reliability while reimagining how developers and systems operators engage with and manage IBM Z.

IBM also previewed z / OS 3.2, the next version of its flagship operating system for IBM Z, planned to be released in the third quarter of 2025. z / OS 3.2 is designed to support hardware-accelerated AI capabilities across the system and operational AI insights for system management capabilities. p

IBM z17 is the culmination of five years of design and development which included the filing of more than 300 patent applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office. IBM z17 will be available June 18, 2025 The IBM Spyre Accelerator is expected to be available starting in Q4 2025.

Designed with the direct input of more than 100 clients and in close collaboration with IBM Research and Software teams; the new system introduces multi-model AI capabilities, new security features to protect data, and tools that leverage AI for improving system usability and management.

“ The industry is quickly learning that AI will only be as valuable as the infrastructure it runs on,” said Ross Mauri, General Manager of IBM Z and LinuxONE, IBM.“ With z17, we are bringing AI to the core of the enterprise with the software, processing power, and storage to make AI operational quickly.

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