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IBM MQ, IBM MQ for z/OS and IBM MQ Appliance firmware 10.0 Long Term Support is here! Plus the MQ Appliance M2004.

By Ian Harwood posted 06/16/26 09:27 AM

  

IBM MQ has moved into double digits with 10.0.0 being the next Long Term Support release of IBM MQ. MQ 10.0 releases today for distributed platforms and MQ for z/OS 10.0 will release in a few days time on 19th June 2026.

The MQ Appliance product line is also getting a significant update with a new M2004 hardware model, with newer generation processors, storage, memory and networking. See the IBM MQ Appliance M2004 product announcement. MQ Appliance M2003 hardware will remain in support until 30th September 2031.

Here are your MQ and MQ Appliance supported options at this point:


Where can I get IBM MQ 10.0.0 from?

For further information about what each Program entitles you to install check out the MQ license information page.  

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What’s new in the MQ 10.0.0 release?

MQ updates

The MQ 10.0.0 Announcement letter contains information about the new capabilities added for this new Long Term Support release of IBM MQ, and includes a rollup of all the capabilities added through the MQ 9.4.x CD releases.
What's new/changed - IBM MQ 10.0.0

  • IBM MQ
    • MQ Agent
      The MQ Agent, accessed from the MQ Console web interface, continues to evolve with AI-driven capabilities to help enterprises maintain high-performing, resilient MQ systems while reducing operational effort and risk.
      • New LLM choices to help you optimize deployment. A single LLM can be used if GPUs are limited, whilst multiple LLMs can help reduce token usage for LLMs deployed on Cloud environments.
      • Support for running LLMs on-prem with vLLM
      • Added Amazon EKS (Kubernetes 1.35) as a deployment environment along side Red Hat OpenShift.
      • See the documentation for more information on the deployment options
    • MQ Container
      • Starting with Operator 4.0, a Long Term Support option is now available for the MQ Operator and Container, with a LTS of 2.5 years from initial availability. See the Lifecycle dates for IBM MQ in containers.
      • Added support for Kubernetes 1.36(on EKS)
    • Security
      • Quantum Safe Cryptography support for TLS connections across Linux x86-64, Linux Power, Windows and AIX operating systems.
    • Client applications
      • MQ Client applications for Java/JMS can run on Java 25 runtimes and for enterprise Java applications, the Jakarta EE 11.0 spec is now supported.
      • JMS applications can now use message tokens in selectors.
      • MQ .NET client applications are now supported on .NET 10.
    • High Availability and Disaster Recovery 
      • Native HA adds a new disaster recovery topology option call In-Region Replication (IRR), alongside Cross-Region Replication (CRR).
        • Native HA is a high availability solution requiring 3 nodes within a region
        • Native HA IRR is a 2 node disaster recovery solution that requires fewer compute nodes, but manual intervention to switch to the Recovery site.
        • Native HA CRR is a high availability and disaster recovery solution, requiring 6 nodes, 3 in each region.
        • For further comparison of the topologies see

          Comparison of Native HA CRR and Native HA IRR solutions

          .
      • MQ Console can show the status of Native HA queue managers

  • IBM MQ for z/OS
    • Observability and Monitoring 
      • MQ can propagate OpenTelemetry traces between MQ and IMS via the MQ/IMS adapter.
      • SMF data updated to include MQ Client version information for improved compliance and monitoring.
      • Queue Sharing Group name is now also included in SMF data.
      • Error messages improved for failed client authentication events to clearly identify the cause and recommended action.
    • Performance and scalability 
  • IBM MQ Appliance
    • A new M2004 hardware model has been announced to release on 16th July 2026 - IBM MQ Appliance M2004 product announcement. MQ Appliance M2004 includes the following enhanced hardware elements:
      • Improved processor performance delivering enhanced per-core performance and efficiency
      • Next-generation memory architecture with DDR5 memory providing increased bandwidth for improved throughput
      • Expanded high-speed network capacity with four 100 Gb network ports (doubled from M2003), ensuring maximum flexibility for future network architectures
      • Proven storage performance with NVMe solid state drives (SSDs) for consistent, reliable data access
    • IBM MQ Appliance 10.0 firmware will also become available on 16th July 2026
      • 10.0 firmware can be installed on the M2003 or M2004 systems
      • For M2002 MQ 9.4 LTS and MQ 9.4.5 CD firmware will remain supported through to the end of support for the M2002 on 30th Sept 2027.
    • IBM MQ Appliance M2003 will remain in support until 30th September 2031.

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Education materials and installable code for development

Updates:

  • With the EoL of Spring Boot 3 the MQ Spring Boot starter has been updated for Spring Boot 4 and MQ 10.0. See the 

    MQ with Spring Boot 3: EOL 

    for more information.
  • Tutorials and example materials will be updated over the coming weeks for MQ 10.0.

Downloads:

  • A free to use installable developer edition on Windows, Linux x86-64, and Linux ARM64 is available. See the Developer download options below.

Education materials and badges:

The IBM Developer site for MQ is regularly updated with a mix of learning paths, tutorials, essential getting started information, and patterns for application development. 

There is also the opportunity to obtain recognition for MQ skills you have gained by completing the IBM MQ Developer Essentials badge or the IBM MQ on AWS Cloud Developer Essentials badge.

Certifications:

For Administrators the IBM Certified MQ 9.4 Administrator - Professional course is available, which will get you an industry-recognized IBM Certification.
IBM MQ Developer Essentials
IBM MQ on AWS Cloud Developer Essentials badge

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    Downloadable resources

    A number of MQ components are made available on IBM Fix Central and elsewhere for ease of download. Below are the links to the available components. Where applicable, they will show the latest 9.3 Continuous Delivery (CD) and Long Term Support (LTS) updates for each component. Be sure to know which you require.

    Main product install image and fix pack download documentation:


    Maintenance quick links:


    Checksums and Signatures:

    Clients:

    Components:


    Containers:

    AI Agent:


    Development:

    Tip: Try opening the links in a private browsing tab if they don’t correctly resolve.

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    MQ System Requirements and documentation

    The system requirements are documented at the links below. IBM MQ Continuous Delivery releases are being made available on z/OS, Microsoft Windows, Linux on x86-64, Linux on IBM z Systems, Linux on Little Endian Power (RHEL, SLES and Ubuntu) and AIX.

    Further information can be found in the IBM MQ Documentation.

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    What function has released in previous updates?

    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.4.5 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.4.4 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.4.3 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.4.2 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.4.1 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.4 Long Term Support Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.3 Long Term Support Release

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    Remind me how the Continuous Delivery support model works…

    It's worth reminding you what the Continuous Delivery support model means for MQ.

    • MQ 10.0.0 LTS is supported for a minimum of 5 years from its availability in June 2026, and will receive fix only maintenance through updates versioned 10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2 and so on.
      • MQ Operator 4.0.0 / Container 10.0.0 LTS is supported for 2.5 years from initial availability.
    • MQ CD updates will be delivered with the 3rd digit change – 10.0.1, 10.0.2 and so on. Defect support for a CD release is available for 12 months from the availability of the release or while it remains one of the two most recent CD releases, whichever is longer, so you need to keep moving forward with the MQ CD releases.
    • MQ CD updates will be delivered with new function enabled by default.
    • The IBM MQ FAQ for Long Term Support and Continuous Delivery Releases will hopefully answer most of your questions.
    • Some components of MQ are Continuous Delivery only, with no LTS option. See the Technical support section of the Announcement letters for full details.
      • IBM Instana Tracing Exit for MQ
      • IBM MQ Explorer
      • IBM MQ Agent

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