What’s new in IBM z17
IBM z17 available for customers June 18th 2025 and upgradable from IBM z16 and IBM z15 machines.
A quick summary of what is new in IBM z17 compared to IBM z16 is briefed below.
Enhanced Processor and Memory
- IBM z17 uses and enhanced IBM Telum II processor, offering higher performance per core and 40 percent growth in cache, which can perform over 450 billion inferencing operations per day with a one millisecond response time.
- Increased Memory: Supports up to 64TB of system memory as compared to maximum 40 TB in z16, enabling larger in-memory workloads. IBM claims up to 20% more performance per core and up to 25% more system capacity compared to z16.
AI and On-Chip Acceleration
- While IBM z16 introduced on-chip AI inferencing for real time transactions, IBM z17 expands AI capabilities with improved on-chip AI inferencing, supporting more complex models and faster inferencing, enabling broader AI workloads directly on the mainframe, 50% more AI inference operations per day compared to z16.
- Additionally, the IBM Spyre Accelerator, expected to be available in Q4 2025, will provide further AI compute capabilities complementing the core Telum II processor. This would support more complex and larger AI models, multi-model AI with LLMs, enabling real-time analytics and fraud detection directly on the mainframe.
Expanded Quantum-Safe Security
- IBM z17 expanded the Quantum-safe security, with additional cryptographic algorithms and improved key management, future proofing against quantum threats building on the support for CRYSTALS-Kyber and CRYSTALS-Dilithium algorithms introduced in IBM z16.
Networking and Connectivity
- IBM z17 introduces PCIe Gen5 support, higher bandwidth I/O, and improved network adapters for faster data transfer and lower latency. It also introduces enhanced OSA and RoCE adapters for better network performance.
System Resiliency and Availability
- IBM z17 further enhances the RAS features of IBM z machines, including improved predictive failure analysis and faster recovery from hardware faults and even higher system availability.
Cloud and Hybrid Integration
- While IBM z16 enhanced support for hybrid cloud, containerization, and DevOps, IBM z17 builds on this with deeper integration for hybrid cloud, improved support for containerized workloads, and new APIs for automation and orchestration, making it easier to integrate with public and private clouds.
Software Ecosystem
- IBM z17 comes with support for the latest z/OS versions 3.1 & 2.5 and new software features, including expanded AI, security, and cloud-native capabilities. IBM z17 will be supporting the newer version of zOS 3.2 expected to be released by September’2025.
Quick comparison of IBM z17 vs IBM z16
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Features
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IBM z17
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IBM z16
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Processor
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Telum II processor
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Telum (1st gen)
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Max Cores
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Up to 208
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Up to 200
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Max Memory
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Up to 64 TB
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Up to 40 TB
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AI Acceleration
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Enhanced AI Chip to run larger models - Spyre Accelerator
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On-chip inferencing
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Quantum-Safe Security
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Enhanced, more algorithms
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Yes (Kyber, Dilithium)
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PCIe Generation
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Gen5
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Gen4
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Hybrid Cloud Integration
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Deeper integration
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Enhanced
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RAS
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Further improved
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Industry-leading
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With these additional features, IBM z17 is designed to more volume of the workloads running on mainframes, such as credit card and banking activity, real-time transactions that require high scalability, high availability (99.999999%), throughput, and resiliency. IBM z17, with the new AI-enabled Telum II processor & Spyre Accelerator can run AI workloads quicker and help in threat & fraud detection at the point of transaction.
IBM z17 can “Do more at the Core”