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Introducing IBM LinuxONE Emperor 5: Unlocking Potential with Security, Cost-Efficiency, and AI

  

Today we're announcing IBM® LinuxONE 5, performant Linux computing platform for data, applications and your trusted AI, powered by the IBM Telum™ II processor with built-in AI acceleration. This launch comes at a pivotal time, as technology leaders focus on three critical imperatives: enabling security, improving cost-efficiency, and integrating AI into enterprise systems.

Security Built for Modern Demands

IBM LinuxONE 5, the fifth generation of IBM LinuxONE, extends IBM’s end-to-end approach to cybersecurity and privacy, elevating zero trust to new heights while simplifying support for client’s compliance initiatives.  

Confidential computing, significant crypto bandwidth, NIST-standardized post quantum algorithms, and cutting-edge hardware security module make LinuxONE 5 a compelling solution for end-to-end protection of workloads and data1. This advanced level of security can help clients prepare for existing and emerging threats such as harvest-now, decrypt-later attacks in the post-quantum age. 

These capabilities play a critical role in protecting clients’ AI models and data, which often contain sensitive information and can be key to competitive differentiation. Confidential containers help protect data in use for AI and other scenarios with Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform.  In addition, when integrated with IBM Vault Self-Managed, IBM LinuxONE 5 is designed to provide a powerful security posture for Secrets Management across hybrid environments.

Cost-Efficiency for Modern IT

The new system is engineered to help address cost, space, and energy challenges. For example, organizations can reduce operational complexity and optimize their IT infrastructure by consolidating workloads across multiple servers onto a single high-capacity system. Moving cloud-native, containerized workloads from a compared x86 solution to an IBM LinuxONE 5 running the same software products can save up to 44% on the total cost of ownership over 5 years.2


In one client success story, the Port of Barcelona faced the challenge of managing increasingly complex and energy-intensive logistics and operations systems. By consolidating its mission-critical systems on IBM LinuxONE, the port reduced energy consumption and prepared for future growth.

LinuxONE 5 is designed to deliver up to eight 9s (99.999999%) availability3, supporting business continuity and operational risk reduction while helping clients address growing workload demands. This is critically important today as CIOs look for ways to stretch budgets and datacenter capacity to meet the needs of data-intensive, AI-enabled businesses.

AI Built In, Engineered for Better Outcomes

The IBM Telum II processor at the heart of IBM LinuxONE 5 includes a second-generation on-chip AI accelerator. IBM Telum II is designed to help businesses scale predictive AI and LLMs for real-time, high-volume transaction processing with more precision and accuracy.

The IBM Spyre™ Accelerator, expected to be available 4Q 2025 via PCIe card, will provide additional generative AI capabilities to complement the Telum II processor.  In addition to generative AI applications, new multiple model AI approaches are engineered to enhance prediction and accuracy in many industry use cases like advanced fraud detection, image processing and retail automation.

To support developer productivity and AI deployment, the AI Toolkit for IBM LinuxONE has been updated and optimized for the Telum II processor.

With this announcement, we are highlighting the technology preview of Red Hat® OpenShift® AI and Red Hat® OpenShift® Virtualization on IBM LinuxONE 5. Right now, with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Technology Preview - clients are able to explore and experiment with managing both traditional VM and containerized workloads through a unified interface on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. With Red Hat OpenShift AI, clients can deploy models in standard mode only and have vLLM runtime templates available for use. Additional details about general availability will be shared in the coming months.

Ecosystem-Led Innovation and Growth

The IBM LinuxONE ecosystem brings together a strong network. ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) deliver fit-for-purpose solutions that tap into LinuxONE’s AI and encryption, while the open-source community contribute flexible, scalable tools for seamless integration. Our global network comprises of hundreds of reseller partners who provide skills to support modernization, consolidation, and AI Innovation with LinuxONE at the core. IBM LinuxONE supports various Linux distributions through partnerships with companies like Canonical and SUSE.

Ready for What's Next

All these capabilities are supported by IBM Technology Lifecycle Services. IBM LinuxONE Expert Care provides 24/7 hardware monitoring and rapid issue resolution, while support services for software encompass Red Hat, SUSE, and more.

IBM LinuxONE 5 represents the next evolution of our Linux infrastructure strategy. It is designed to help clients unlock the full potential of Linux and AI while optimizing their datacenters, simplifying their operations, and addressing risk. Whether you're building intelligent applications, deploying regulated workloads, consolidating infrastructure, or preparing for the next wave of transformation, IBM LinuxONE offers an exciting path forward. 

Learn more about IBM LinuxONE 5:

Join us on Tue, May 13, 2025, 10:00 AM EDT for LinuxONE: Unlocked — a virtual event where we’ll explore the technology behind IBM LinuxONE 5. Register here. Replay available on demand after the event. 

Learn more: ibm.com/linuxone-5

Disclaimers

1 https://research.ibm.com/blog/nist-pqc-standards

2 DISCLAIMER: IBM® internal performance tests for the core consolidation study targeted a comparison of the following servers. IBM Machine Type 9175 MAX 136 system consisting of three
CPC drawers containing 136 configurable processor units and six I/O drawers to support both network and external storage. The x86 solution used a commercially available enterprise server with two 5th generation Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8592+ processors, 64 cores per CPU. Both solutions had access to the same storage. The workloads consisted of a containerized online transaction processing (OLTP) WebSphere Liberty v25 application running on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) v4.17, and an EDB Postgres for Kubernetes v1.25 on the same OCP cluster
simulating core online banking functions. Both solutions used Red Hat Enterprise Linux v9.5 and KVM. Results may vary. The test results were extrapolated to a typical, complete customer IT solution that includes isolated from each other production and non-production IT environments.
TCO included software, hardware, energy, network, data center space, and labor costs. On the IBM z17 side the complete solution requires one IBM z17 Type 9175 MAX 136, and on x86 side, the complete IT solution requires 23 compared server

3 DISCLAIMER: IBM internal data based on measurements and projections was used in calculating the expected value. Necessary components include IBM LinuxONE Emperor 5; IBM z/VM V7.3 systems or above collected in a Single System Image, each running RHOCP 4.14 or above; IBM Operations Manager; GDPS 4.6 or above for management of data recovery and virtual machine recovery across metro distance systems and storage, including Metro Multi-site workload and GDPS Global; and IBM DS8000 series storage with IBM HyperSwap. A MongoDB v4.4 workload was used. Necessary resiliency technology must be enabled, including z/VM Single System Image clustering, GDPS xDR Proxy for z/VM, and Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation (ODF) 4.14 or above for management of local storage devices. Application-induced outages are not included in the above measurements. Other configurations (hardware or software) may provide different availability characteristics.