IBM has announced new IBM z17 and IBM LinuxONE 5 configurations, marking the first time that IBM offers rack-mount systems alongside single-rack systems across its Z and LinuxONE product range.
The expanded IBM z17 and LinuxONE 5 portfolios now offer a wide variety of deployment options, designed with the same benchmarks for performance, security and ecosystem. New rackmount and single rack options provide organizations with additional ways to leverage performance where it best fits their business needs, helping to maintain flexibility and operational efficiency.
Infrastructures that optimize space
Organizations that process highly sensitive workloads at scale face very low data center space availability levels and rates exceeding $400 per kW/month, according to CBRE’s 2026 Global Data Center Trends Report. At the same time, they need an infrastructure capable of optimizing their data center footprint by prioritizing the resilience needed for their core applications. Enterprises can use IBM z17 and LinuxONE 5 rack-mounted and single-rack systems to address these challenges, optimizing their data center space to fit today’s reality.
“The number of critical workloads is increasing at an incredible rate, forcing organizations to make difficult decisions about performance, AI integration and infrastructure footprint,” said Tom McPherson, general manager of IBM Z and LinuxONE. “With these new IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE systems, we make it easier to run workloads where they make the most sense, while opening the door for a broader range of organizations to benefit from these technologies for the first time.”
Flexibility in data centers
The new IBM z17 and IBM LinuxONE 5 configurations support up to 82 cores and 18TB of memory across two processor modules, representing an increase of approximately 20% in core count and a 12% increase in memory capacity. The single-processor capability of the IBM z17 ME2 delivers full-speed IBM z/OS configurations, including 10% higher performance per core than the IBM z16 A02, with some variation depending on workload and configuration.2
Customers have the flexibility to co-install IBM and non-IBM equipment to achieve the most appropriate configuration for their data center needs. Each system is designed to help organizations reclaim space, improve energy efficiency, and integrate seamlessly into existing environments:
• The IBM z17 single rack is a fully integrated solution featuring an IBM rack and intelligent power distribution units (iPDUs), delivered as a ready-to-deploy enclosed unit, now offering customers a larger footprint so they can place other technologies within the same rack.
• The IBM z17 rackmount system allows customers to install IBM Z components directly into their own industry-standard rack, with built-in flexibility for co-location with other technologies.
• IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper 5 is the scalable, multi-modular LinuxONE system for high-density workloads, with on-chip AI acceleration, confidential computing, and post-quantum cryptography, available in both single-rack and rack-mount configurations.
• The IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper 5 rackmount and Express offerings deliver enterprise-grade Linux, confidential computing, and on-chip AI acceleration in a compact 18U configuration. Designed for organizations managing a smaller set of workloads, these offerings provide a cost-effective entry point that can scale as the business grows, prioritizing security, resiliency and performance.
Like the rest of the IBM z17 and LinuxONE 5 lineup announced last year, the single-chassis and rack-mount systems offer advanced multi-model AI inference through the IBM Telum® II processor, Red Hat OpenShift AI, and the IBM Spyre accelerator, enabling predictive AI and generative AI to be applied during transactions.
Maximize business value from the ground up
Leveraging the flexibility of IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE systems, IBM is introducing new software and management capabilities designed to help customers simplify infrastructure operations, reduce the skills required to manage the platform, and derive greater value from the workloads that already support their business.
· IBM Infrastructure Management for Z and LinuxONE brings together provisioning, configuration and operations. Enterprises can now take advantage of Terraform and the widely adopted Infrastructure-as-Code, designed to automate infrastructure deployments and orchestrate configurations in a unified user interface with a simple, visual topology and I/O configuration, while accommodating the number of specialists required.
· IBM COBOL Elevate for z/OS, designed to simplify modernization and optimize the performance of COBOL applications running on IBM z17, helps customers get more value from the applications they depend on without requiring code rewrites or specialized skills, and will be available September 18.
These new devices help companies deploy workloads with greater flexibility
· Post-quantum cryptography-based security is now standard on z17 and LinuxONE Rockhopper 5 systems, leveraging post-quantum cryptography, confidential computing, and enterprise-level secret management.
· New IBM Crypto Discovery & Inventory features designed to simplify security operations by providing security teams with a consolidated view of their enterprise-wide cryptographic posture, helping them prepare for post-quantum standards with end-to-end visibility.
“With the emergence of generative AI methods, we need the highest levels of performance, efficiency, resilience and security to securely store and process sensitive data sets,” said Dr Owain Kenway, director of research and development (platform technologies) at UCL ARC. “The new IBM LinuxONE 5 single rack, rackmount and express models enable organizations like ours to access advanced technologies at affordable prices, and help our academic teams conduct exceptional research.”
The new single-frame and rack-mount configurations of the z17, IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper 5, and IBM LinuxONE 5 Express will be generally available starting August 12, 2026. IBM Infrastructure Management for IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE will be generally available starting August 14, 2026. IBM COBOL Elevate for z/OS will be generally available starting September 18, 2026.
