The News: Today IBM announced the latest updates to z16 family of mainframe servers. IBM launched the Telum processor in 2021, and the z16 family in 2022, and now the final iteration is here to round out the product family. Read the full announcement from IBM here.

Mainframe Goes Mini: IBM Announces Latest Updates to z16 Family

Analyst Take: The launch of a new mainframe is always a seminal moment for IBM and, while this launch is not quite at the same level as the initial release of the z16 in terms of significance, it still represents an important moment for the whole of IBM.

The mainframe is part of the DNA of IBM. While other solutions often garner more press comments, the spotlight on the mainframe franchise under Ross Mauri’s stewardship continues to power a significant part of the company’s revenue, and forms the bedrock for many of IBM’s clients, especially those that need the most highly secure and mission-critical systems of record platforms in key industries such as banking, telco, retail, and government.

IBM broke tradition and announced the Telum processor in August 2021 at Hot Chips before launching the z16 system in April 2022. These launches were vital to the recent stock performance of IBM over the last few turbulent months as Big Blue has weathered the Tech Wreck storm better than most.

z16 Rack Mount – What Did IBM Launch?

While IBM’s z16 launch is a big moment for IBM, one shouldn’t dismiss this launch as just more of the same. IBM typically uses this 2nd launch in the cycle to roll out updates to the core z16. IBM has done this again this time around with the likes of Crypto 8S card and updates to a raft of previous updates to support the latest z/OS release. However, the big news this time for IBM’s z16 family is all about the form factor.

You can see everything that is new for the IBM z16 below.

Ever since the launch of the Mainframe on April 7th, 1964, IBM has shipped it in a rack provided by the company. This has allowed IBM to control how the system is delivered to clients in order to improve their experience when it comes to new installations or system upgrades. IBM engineers were able to wheel in a full rack and then Code 20 the system from a known base. With the new rack-mounted system, IBM has had to examine the whole system installation process and make adjustments.

On a recent tour of IBM Poughkeepsie, the team walked us through this process at length and it was clear they have left no stone unturned in order to ensure that while mainframe customers can now leverage their own racks, the mainframe experience, availability and performance will remain the same.

IBM z16 AO2 and Rack Mount – The Details

IBM’s new z16 A02 and the rack mount will leverage the 4.6 GHz version of the Telum processor, which is a 7nm architecture. For all those who don’t give the mainframe credit for being ‘modern,’ it is my understanding that IBM beat other processor manufacturers such as Intel to 7nm when the Telum processor was announced in the IBM z16 back in 2022.

IBM z16’s new A02 and rack mount comes in MAX5, MAX16, MAX32, and MAX68 configurations, meaning that customers have a lot of flexibility in how they configure their system. This means that across the maximum of two drawers, the system will have up to 68 cores. I do wish that with this new form factor, IBM would start to talk about per-socket pairs more in how it describes its configuration descriptions to align with how the rest of the industry describes its systems. The socket that attaches to the motherboard contains the Dual Chip Module (DCM), accommodating up to 16 cores. The maximum memory configuration is 16TB and again, IBM zSystems customers will have many options in how they configure to align with their memory needs.

Why Should IBM z16 Customers Take Note?

Why should IBM z16 customers take note? A new smaller form factor mainframe is hardly the most earth-shattering update from IBM, but this is still a big deal for mainframe customers, even more so for smaller customers. For example, if you are a mid-sized government department or a regional bank, then you probably run your system of record on a mainframe, and up until now that meant at least one dedicated 19” rack of floor space and an IBM-provided rack to run your mainframe. With IBM’s z16 rack mount these smaller customers now have the option to co-locate storage, networking, or adjacent compute platforms in the same rack and they are not constrained to an IBM rack.

This may seem a small point on the surface, but when many servers are co-located in multi-tenant datacenters, the previous restrictions and form factor led to increased costs and customers having to make accommodations for mainframe deployments. This has changed with the rack mount system deployment option. This new system is a game-changer for smaller mainframe customers and those who have not upgraded to IBM z15.

Looking Ahead

The mainframe lives on. As the mainframe continues to evolve, the platform continues to go from strength to strength. At a recent briefing, IBM stressed how the IBM z16 cycle has been the most successful in mainframe history, and capacity (as measured by MIPS) continues to grow. Over the last few quarters, this growth has been a huge part of IBM’s resurgence as a technology bellwether stock. The smaller mainframe launch is not as great a driver for top-line growth typically, however, I do see this new form factor gaining more traction than has been typical of previous smaller business class systems.

While the hyperscaler cloud providers are still targeting IBM’s mainframe on-premise installed base, this new system will help customers with a crucial dynamic in evaluating TCO, namely datacenter floor space. It is too early to say how many back-level customers running IBM z14, z13, and even older systems will see this as the time to refresh and upgrade, but I see this system as an inflection point in these upgrade discussions. I will be tracking how the IBM Systems team under Jose Castano’s proven leadership executes in the next four quarters.

Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.

Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.