IBM z16: A mainframe designed for AI, hybrid cloud, security and open source

Today's announcement of IBM's new z16 mainframes promises a system that caters to enterprise needs that include support for AI, security, hybrid cloud, and open source efforts well into the future. The new, more powerful and feature-rich Big Iron boasts an AI accelerator built onto its core Telum processor that can do 300 billion deep-learning inferences per day with one millisecond latency and includes what IBM calls a quantum-safe system to protect organizations from anticipated quantum-based security threats. The system's IBM Telum dual-processor chip has 16 cores and runs at 5.2 GHz. IBM says that the z16 comes with up to 200 configurable cores in a single model--the Model A01--and includes 40TB of redundant array of independent memory (RAIM) per system. But while z16 family, available May 31, is more powerful, the system also promises to accelerate other core IBM strategies of growing hybrid computing and open-source based enterprise systems.