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Overview
What is IBM Z?
IBM Z is the company's mainframe enterprise server solution product line.
Recent Reviews
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Solution Planning Senior Manager
Accenture DACH (Information Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees)
Senior Technical Specialist
More than 20 different businesses over 30 years (Information Technology & Services, 1001-5000 employees)
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- Downloadables
- FAQs
What is IBM Z?
The new IBM z15 delivers performance,
flexibility, availability, protection, and agility to drive
digital transformation. It has changed the footprint of IBM Z
with a 19” frame, that scales from one to four frames depending on the
configuration, enabling significant floor space reduction.
IBM z15 has the commercial data privacy and security enforcement solution, Data Privacy Passports, that provides off-platform access revocation. Choose who accesses data, and when and at what level to revoke their access. One hundred percent of data, at-rest and in-flight, is protected with no performance trade off or application changes. With Fibre Channel Endpoint Security working with the latest DS8900F, achieve total end-to-end protection and authentication.
IBM z15 provides flexibility, portability and choice for hybrid cloud deployment. Cloud-native development simplifies life for developers as they build new applications and modernize existing ones. IBM Z supports private and public cloud via Linux, Kubernetes and industry-standard tools. With the Red Hat OpenShift support, IBM z15 adds to the user's options for cloud integration.
Instant recovery reduces the impact of planned and unplanned downtime. All systems need downtime for maintenance, and security patching.
IBM z15 has the commercial data privacy and security enforcement solution, Data Privacy Passports, that provides off-platform access revocation. Choose who accesses data, and when and at what level to revoke their access. One hundred percent of data, at-rest and in-flight, is protected with no performance trade off or application changes. With Fibre Channel Endpoint Security working with the latest DS8900F, achieve total end-to-end protection and authentication.
IBM z15 provides flexibility, portability and choice for hybrid cloud deployment. Cloud-native development simplifies life for developers as they build new applications and modernize existing ones. IBM Z supports private and public cloud via Linux, Kubernetes and industry-standard tools. With the Red Hat OpenShift support, IBM z15 adds to the user's options for cloud integration.
Instant recovery reduces the impact of planned and unplanned downtime. All systems need downtime for maintenance, and security patching.
IBM Z Features
- Supported: Data Privacy Passports
- Supported: IBM Z Data Privacy for Diagnostics
- Supported: IBM Recovery Boost
- Supported: Integrated Accelerator for zEDC
- Supported: Quantum-Safe digital signing algorithms
IBM Z Competitors
IBM Z Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Linux, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM |
| Mobile Application | No |
IBM Z Downloadables
Frequently Asked Questions
IBM Z is the company's mainframe enterprise server solution product line.
Dell PowerEdge M and ClearPath Forward Libra are common alternatives for IBM Z.
Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.1.
The most common users of IBM Z are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(134)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-17 of 17)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
September 18, 2023
z/OS - nothing better
We have two computers at our production site and one at our DR site. All computers run z/OS. One system runs a payroll application, and the other runs a provident Fund Application. Both systems provide services to external customers. The computers are connected to an IBM DS9810F storage system and an IBM TS7770 virtual tape system.
- Massive I/O
- Support many users concurrently
- Very little downtime required.
- It's hard finding new people with the required knowledge.
- It seems expensive.
September 12, 2023
Reliable and secured IBM Z
Mainly IBM Z's versatile platform addressed our wide array of business challenges
1. Deployed to cater to the needs of middleware applications.
2. Focused on the modernization of legacy IT systems which are crucial for business operations and user experiences.
3. Custom in-house applications specific to the Next-generation AI and data analytics
4. Deployed mainly focus on business applications that need robust Reliability and Availability.
1. Deployed to cater to the needs of middleware applications.
2. Focused on the modernization of legacy IT systems which are crucial for business operations and user experiences.
3. Custom in-house applications specific to the Next-generation AI and data analytics
4. Deployed mainly focus on business applications that need robust Reliability and Availability.
- Linux on Z applications can seamlessly operate on z/OS, which leverages z/OS operations staff and reuse the z/OS environment.
- Primarily container images with s390x architecture in the Docker Hub can
- be run in z/OS Container Extensions.
- Kafka alongside with ZooKeeper API, benifits from the centralized service that maintains configuration information.
- Unfortunately, there is no provision of morethan one one network interface in each virtual server instance of z/OS systems
- As a limitation at resource sharing, mainly Disks are not able to share between z/OS virtual server instances
- Compression is one of the key feature should be included to support in the PCIe
September 10, 2023
Worth it product by IBM.
IBM Z is used in our organization for large data requirements as it is very versatile and has the capacity to store large amounts of data. We have freedom of choice with the type of data we store and there are scalability options that are inherent with this product from IBM.
- Provided efficient storage for all the data needs.
- Very versatile with old firmware as this has a hybrid open platform.
- This has familiar dev tools for the developers which requires less turnaround time.
- While migrating to cloud there is a slight disruption in network.
- The User Interface can be improved which would make the product more intuitive.
- Detailed documentation with the product guide related to migration will be much appreciated.
November 30, 2022
Cloud at your premises
Reliable server which never fails, and has great disaster recovery offerings, is the definition of virtualisation, hence "the" cloud itself.
Yes, this is the mainframe, and yes, I am a mainframer.
Yes, this is the mainframe, and yes, I am a mainframer.
- Virtualisation
- Total cost of ownership
- Reliability
- User interfaces
- Customer education
- Customer relations
November 16, 2022
IMS on z/OS provides speedy transactions and high availability
Ericsson (formerly Telcordia) provides IMS DB/TM-based inventory systems for very large phone companies. Although primarily IMS-based, we use IMS Connect, DB2, and MQ as well. We make extensive use of MQ and IMS Connect to allow access to our systems for users beyond just the 3270 world. We transformed all our 3270 green screens with our Xj (JAVA eXtensions) product so our users have the advantage of a modern interface. MQ is used to interface with both our other systems that run on other platforms (UNIX, LINUX, etc) as well as an interface to other phone company systems not written by Ericsson.
- I/O is very fast in IMS and outside of IMS as well
- CPU speeds are as fast as any other platform
- User interfaces remain fairly constant (TSO, IMS, DB2, MQ, etc)
- Support is good, but more examples, especially of non-Z/os things like JAVA, would be helpful
- Security is becoming so prevalent it's cumbersome at times.
- Less emphasis on exits coded in BAL/ASM and more parmlib/proclib members would be helpful
September 24, 2022
Mainframe Support Technical Leader.
Core banking processing of billions of transactions and batch jobs each day to address all kinds of banking operations originating from different parts of the company. Thanks to IBM Z’s high availability features, the platform is the main backend for all mobile transactions that represent more than 80% of all of the bank's workload. Another key feature is security. IBM Z’s security features like RACF can build multiple levels of security, protecting all data and access!
- High availability and resilience.
- Security
- Compatibility ( old code can run along new code with conflicts).
- Cloud integration.
- Business models.
- Web interfaces.
September 17, 2022
A great software design for hybrid cloud, it has great security, keeps our files very safe.
It is trustable and grants high availability, which is very appropriate for managing different conversion processes like inventory and billing. Server trustability and can accumulate huge amounts of data. At first, it is challenging to learn, and we see that it is a high-priced platform; the command line interface should be upgraded, which makes it user-friendly and it is beneficial.
- Its efficiency and performance, It is trustable.
- IBM Z frame series mainframe system is like a skilled in the industry, protected, and it can do anything, almost distribute a lot of benefits in various sections.
- It has an affinity with a lot of modern technology as well.
- Difficult to learn at first.
- high prices.
- The Command line interface should be upgraded.
January 17, 2020
The powerhouse of the world economy
The IBM z/OS is being intensively used to run batch processes of enterprise-level applications for various in-house projects. We actively make use of a whole array of IBM z/OS middleware services ranging from DB2 relational database management systems to the CICS transaction processing servers. Additionally, various other suites of technology are interfaced with the z/OS for additional services access.
- Batch processing.
- Server reliability.
- Legacy interface can be a bit hard to get around in the beginning.
- Difficult to replicate work environment at home for practice.
May 02, 2019
IBM Z and Storage Technology
IBM Z Mainframes are used to support z/OS and z/VM operating systems on a minute to minute basis.
These operating systems support critical applications and infrastructure to support front line business needs such as Claims Processing, Web Applications, DB2, CICS Transactions, and IMS Databases.
These operating systems support critical applications and infrastructure to support front line business needs such as Claims Processing, Web Applications, DB2, CICS Transactions, and IMS Databases.
- IBM Z Technology supports the critical Infrastructure needed for reliable Data Centers to support business needs.
- IBM Z Mainframe Technology is used worldwide for the amount of MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second) and processing power/data handled by this equipment.
- IBM Z Storage is Infrastructure that supports large amounts of critical data. (Direct Access Storage Devices, Virtual Tape Subsystems, and Physical back-end Tape)
- More access methods from a Management GUI Interface to help support on-site IBM SSR's perform job duties. IBM SSR's log into one or more IBM TSSC's (Management Interface for IBM personnel) to support Support Infrastructure needs such as: enabling AOS, offline of a back-end TS11** tape drive or Downloading VTD Exec's which could be critical fixes released from support seen in the field.
- More detailed/extensive lab testing before Ficon Host Adapters or ETH cards are released to new equipment sold in the field. We experienced multiple disruptive "Ficon Panics" within the recently purchased TS7760 Technology that had 16Gb Ficon cards behind a z14 mainframe with 16Gb Ficon cards. This turned out to be the following: shortage of data descriptors, block sizing, related to EEH or CAD code and we had an IBM TS7700 Architect come on-site and explain that a fix was made in the 8Gb Ficon cards that wasn't brought over into the 16GB Ficon cards. We've had to remove twenty 16Gb Ficon cards from seven TS7760's in our environment and replace with 8Gb Ficon cards until IBM Development release's VTD Exec's and CMVC fixes before another implementation plan.
May 02, 2019
IBM Z - Nice
As a credit union, we use IBM Z for all online transactions and batch processing, including on-line web interface and mobile transactions.
- On-line CICS transactions
- Batch processing
- More graphical user interface for newer Sysprogs
May 02, 2019
My take on some of Z
It is being used across the whole organization to run batch jobs and do development modeling and run analytics.
- Batch processing
- Backend processing
- Resource management
- Ease of installation of some products
- Automation
- Monitoring of some internal subsystems like DB2
May 01, 2019
Znation
IBM Z is being used in the Managed Services department within my company. It provides services for financial institutions, airlines etc..
- IBM Z has the best security for data
- It operates 24/7
- It has zero downtime
- Implement a powerful tool for GUI so users can do more
May 01, 2019
z/OS is still the best.
Our company runs our credit card, debit card, and store card systems primarily on IBM Z. We do all thing credit, debit and store card for our clients. It is about 60% of revenue.
- Transaction processing. Nothing better than DB2 and Information Management System (IMS).
- The best security in the business world.
- Best place to store data for retrieval.
- More GUI interfaces into z/OS.
May 01, 2019
Mike Barone Review
IBM Z is being used as a test environment. Our TEC center gets equipment from manufacturers to show clients how the technology works. It is strictly for a non-production environment, as detailed by IBM. We are not able to do our own production work on the system, just use it to show customers how it works.
- Reliability.
- Security.
- Speed.
- Price.
- Interface.
- Ease of use.
February 22, 2019
Z enterprise stacks up against the competition
IBM Z Enterprise is being used across our whole organization and has solved business problems in many server issues that would require continuous maintenance support
- It handles large amounts of data easily
- No maintenance required to uphold
- Ease of deployment and use
- Access to multiple admin
- Giving permissions
- Space to fix issues
IBM Z Series Enterprise Servers provide the power and reliability needed for the largest organizations to drive large numbers of transactions and gain insight from their data. If you are looking for a platform with high availability that can scale on demand and deliver performance with optimal security, these things are second nature to mainframe computer systems and applications.
The mainframes I have worked on are typically used across the whole organization to address the enterprise business needs of the organization. They run multiple applications for multiple business lines.
The mainframes I have worked on are typically used across the whole organization to address the enterprise business needs of the organization. They run multiple applications for multiple business lines.
- Security is a specific strength of the Z platform. The IBM z14 provides Pervasive Encryption, making the platform one of the most secure hardware offerings available. Specialized cryptographic hardware is utilized to encrypt data and protect encryption keys, enabled through integration with a tamper-responding cryptographic HSM. The IBM z14 pervasively protects all application and database data, without interrupting business applications and operations, all the time, at any scale. True end-to-end data protection is provided for all in-flight network data and APIs. Imagine being able to protect all your data and applications without requiring IT or programmer action. With the z14 this becomes reality instead of imagination.
- IBM offers flexible pricing options to make it easier for customers to affordably adopt and utilize the Z enterprise servers for any type of workload that needs to be run. For example, with Container Pricing, customers can identify workload to containers and pay for them independently of any other workload at a reduced price. Container Pricing is an important breakthrough for mainframe customers because it offers competitive economics versus alternative platforms such as public clouds and on-premises x86 servers.
- The IBM z14 delivers high-end processing power and enhanced I/O capabilities. The latest model, the z14, offers increases in the performance of the individual PUs (processor units), increases in the number of PUs per system, a redesigned system cache, and an increase in the amount of memory possible.
- The system is capable of running more than 12 billion encrypted transactions per day on a single system. And the IBM z14 delivers industry leading scale to meet the needs of modern connected workloads. It can run a million Docker containers on single platform.
- The mainframe and z/OS have a long history of providing critical business value with transaction processing systems like CICS and IMS. And the transactions processed by these systems are often backed by DB2 and IMS databases. The applications and databases hosted on mainframe systems provide a rich tapestry of useful information that mobile users want to access.
- And mobile devices can connect to the System z platform consistently and effectively. With z/OS Connect the mainframe can use a single interface on z/OS that accepts standard mobile protocols and formats that can interact with multiple systems on the mainframe.
- The Z platform provides a superior platform for analytics & machine learning for continuous intelligence across the enterprise. The Machine Learning on Z platform, delivered in 2017, offers an agile machine learning solution that enables customers to convert enterprise data into opportunity. With machine learning on an IBM z14 you can optimize your decision processes by quickly training, deploying and continuously monitoring a high volume of high quality predictive behavioral models. The IBM z14 can also rapidly analyze large volumes of data with consistent response times by exploiting the additional memory and faster processors of the z14.
- Modern development techniqes and languages can be used, in addition to legacy systems. And Linux can be run on enterprise Z servers just as easily as z/OS.
- And the platform excels at traditional, transactional workloads, both online and in batch, using database systems, flat files, or VSAM.
- IBM needs to add more focus on simplifying mainframe usage and management.
- Most modern programmers interface with the Z using an IDE. However, performing many tasks, such as cataloging a data set or checking on a job status, can require switching to the ISPF interface. Users want to interface with a GUI, not a function-key, menu and character-based interface like ISPF. Anything that can simplify and modernize interfacing with the mainframe should be a high priority for IBM.
- The IBM Z platform is one of the most instrumented computing platforms in the world, so there are a lot of metrics that could be automatically analyzed and used to improve the performance and management of the mainframe environment.
February 19, 2019
My IBM Z Enterprise Servers Review
We have now 4 Z14 M/Cs with z/OS v2.3. They are used by the entire MOI dept. They cover WebSphere Application Server (WAS) applications with MQ and DB2.
- High availability
- Stability
- GUI interface
- Performance monitor
- Lower cost