How the New IBM z17 is Leveling Up Mainframe Capabilities - The Main Scoop Episode 32

Old tech. New tricks. Mainframe has been around for decades but it’s being reinvented for the AI era. 

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On Episode 32 of The Main Scoop, hosts Greg Lotko (Broadcom) and Daniel Newman (The Futurum Group) chat with David Watts, VP, Hybrid Cloud AI, Security and Resilience at IBM about the new z17, revealing how this iconic platform is being revitalized to tackle the demands of the AI era. This isn't your grandpa's mainframe; it's a powerhouse of security, reliability, and cutting-edge AI capabilities.

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Key takeaways include:

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🔹AI-Infused Infrastructure: IBM is embedding AI directly into the z17, with a new Telum II processor and dedicated AI engine. This isn't just about running AI workloads; it's about infusing AI into the mainframe's core functions to enhance everything from fraud detection to risk assessment.

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🔹Fortified Security and Unwavering Reliability: Building on the platform's legendary resilience, z17 delivers even more robust security features, including AI-powered threat detection and sensitive data tagging, ensuring the highest levels of data protection.

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🔹Modernizing the Mainframe Experience: IBM is committed to making the mainframe more accessible and user-friendly for both seasoned experts and a new generation of IT pros. By embracing open technologies like Linux, OpenShift, and Ansible, z17 is designed to integrate seamlessly into modern IT environments.

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🔹A Platform for the Future: The z17 is not just an upgrade; it's a strategic evolution. IBM is positioning the mainframe as a central pillar of the modern enterprise, capable of handling the most demanding workloads of today and tomorrow.

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Learn more at IBM. 

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Or listen to the audio here:

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Greg Lotko: Hey folks, welcome back to the next episode of the Main Scoop. I'm Greg Lotko, joined by my co-host here, Dan Newman. Good to see you Dan.

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Daniel Newman: It is good to be with you here in person and it's good to be having a conversation today about some tech that's going to be hitting the markets. Huh?

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Greg Lotko: Yeah, new stuff that's out on the market now. So this is, you know, The Main Scoop is where we relate the latest and greatest technology.

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Daniel Newman: I mean it's not always like a news breaking show, but sometimes when things are happening we are the place for it to happen, Greg. And you know, you and me talking about Al and everything else.

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Greg Lotko: That was AI for those of you who don't understand who Al is.

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Daniel Newman: People gotta get to know our humor. I mean we're like 40 episodes into this thing.

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Greg Lotko: I know, it's pretty dry.

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Daniel Newman: It is pretty dry, yeah.

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Greg Lotko: So anyway, let's be serious. We're going to be talking about the IBM z17 now. So the next latest, greatest generation of the mainframe. And I'm delighted to welcome our guest here, David Watts, he's the VP of Hybrid Cloud AI Security and Resilience at IBM. So that's a big scope there. David. David, welcome to the program. Tell us a little bit about your role.

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David Watts: You bet. Pleasure to be here. First of all, thanks for having me. And this is, this is an awesome show and I know it reaches a lot of great listeners and they're going to be very excited about what's coming in the next z17. But I'm David Watts, I'm the VP of IBM Z AI, Security, Resilience, all the good stuff that goes into the platform, developing and delivering it out to the masses. So really looking forward to what's coming.

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Daniel Newman: So David, we're going to dive in, we're going to dig in, we're going to talk a lot about the product, we're going to talk about the challenges you've addressed. We're going to talk about AI and security and so much more. But kind of what's that first big bang you're having, that getting out there, you know, talking to customers kind of what's that reaction that you're getting now that you're out with the new z17?

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David Watts: Yeah, I'm glad you actually mentioned customers because one of the things we started doing with each of these systems is actually working very closely. In fact I'd say co-creating with our clients. So I know you're familiar with the ZDC, it's the DZ Design Council that we have at IBM but we have multiple other councils, security councils, we have AI councils now where we work very closely with the clients while we're developing what goes into the system. So I can actually answer with a lot of confidence. We've had over 1600 just hours of co-creation with clients when you add it all together that our clients are incredibly excited about the capabilities that we're building into the z17.

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Greg Lotko: And we’re not only a partner in the mainframe ecosystem, but we're a customer as well. We've got our own z17 and we're delighted to have the technology and have day one support.

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David Watts: Awesome.

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Daniel Newman: So let's, let's talk about the clients a little bit more David. I mean look I've been tracking this for, I think this is the third or fourth launch that I've been around for.

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Daniel Newman: But you know markets are changing, technology is changing. We've had some really disruptive periods of time. Now of course you've done a lot of work on the silicon level, AI level but talk a little bit about the lens of the client challenges that you're setting out to really address with the z17.

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David Watts: Yeah, no, I mean honestly it seems like just yesterday we were talking about the z16. Right. And you know. Yeah. You even had a program I think on The Main Scoop talking about it. 

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Greg Lotko: I think that was our first program we launched.

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David Watts: Yeah. And it was a continuation of incredible momentum we've had from 14 to 15 to 16 where each program is outdoing the other both in terms of capabilities and in terms of business results and z17 is poised to be no different. We've been building in new capability which we started with z16 quite frankly. Right. You recall we talked about AI and building those AI capabilities. That program, that Main Scoop program was before ChatGPT. Right. So you can imagine the amount of excitement and transformation that has happened along the way that we've been building into this z17 system and our clients got, and the world kind of got a taste of it early when we went to hot chips and talked about some of the infrastructure that we're building in the actual new Telum II which has new advanced capabilities that allows us to do more with models. But we went further than that built in system capability with the new Spyre card that allows us to bring multiple models to the platform and even have them work in concert to deliver new capabilities for our clients. And you were asking specifically what types of use cases? There are a ton of them. There are some, you know, and there's more that we haven't even thought of. Right. So that's, I'm excited about what might come down the line. But thinking about things like fraud detection or risk assessment or enterprise use cases that we apply these things too, it just takes these incredible capabilities that we have on the IBM z17 to new heights with. When we bring AI powered capabilities into those.

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Greg Lotko: So resiliency and security, reliability, that's always been kind of a hallmark of the platform. What's new with z17? How is it going to further, you know, the environment in these spaces?

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David Watts: Yeah. So I think one of the things I'm looking forward to the most is that when we bring these new capabilities, this full stack capability to those things that you mentioned that have given us all the success that we have seen, it's almost like putting those capabilities on steroids. Right. Our ability to have insight, think of security and our ability to have insights in security through you know, things like sensitive data tagging or through proactive threat detection. Right. We are building these AI capabilities everywhere in addition to enabling our clients to be able to use these, this new infrastructure for things, for things that they care about the most. Right. In actual AI applications.

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Daniel Newman: So he just said it so I can talk about it. Okay, I'm just checking. So I want to talk, I want to talk about Al.

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Greg Lotko: Yeah.

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Daniel Newman: So this one's going to, this is going to stick. This should be called the. You can call me Al. Episode artificial line of the z17 launch. I'm glad that we've got this. So I'm going to get the last word and you hang in. So we do. I always do. That's good. I like that. So let's talk about AI incorporation. It's been a big thing. We saw glimpses of it with z16. It seems that what you're doing across the stack means that z17 should have a really big meaningful AI band. Especially because at Arvind's level, I mean AI and hybrid cloud, those are the company's ethos. Right. Sit on those two things.

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David Watts: Yeah. So let's start with the infrastructure we built in. So we built in a Telum II processor that has a specific AI engine that's going to. With incredible performance, industry leading performance. So that in itself enables our clients to bring more models and do things like ensemble AI where they're using multiple models to draw more accurate conclusions for their insights.

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Greg Lotko: They're doing that on the platform, right, David? Not going off, right?

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David Watts: That's the beauty of it. Yeah, that's right, Greg. I mean, that's the beauty of it is they're doing all of this on platform, which means you're bringing the AI capabilities to the data. Right. So what does that do for us? It gives us a lot faster insights. Right. So think of it as you're reducing, reducing latency, which you can imagine, you know, when you're doing things like fraud detection makes a huge difference. One you want it to be accurate, but you also want to get the answer very quickly. Right. Because the sooner you get it, the more you can prevent in terms of losses. Right. That and, and they're, we're talking huge numbers with a B in terms of dollars of losses that, that, you know, think about it. The mainframe runs the world's economy.

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Greg Lotko: Well, I don't have a billion, but I don't want any fraud on any of my accounts. Yeah. On the scope of an entire bank or financial institution or trading house.

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David Watts: Yeah, yeah, you got it, you got it. Every dollar matters. So I think that's one of the things that's really great is that we're bringing that AI capability to the platform. So there's sort of gravity. Right. Which our clients are very excited about.

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Daniel Newman: So this obviously continues into core though. So we see where it's expanding to. David, with AI Telum II processor, really making it part of the offering. But Greg alluded to this in the beginning. I mean, at the core it's always been security reliability that's driven Z in the product. So is there an evolution there in terms of making it more secure and more reliable from 16 to 17?

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David Watts: Yeah, 100%. You're spot on. Right. I alluded to some of them already. Right. Building our capabilities, we're delivering something called IBM threat detection for zOS with the z17. And what that does is it actually adds AI powered capabilities to be able to detect and neutralize cyber threats early. Right. So the earlier you can do it, the less damage, the more quickly you can mitigate and minimize the damage. So that's a huge one. Another one would be, I think I mentioned sensitive data tagging, which is using AI power capability to identify what your most important data is so that you can take action and protect it. So those are a couple examples of how we're sort of taking what was already industry leading security and taking it to the next level.

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Greg Lotko: So I know a number of times we've been talking about bringing more talent into this ecosystem and the future of the platform, bringing new people and new skills. Are there ways in which the new z17 is kind of furthering the opportunity with bringing mainframe talent to the platform?

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David Watts: Yeah, you're spot on, Greg. Because if you think about it, right, all of this success I've been talking about with the mainframe. The mainframe has been around for decades now, right? Yeah.

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Greg Lotko: The people working on it today are not the people that were working on it in the 50s and the 60s, right?

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David Watts: You got it, you got it. And with each of that we're building in more and more capability. And one of the beauties of the mainframe is you can move everything that you were working on in your previous generations to the new generation. And so that longevity can. Building a lot of complexity, which it does. One of the mantras we've been on now is actually simplification, a very simple way to put it. But the idea behind it is how can we ensure that for new users, for example, or people who are coming to the mainframe, or even experienced users, making it easier for them to be more productive more quickly. Right. Get their insights, drive them. So it's about modernization and how do we drive that, that, you know, more familiar, you know, modern capabilities onto the platform. And so that's all, that's all coming with the, with the z17 as well. And it'll be a journey, it'll continue.

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Greg Lotko: So I know I've been talking for years, I don't think the general population realizes this, but the mainframe is one of the most open platforms on the planet. I mean, I know it's not at first blush because the mainframe is provided by one company, but. So in z17 are there advances in opening up the platform as well?

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David Watts: Yeah, I mean open is part of our strategy on this platform. It's huge. And you're right, I think sometimes a lot of people don't realize we've been, we've been embracing open technology for a long time now. Right. With Linux for decades. Exactly right. So think about Linux and all of the capabilities that we've brought in. In that space we have a Linux one platform that also drives into new spaces and new markets and new clients. And then with the Red Hat acquisition that IBM did a while ago, we've, we've driven synergy work with Red Hat that brings things like open OpenShift, container platform OCP and things like Ansible, etc. To the platform so that it's more familiar. Right. It's more familiar to all of the skills that are out there today. So you're spot on in that we have to diligently, always, not only train people in how the mainframe and the complexities, but bring in simplification to the platform so that folks can be more productive more quickly.

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Daniel Newman: So we, you know IBM as you mentioned, is doing a lot of open. It's also built, I think, one of the first large scale open AI platforms with Watson. So you know, AI data governance, you can run your Granite models on it. Are we going to see it running Meta Llama? Are we going to be running Llama on the z17 mainframe? Is that going to happen?

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David Watts: Sure. We embrace not only the IBM Granite models but open models that are out there and in fact we're making the Granite models themselves open. So that's a great example. And then we're bringing those capabilities now that we've built in this infrastructure with the Telum II and Aspire card, we can bring those models and it's not just about, you know, predictive neural network models that we've typically had. We're bringing gen AI and large language models capability to work in concert and so we're bringing those models to the platform. So I think it's something we have embraced for a long time and we're also bringing new and the latest and greatest capability as well.

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Greg Lotko: I think you need to bring a z17 in house at Futurum to start writing your newsletters and your emails and stuff like that.

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Daniel Newman: I love it. Large language models use OpenAI and can run Llama, we can run Anthropic, you can run Watson, we can, we could, you know, because it's all about open. You want to give access to everything, compare, contrast, perform.

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Greg Lotko: I mean every buzzword and cartoon character.

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Daniel Newman: In the open source universe, powerhouse of compute security, reliability. Who wouldn't want this thing never goes down, runs the world transaction. You got the analyst saying all the things you want to have said. So let's ask you the big question though, David. What is possible, like if you had to say, hey, here's two things that you can do on z17 that you couldn't do before. What would you. I know there's more than two, but what are the one, two, the biggest?

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David Watts: Yeah, yeah. I think the thing I'm most excited about is our ability to combine models right now that we have the capability to bring Gen AI capability to the platform. We know of a lot of use cases that we've been working with clients on and we're excited about those and we expect great adoption. I'm curious about the ones we haven't thought of because those capabilities are out there. We are in the midst of the transformation that's happening. I'm excited to get the platform out to clients and have them also continue to dream up new applications and new capabilities because again, it's in the combination. So I'll give you an example. Right. We had fraud detection. We're now looking at, you know, if you apply predictive traditional AI models, neural network, deep learning, machine learning, you can, you can predict with a fair degree of accuracy. But when you then bring in large language models and layer those on top, you can really get even more accurate. So that's an application for fraud detection that we're doing with, with one of our, one of our credit card customers. But where there's, there's even, you can imagine that there'll be a lot more use cases that'll, that'll come.

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Greg Lotko: Well, hey, congratulations to IBM and all of our joint customers on the z17 and everything that it's going to bring to their environment. This is fake. It's just red colored water. It's grape juice as far as you know. But congratulations to all of you.

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David Watts: Absolutely.

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Daniel Newman: Listen, congrats. As Greg said, it is a really big moment. We know that for IBM, this tends to be a big boon for a few years on the infrastructure side.

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Greg Lotko: But not just IBM, but for the customer, the ecosystem, all the capabilities.

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Daniel Newman: I thought I got the last word in. Well, like always. But this does flow through the ecosystem, the openness of the ecosystem, it ties and connects to many and it does drive the transactions, the business and of course bring in the next generation of AI and the developer community to bring innovation that we may frankly not have thought of yet. So congrats to you and the team, to Broadcom Mainframe Software and the analyst as analysts. But Greg, for this show I will get the last word. David, thank you very much. Look forward to having you back soon sometime.

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David Watts: Thank you, Dan, really appreciate it. Glad you mentioned ecosystem. That's also important.

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Daniel Newman: But for you out there, the subscribers, the community, we love you being part of The Main Scoop. Stick with us, watch all the episodes. Join us for more coverage here, including the big moments and announcements which we are now doing here, Greg? Now, do I get to be done?

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Greg Lotko: Absolutely. Thank you all for joining us, and we'll see you next time.

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Daniel Newman: Bye.

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