IBM introduces z15, ready to preserve data security in any cloud

IBM z15 is the most advanced and secure version of the IBM mainframe, specially prepared to preserve data security and privacy in any cloud. With z15, companies can have greater control over the data and choose who can access them or, conversely, revoke their access instantly. All this regardless of where the information is located – both hosted in the system, such as outside the cloud, or in a hybrid combination.

The movement of data between third parties across different clouds is often the main cause of corporate security breaches. In fact, 60% of these admit that during 2018 they suffered data security incidents caused during these movements. By extending the use of the hybrid cloud – with data both in the systems in the facilities and in clouds of different providers -, organizations face the urgent need to maintain security and privacy during the movement of data throughout these Different environments

The IBM z15 system comes to light after four years of development, with more than 3,000 IBM Z patents issued or pending, and after having collaborated with more than 100 companies. The key innovations of z15, the result of the work of IBM Systems and IBM Research, include:

• Extensive encryption: Based on the extensive encryption announced in the previous z14 generation, IBM introduces the Data Privacy Passports technology, with which companies can have greater control over how data is stored and shared. These passports allow you to provide and revoke access to data at any time, not only within the z15, but also in the hybrid multicloud environment of a company, thus helping companies protect their data wherever they travel.
• Native development in the cloud: Provides customers with a competitive advantage as it allows them to both modernize the applications they have created in their systems, and build new native applications in the cloud and integrate all of them, safely, with their workloads more important
• Instant recovery: This innovation allows users to access the total system capacity for a certain period of time, with the aim of accelerating the shutdown and restart of IBM Z services and quickly recover lost time. It is a technology that limits the cost and impact of inactivity, both planned and unforeseen.

A new study by IBM, developed by The Harris Poll, reveals that 64% of consumers have chosen to stop working with certain companies because they doubt that they treat their data safely. The same study also highlights that 76% of participants will be more than willing to share personal information if there is an option to fully recover this data at any time. With z15, extensive encryption is designed to cover the entire enterprise, even when data leaves the IBM Z platform. With this capability, companies can offer their consumers greater control over how their personal data is used.

Today's companies have already completed 20% of their trip to the cloud, a percentage that does not cover the transfer of data associated with critical workloads. IBM z15 has a unique position to help companies take the next step in their digital transformation efforts to move these most important workloads (the other 80%) to the cloud, offering a hyper, secure and continuously available platform.

As part of its secure hybrid cloud strategy, today, two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies are using IBM Z. With z15, customers can also:

• Process up to 1 billion web transactions per day, support massive databases and scale up to 2.4 million Linux containers on a single z15 system; multiply by 2.3 the number of Linux containers per processor in a z15 against an x86 bare-metal platform that runs an identical web server load.
• Addressing latency challenges in critical business environments, offering up to 30 times lower latency, reducing CPU usage by up to 28 times. z15 is capable of compressing secure web transaction data before encryption, using the integrated accelerator for z Enterprise Data Compression instead of using software compression.
• Benefit from an increase of up to 12% in the number of processors available compared to z14, as well as an increase in the amount of available memory of 25%.

IBM Z responds to the main concerns that arise with the hybrid cloud, such as security, privacy and agility. With z15, our customers can have the cloud they want, with the privacy and security they need: protection for both critical workloads and the most innovative, for example, the custody of digital assets or blockchain, "says Ross Mauri, CEO of IBM Z. The reality is that for customers whose business depends on access to real-time data, IBM Z remains the most chosen option.Ourly, our customers need to access data and analytical information in a fraction of second, and not in minutes, and at the same time being able, to control the privacy of that data at a granular level, "he adds.

Data Privacy Passports is a data privacy solution that expands the ability of customers to protect information, not only that hosted in the systems of their facilities but also that located in private, public and hybrid clouds. z15 achieves this through several technologies:

• Data protection wherever they go: Protecting data today is not easy, for the simple reason that when used by companies, they do not stay in one place, but often stay in fragmented applications or isolated. Data Privacy Passports solve this problem through the Trusted Data Object (TDO) solution, which offers data-centric protection, regardless of where they travel.
• Privacy with controlled use of data: Data Privacy Passports help companies comply with privacy policies, as they offer different views of the data depending on what is allowed by them. Trusted Data Object technology can also be used to prevent fraud of data managers, which could lead to misuse.
• Verifiable consumption of data: It allows to trace the complete trip of the data from the origin to the consumption, with a central audit point.
• Integrated key management: Data Privacy Passports allow you to manage the keys required to create the Trusted Data Object that are distributed throughout the company. This greatly reduces the complexity of implementing this solution and provides simple data management as they move between systems.

Last month IBM announced the intention to offer Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Z and LinuxONE. This solution accelerates the transformation towards greater portability and agility, through integrated tools and an ecosystem rich in capabilities for native cloud development with IBM Z and LinuxONE. Cloud developers can deploy z / OS applications in OpenShift without the need for special Z skills.

In the fourth quarter, IBM also intends to provide the IBM Cloud Pak on Linux over IBM Z and LinuxONE. These offers will increase IBM's rich software ecosystem, facilitating hybrid deployment across multiple clouds. These solutions, combined with the main business platforms of IBM, IBM Z and LinuxONE, will further strengthen and strengthen IBM's ability to provide a secure and open hybrid cross-platform.

The new Instant Recovery functionality, available for both planned stops and unplanned stop situations, offers customers all the power of z15, temporarily activating processors that are inactive in daily operations. The objective is none other than to recover the SLAs prior to the stop in an accelerated manner, managing to recover the backlog of pending commercial transactions up to 2.5 times faster than previously possible. This allows:

• Accelerate recovery time: By freeing up additional system capacity, you can shorten downtime and quickly restore services. You can also use that additional capacity to quickly process delayed transactions.
• Get unlimited use: the instant recovery service can be used as many times as necessary, which gives companies much greater flexibility to respond to new demands and continuous maintenance requirements.
• Having zero impact on costs: this innovative solution can be used without additional software cost (except full-capacity environments), reducing the business impact of system shutdowns.

In addition to z15, IBM today announced a new high-end enterprise storage system, the IBM DS8900F, designed specifically for critical business applications in hybrid multicloud environments. The next generation of the IBM DS8900F storage system offers comprehensive cyber security, greater data availability and better resilience for customers. The IBM DS8900F offers customers more than 99.99999% uptime, various disaster recovery options with almost zero recovery times, providing maximum data protection and the fastest application response time on the market. With these new enterprise-class storage services, IBM Z customers now have a new level of control to store their data where it has the best economic and commercial sense, while keeping them resilient, available and with the highest performance in the industry.