What is IBM z17?
IBM z17 is IBM’s latest enterprise mainframe platform designed to support AI-enabled transaction processing, hybrid cloud architectures, and secure large-scale data workloads. Built with the Telum II processor and integrated AI acceleration, z17 enables organizations to run AI inference directly within operational transactions while maintaining the reliability and performance associated with mainframe environments.
“As AI transforms how businesses operate, IBM’s z17 platform stands out as a key enabler of secure, efficient, and data-driven modernization. At Adaptigent, we’re excited to work alongside IBM in support of z17. The advancements in AI-powered fraud prevention, real-time data processing, and hybrid cloud optimization directly align with our mission to help enterprises unlock the full value of their legacy systems. With the capabilities of IBM z17 and its AI acceleration, our customers can innovate faster, modernize with confidence, and protect what matters most—their data.”
— Steve Able, Director of Strategy and Architecture, Adaptigent
Enterprises today face a critical challenge: how to modernize legacy applications systems without disrupting operations, all while navigating increased fraud, rising compliance costs, and demand for real-time insights. IBM’s z17, with its AI-enhanced capabilities and hybrid cloud support, offers a powerful solution—and Adaptigent is proud to help organizations bridge the gap between legacy environments and modern digital strategies.
AI-Powered Fraud Prevention and Modernization with IBM z17
Fraud prevention is one of the most urgent and complex challenges in digital banking and payments. According to Celent, financial institutions lost $533 billion globally to fraud in 2024. IBM Z mainframes power nearly 70% of the world’s banking transactions. By implementing AI inference across the enterprise, fraud losses could be reduced by billions of dollars annually. (Celent Report 2025: Mitigating Fraud in the AI Age)
AI-enabled transaction processing on IBM z17 supports:
- Real-time fraud detection during financial transactions
- AI inference integrated directly into transaction workflows
- Reduced latency in fraud analysis
- Improved security without disrupting service-level agreements
IBM z17’s Telum II processor is built for this moment. Each core can direct workloads to any of the eight integrated AI accelerators per drawer, enabling real-time fraud detection directly within transactions—at scale, without breaching service-level agreements. Adaptigent’s own customers, who rely on our Adaptive Integration Fabric to unify legacy and other modern systems, are already seeing the benefits of running intelligent operations with low latency and unmatched resiliency.
Hybrid Cloud Architecture with IBM z17
IBM’s hybrid cloud vision is realized through z17. With IBM z17, running an AI infused OLTP workload on OpenShift Container Platform requires up to 5.6x fewer cores versus running it on a compared x86 platform. As businesses seek to optimize their tech estates, the combination of mainframe reliability and public cloud flexibility is essential.
Research from IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV) underscores the point: enterprises that adopt a hybrid-by-design approach with mainframes see more than 3X ROI compared to hybrid-by-default setups. (IBM Institute for Business Value Report 2024: Mainframes as mainstays of digital transformation) At Adaptigent, our technology helps organizations capitalize on this design, providing low-code tools that enable secure, real-time data sharing across hybrid environments—without rewriting or replacing legacy systems.
Powering the Future of Financial Services
In banking, the stakes are especially high. Generative AI is no longer a tactical experiment—it’s becoming central to service models and customer engagement. The IBV’s 2025 Global Outlook for Banking finds that only 8% of banks had a strategic approach to generative AI in 2024, but that number is set to grow rapidly. (IBM Institute for Business Value Report :2025 Global Outlook for Banking and Financial Markets) As institutions scale these efforts, they must modernize responsibly—with AI risk governance, data transparency, and resilient infrastructure.
Modern financial institutions must balance:
- AI innovation and fraud prevention
- regulatory compliance and risk governance
- data transparency and operational resiliency
- secure integration between legacy and modern systems
Adaptigent’s solutions allow banks to unlock their existing systems while introducing AI-driven services and digital channels. By leveraging IBM z17, our customers can accelerate transformation while ensuring that security, compliance, and data quality are never compromised.
Looking Ahead
TThe IBM z17 mainframe represents more than the next generation of enterprise infrastructure. It is a platform designed to support AI-enabled operations, secure transaction processing, and resilient enterprise computing at scale. As organizations continue to modernize their technology environments, the capabilities of IBM z17 provide a foundation for real-time data processing, hybrid cloud integration, and intelligent automation.
At Adaptigent, we are committed to helping organizations maximize the value of the IBM z17 platform as part of their broader mainframe modernization strategy. By working alongside IBM, we enable enterprises to modernize confidently, operate in real time, and protect the integrity of every transaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is IBM z17?
IBM z17 is IBM’s latest mainframe platform designed to support AI-enabled transaction processing, hybrid cloud environments, and large-scale enterprise workloads.
What makes the IBM z17 different from previous mainframes?
The IBM z17 introduces the Telum II processor with integrated AI accelerators, enabling real-time AI inference during transaction processing.
Why are mainframes important for AI-powered fraud detection?
Mainframes process high volumes of financial transactions. Running AI inference directly within those transactions enables faster fraud detection without delaying service-level agreements.
How does IBM z17 support hybrid cloud strategies?
IBM z17 supports hybrid cloud architectures by integrating with platforms such as OpenShift, enabling enterprises to run containerized applications alongside traditional workloads.
How does Adaptigent support IBM z17 modernization?
Adaptigent’s Adaptive Integration Fabric enables organizations to connect legacy systems, modern applications, and hybrid cloud environments while maintaining secure, real-time data flows.
Disclaimer: Performance result is based on IBM® internal tests running on IBM Systems Hardware of machine type 9175. The MegaCard benchmark was containerized and deployed on Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform (RHOCP) 4.17 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux® (RHEL) 9.4 with KVM. 3 RHOCP Compute nodes, each with 16 pinned vCPUs and 32 GB memory, 2 RHOCP Infrastructure nodes, each with 4 pinned vCPUs and 12 GB memory, 3 RHOCP Management nodes, each with 4 pinned vCPUs and 16 GB memory, running in virtual machines. The 3 RHOCP Compute nodes ran 3 MegaCard instances in parallel, each driven remotely from Apache JMeter™ 5.2.1. IBM Systems Hardware configuration: 1 LPAR with 5 dedicated IFLs (SMT), 192 GB memory. Compared x86 Server Hardware configuration: 28 Saphire Rapids Intel® Xeon® Gold CPUs @ 2.20 GHz with Hyper-Threading turned on, 1 TB memory. Results may vary