Ubuntu available on IBM LinuxOne Rockhopper II

IBM has announced IBM z14 model ZR1 and LinuxONE Rockhopper II, an expansion to a family of IBM Z servers which bring the benefits of z14 technology to organizations ranging from large enterprises to startups. Where IBM Z and LinuxONE were at one time available only through frames, these systems can now fit into any data center using a standard 19 inch rack.

IBM has worked closely with Canonical to ensure Ubuntu is available on the recently announced IBM Z and LinuxONE servers, which includes the upcoming 18.04 update being released on 26th April. This technological advancement goes beyond the Ubuntu Linux distribution however, and is also available on Canonical’s full portfolio, including OpenStack, Canonical’s Distribution of Kubernetes®, LXD and Juju.

Now companies and developers have the option of using the same set of Ubuntu-based tools to build and deploy various applications they enjoy today, but on a significantly larger scale within one single system. Among other advantages, IBM also announced that the new systems deliver “a Docker-certified infrastructure for Docker EE with integrated management and scale tested up to 330,000 Docker containers –allowing developers to compose high-performance applications and embrace a micro-services architecture without latency or scale constraints,” making it a good fit within the hybrid-cloud space.

Not only is this new solution vertically scalable, but it is also accompanied with enhanced security. IBM further explained that these systems are “capable of processing over 850 million fully encrypted transactions a day on a single system,” and that “the new mainframes do not require special space, cooling or energy, but still provide groundbreaking IBM pervasive encryption and Secure Service Container technology for secure data serving at massive scale.”

“Canonical began this journey with IBM two years ago and we’ve seen tremendous progress in a relatively short period of time,” said Regis Paquette, Head of Global Cloud Technology Alliances at Canonical. “We are thrilled to now enable IBM’s scale-up platform with full cloud native capabilities and automation, while leveraging their best-in-class secure environment.”