This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes the features and functions the latest member of the IBM Z® platform, the IBM z15™ (machine type 8561). It includes information about the IBM z15 processor design, I/O innovations, security features, and supported operating systems.

The z15 is a state-of-the-art data and transaction system that delivers advanced capabilities, which are vital to any digital transformation. The z15 is designed for enhanced modularity, which is in an industry standard footprint. This system excels at the following tasks:

This book explains how this system uses new innovations and traditional Z strengths to satisfy growing demand for cloud, analytics, and open source technologies. With the z15 as the base, applications can run in a trusted, reliable, and secure environment that improves operations and lessens business risk.

This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at IBM Redbooks, Poughkeepsie Center.

Octavian Lascu is an IBM Redbooks Project Leader and a Senior IT Consultant for IBM Romania with over 25 years of experience. He specializes in designing, implementing, and supporting complex IT infrastructure environments (systems, storage, and networking), including high availability and disaster recovery solutions and high-performance computing deployments. He has developed materials for and taught over 50 workshops for technical audiences around the world. He is the author of several IBM publications.

Bill White is an IBM Redbooks Project Leader and Senior Networking and Connectivity Specialist at IBM Redbooks, Poughkeepsie Center.

John Troy is an IBM Z and storage hardware National Top Gun in the northeast area of the United States. He has 40 years of experience in the service field. His areas of expertise include IBM Z servers and high-end storage systems technical and customer support and services. John has also been an IBM Z hardware technical support course designer, developer, and instructor for the last eight generations of IBM high-end servers.

Jannie Houlbjerg is a Systems Programmer working at JN Data in Denmark. She has more than 20 years of experience in the IBM Z field. Her areas of expertise include IBM Z hardware and infrastructure, IBM Parallel Sysplex®, connectivity, performance, IBM GDPS®, and technical project management and documentation.

Kazuhiro Nakajima is a Senior IT Specialist in IBM Japan. He has almost 30 years career in IBM Japan and he has been active as an advanced Subject Matter Expert of IBM Z products for over 20 years. His areas of expertise include IBM Z hardware, performance, z/OS®, and IBM Z connectivity. He has been a co-author of several IBM Z configuration set up IBM Redbooks publications from the IBM zEC12 to the IBM z14®.

Paul Schouten is an IBM Z Client Technical Specialist based in Sydney, Australia. During his 40 years supporting mainframe systems, he has performed many roles, including Certified IT Architect, Systems Software developer, and Systems Programming. He has extensive experience developing and documenting high availability solutions for IBM’s enterprise customers.

Anna Shugol is a mainframe technical specialist with IBM UK. She has over 8 years of Mainframe experience and has worked with clients in various geographies. Large system performance is one of her key areas of expertise. Anna holds a Computer Science degree from Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

Frank Packheiser is a Senior zIT Specialist at the Field Technical Sales Support office in Germany. He has over 25 years of experience in IBM Z. Frank has worked for 10 years in the IBM Education Center in Germany, developing and providing professional training. He also provides professional services to IBM Z and mainframe clients. In 2008 and 2009, Frank supported clients in Middle East/North Africa (MENA) as a zIT Architect. In addition to co-authoring several IBM Redbooks publications since 1999, he has been an official ITSO presenter at ITSO workshops since 2010.

Hervey Kamga is an IBM Z Product Engineer with the EMEA I/O Connectivity Team in Montpellier, France. Before serving in his current role, he was a Support Engineer and Engineer On Site for 13 years with Sun MicroSystems and Oracle in EMEA. Hervey’s areas of expertise include Oracle Solaris (operating system and hardware products), virtualization (VMware and virtualBox), Linux, and IBM Z I/O features and protocols (IBM FICON® and OSA) while co-authoring several IBM Redbooks publications.

Bo Xu is a consulting product Service SSR in China. He has more than 20 years of experience with IBM Z platform maintenance support. He has been working in IBM’s Global Technology Services® department to provide IBM Z platform support to clients as a local Top Gun, and as second-level support for IBM DS8000® as one of the country’s Top Gun & Skill Owners. His areas of expertise include IBM Z platform hardware, channel connectivity, and IBM DS8000 storage.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:

Robert Haimowitz
IBM Redbooks, Poughkeepsie Center

Dave Surman, Darelle Gent, David Hutton, Tom Dewkett, Frank Bosco, Patty Driever, Anthony Sofia, Brian Valentine, Purvi Patel, Les Geer III, Bill Bitner, Christine Smith, Barbara Weiler, Dean St Piere, Tom Morris, Ellen Carbarnes, Gregory Hutchison, Riaz Ahmad, Franco Pinto, Walter Niklaus, Martin Recktenwald, Roan Dawkins
IBM

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