Editorial: IBM Arms Up Next-Gen Z Systems CPU

IBM is evolving its decades‑long Z architecture by integrating AArch64, enabling native Arm execution within its mainframe platform.

IBM’s Z systems boast a six-decade legacy, spanning from the 24-bit System/360 introduced in 1964 to the 31-bit refinements of the 1980s and today’s 64-bit z/Architecture. It is one of the longest-lived architectural families still in commercial use, predating the venerable x86 ISA by more than a decade. Despite that stature, IBM has decided that Z needs to evolve to remain competitive. Enter AArch64: IBM and Arm have announced a collaboration on “new dual-architecture hardware”—essentially enabling hardware-accelerated, native execution of Arm environments within the mainframe's virtualized stack.