# What is IBM Z used for?

What is IBM Z used for?

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: almost 3 years ago
- Author title: Pinned by G2 as a common question



## Comments
### Comment 1

IBM Z (also called IBM mainframe) has been the backbone of enterprise computing for decades. At its core, it's designed for one thing... running massive volumes of critical transactions reliably, securely and without interruption.
Core use cases:

High-volume transaction processing (banking, insurance, retail)
Core banking systems and payment processing
Large-scale database management (Db2, IMS)
Batch processing of massive datasets

Industries like banking, government, healthcare and retail have relied on it for years. In fact, around 95% of ATM transactions and 87% of all credit card transactions globally still touch a mainframe somewhere in the chain.
Modern use cases it has evolved into:

Hybrid cloud integration with Red Hat OpenShift
Real-time AI inferencing via the Telum II on-chip accelerator
Confidential computing and data privacy workloads
DevOps and containerized workloads alongside traditional ones

The difference between IBM Z and LinuxONE is essentially packaging. IBM Z runs z/OS (IBM's proprietary operating system) alongside Linux, while LinuxONE is purpose-built exclusively for Linux workloads on the same underlying hardware and architecture.
So while the outside world moved to distributed computing and cloud, IBM Z quietly kept running the transactions that actually matter. It just got smarter along the way.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: about 1 month ago
- Author title: IBM Z & LinuxONE Brand Leader




## Related Product
[IBM Z](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-z/reviews)

## Related Category
[Servers](https://www.g2.com/categories/servers)

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