Question & Answer
Question
Can CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) run on the IBM z17? As you consider upgrading to an IBM z17 mainframe, you would like to know if any maintenance is required and you would also like to make sure you understand the benefits of running CICS TS on IBM z17 hardware.
Cause
The IBM z17 mainframe became general availability on 18 June 2025.
Answer
CICS TS support for IBM z17
All in-service releases of IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) are supported running on IBM z17 hardware.
IBM recommends that you review the z17 fix categories to determine whether or not there is maintenance required or recommended. The following IBM z17 Fix Categories are documented in the IBM Fix Category values and Descriptions:
All in-service releases of IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) are supported running on IBM z17 hardware.
IBM recommends that you review the z17 fix categories to determine whether or not there is maintenance required or recommended. The following IBM z17 Fix Categories are documented in the IBM Fix Category values and Descriptions:
| Fix Categories | Description |
|---|---|
| IBM.Device.Server.z17-9175.Exploitation | Fixes that are required to exploit the capabilities of the IBM z17 server when running z/OS and other software products on the IBM z17 server, or running z/OS in a sysplex which includes an IBM z17 server. |
| IBM.Device.Server.z17-9175.RecommendedService | Fixes that are recommended to run z/OS and other software products on the IBM z17 server when running z/OS on the IBM z17 server, or running z/OS in a sysplex which includes an IBM z17 server. |
| IBM.Device.Server.z17-9175.RequiredService | Fixes that are required to run z/OS and other software products on the IBM z17 server when running z/OS on the IBM z17 server, or running z/OS in a sysplex which includes an IBM z17 server. |
CICS TS is considered one of the many "other software products". If there are any CICS APARs for z17 that are required or recommended, the APARs will be flagged with one one these Fix Category keywords.
CICS TS potential benefits of IBM z17
A number of new and extended facilities are delivered by the IBM z17 mainframe and can be leveraged by a CICS system. In particular, these facilities give CICS TS clients, at an appropriate level of z/OS, the potential to benefit from:
A number of new and extended facilities are delivered by the IBM z17 mainframe and can be leveraged by a CICS system. In particular, these facilities give CICS TS clients, at an appropriate level of z/OS, the potential to benefit from:
- Real-time Enterprise Artificial Intelligence (AI). Applications that run in CICS TS can make more timely and better decisions and achieve improved business outcomes by capitalizing on AI within their transactions. The IBM z17 features the IBM Telum® II processor, a centralized on-chip AI accelerator that is designed to provide high performance and consistent low latency inferencing for processing transactional workloads, such as those run on CICS TS. With IBM z17 you can leverage the IBM Telum II processor when you use suitable AI models, by using the existing options for invoking AI models in your applications. IBM z17 supports popular AI frameworks and tooling, with optimizations that leverage the IBM z/Architecture and especially the integrated AI accelerator. For more information, see Infusing AI into Applications in the CICS TS documentation.
- Cyber resiliency. IBM z17 and z16 have a focus on security and cyber resiliency, with the industry's first quantum-safe system (see disclaimer 4) and simplified compliance. Organizations running CICS TS can benefit by simplifying and streamlining their compliance tasks. The IBM Z Security and Compliance Center (zSCC) can automatically trigger the writing of compliance information from CICS TS and other z/OS components and products that are written to SMF. This evidence is collected by the zSCC to provide detailed reports to enable executives, administrators, and auditors to understand compliance metrics with ease. It can also track compliance drift over time by using dashboard visualizations. The zSCC dashboard requires an IBM z16 mainframe to run. For more information, see IBM Z Security and Compliance Center.
- Java utilization of IBM z17 facilities. CICS Java workloads can benefit from the utilization of the IBM z17 facilities when used in combination with either IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS version 11, 17, 21, or IBM SDK for z/OS Java Technology Edition, Version 8. For more information see article Unlock IBM z17 Java performance with IBM Semeru Runtimes.
- COBOL and PL/I utilization of IBM z17 facilities. CICS COBOL or PL/I workloads can benefit from utilization of the IBM z17 processor and architecture provided by the compilers. For more information, see the IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.5 and IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS 6.2 announcements.
- Increased capacity with IBM z17. Depending on workload and configuration, the IBM z17 can provide an increase in capacity for 1-way configurations, for single drawer configurations, and for maximum configuration models. The IBM Large Systems Performance Reference for IBM Z (LSPR) contains several tables, which provide Internal Throughput Rate (ITR) ratios that can be used to understand the relative capacity of hardware models. These LSPR ITR ratio tables are generated using a variety of workloads, including CICS TS. You can also use your SMF 113 records together with the IBM z Processor Capacity Reference (zPCR) tooling to understand the improvements available with new hardware.
Many of the other facilities and capabilities available with IBM z17 might also be of interest to CICS TS clients.
Related Information
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Product Synonym
CICS/TS CICSTS CICS TS CICS Transaction Server
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Document Information
Modified date:
05 January 2026
UID
ibm17231525