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IBM introduces z15 mainframe with security data passport
In the new z15 enterprise server, IBM has focused on making data secure and auditable wherever it resides.
IBM has unveiled the latest incarnation of its mainframe, the z15 enterprise platform, which it said has been engineered to manage the privacy of customer data across hybrid multi-cloud environments.
IBM said the new enterprise server, which has been in development for four years and involved collaboration with over 100 companies, offers improvements to encryption, cloud native software development and business continuity.
A new feature, known as Data Privacy Passports technology, enables its clients to control how data is stored and shared.
According to IBM, the technology gives users the ability to protect and provision data, and revoke access to that data at any time. This data security provision works not only in the z15 environment, but also across an enterprise’s hybrid multi-cloud environment. The z15 can also encrypt data everywhere – across hybrid multi-cloud environments – to help enterprises secure their data wherever it travels,” IBM said.
It claimed the security enhancements in the z15 also allows an organisation to establish and enforce an enterprise-wide data privacy policy where different views of data are surfaced to different users based on their need to know.
IBM said: “Trusted Data Object technology can also be used to prevent collusion between data owners leading to the misuse of data, and can track the complete data transformation journey from point of origin to point of consumption, with a central point of auditing and compliance for all data access and aggregation.”
Tony Lock, a distinguished analyst at Freeform Dynamics, described the technical challenge that IBM hopes to solve with its Trusted Data Objects technology as “incredibly complex”.
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While the mainframe is a good platform to provide a central place to manage granular control of data it knows about. For Lock, the real complexity involves packaging the auditing and control layers in a way that follows the data wherever it resides.
IBM said the z15 enables clients to manage who gets access to data via policy-based controls, with an industry-first capability to instantly revoke access to data across the hybrid cloud.
