IBM unveiled on Tuesday its much-anticipated IBM Power11 platform, marking the first major upgrade to its Power server line since 2020. The new servers, set to be available globally starting July 25, aim to simplify hybrid cloud deployments while keeping mission-critical workloads running without interruption.
IBM is touting 99.9999% uptime for Power11, backed by features that allow system updates and patching to occur without shutting down critical applications. According to the company, even ransomware threats can be detected in under one minute using the built-in IBM Power Cyber Vault solution. These cyber resilience tools rely on immutable snapshots, quantum-safe cryptography, and integration with the NIST cybersecurity framework.
‘Accelerate into the AI era’
In a press statement, Tom McPherson, general manager of IBM Power Systems, described Power11 as a pivotal shift in enterprise computing. “With Power11, clients can accelerate into the AI era with innovations tailored to their most pressing business needs,” McPherson said.
The Power11 servers feature a new processor architecture that IBM says brings up to 45% more capacity compared to Power10 models and dramatically improves compute efficiency. Later in 2025, Power11 will become the first Power server to support the IBM Spyre Accelerator, a custom system-on-a-chip purpose-built for AI inference workloads.
Energy efficiency in focus
Alongside performance and security, Power11 raises the bar in sustainability. IBM claims the system delivers twice the performance per watt compared to traditional x86 servers. The newly introduced Energy Efficient Mode provides up to 28% better server efficiency than maximum performance configurations.
This is a critical selling point, as organizations worldwide work to lower carbon footprints and reduce energy costs.
In a first for IBM’s Power series, Power11 will launch across high-end, mid-range, and entry-level servers simultaneously, including IBM’s Power Virtual Server in the IBM Cloud. It’s also certified as a hyperscaler platform for RISE with SAP, offering a smoother cloud migration path for enterprise workloads.
IBM says this unified release strategy will bring the benefits of Power11 to businesses of all sizes, not just massive corporations.
