Earlier this year, we released IBM Cloud Pak® for Data 4.0, an intelligent data fabric that combines and automates data and AI lifecycles to help organizations accelerate digital transformation. As we continue our journey as a platform to help our customers optimize the value from their data and achieve faster insights, today we are announcing the latest release of IBM Cloud Pak for Data, version 4.0.2. With this release, we are excited to continue extending features of IBM Cloud Pak for Data to IBM Z®, LinuxONE, and IBM Power® Systems.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data enhanced on IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE

IBM Z and LinuxONE are IBM’s strategic enterprise platforms designed for scalable data serving. They provide outstanding security, pervasive encryption, and confidential computing capabilities, which is why they are used by 45 of the top 50 banks, 8 of the top 10 insurers, and many other leaders in various industries. IBM Z is a leader in security and data protection and is used by two-thirds of Fortune 100 organizations. It is designed to help organizations keep data protected against threats and attacks. Transactions originating on IBM Z can be a rich source of data for building AI models to predict customer behavior.

With the latest version of IBM Cloud Pak for Data, customers can work with pre-integrated data and AI software on existing IBM Z infrastructure. With IBM Cloud Pak for Data on IBM Z, customers can deliver a modern data and AI platform while leveraging existing IBM Z infrastructure and capabilities.

Specifically, with IBM Watson® Studio services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data, teams can work with industry leading AI model building and deployment services to help operationalize AI for better business outcomes.

IBM Watson Studio also allows developers to use popular tools like Python with Jupyter Notebooks, scikit-learn and XGBoost to develop and deploy AI models. Organizations can now deploy models and use those models for real-time or batch scoring within applications that run on IBM Z.

With support for popular open-source tools, IBM Cloud Pak for Data now offers new deployment options, while allowing organizations to leverage skills without needing IBM Z specific expertise. Together, IBM Z and IBM Cloud Pak for Data provide a great platform to leverage insights derived from your most critical business data.

To learn more about IBM Cloud Pak for Data on IBM Z and LinuxONE, read the solution brief.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data brings new data governance services to IBM Power Systems

With version 4.0.2 also comes the extension of IBM Cloud Pak for Data new data catalog capabilities to Power Systems, an extension that enables self-service discovery of data, intelligent models, and more. Additionally, we are excited to bring automation and operator capabilities, inherent to the IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform, to IBM Power. All these new capabilities extend IBM Cloud Pak for Data services across all platforms for a seamless hybrid multi-cloud experience for enterprise customers.

Customers can now extend their data science and data warehouse services already enabled on Power with IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog on IBM Cloud Pak for Data. Through this data catalog tool, Power customers gain additional features to bring together data and infuse AI.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data on Power can be deployed on-premises and in the public cloud in the IBM Power Virtual Server environment, giving our customers the option to deploy in the environment of their choice. For more information, check out the learning paths and tutorials that facilitate the deployment process for customers.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data and IBM Systems are committed to delivering enterprise data and AI solutions, including the ones announced today. Additional services are planned for later this year to complement the performance, resiliency, and security of IBM Z and Power.

Additionally, this refresh includes the following new features and enhancements:

• Support for Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform 4.8, which brings in refreshed CoreOS, enabling users to leverage the latest fixes, hardware support, and driver updates
• Improved OpenShift APIs for Data Protection (OADP) based backup and restore for complete backups and recovery. Users can now backup Kubernetes resources and volumes and restore them in a separate new cluster
• A completely redesigned and modernized IBM DataStage® Cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data with a new developer-centric pipeline canvas, rich connectivity, and an extensible framework to support critical workloads
• Release of IBM Watson® Knowledge Studio for IBM Cloud Pak for Data
• IBM Informix® for IBM Cloud Pak for Data with improved resilience, enhanced user experience, and integration with Certificate Manager

Our goal as a platform is to help customers unlock the value of their data and infuse AI, no matter where their data lives. Every release focuses on delivering capabilities that enhance the containerized platform for great flexibility, improving your ability to deploy the unique mix of data and AI services you need. To learn more about the data management and AI benefits you can achieve with IBM Cloud Pak for Data, read Forrester’s Total Projected Economic Impact™ Report for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, or give the platform a try today.