Lenovo, Fujitsu, Toshiba Bolster Notebook Offerings With SMBs In Mind

Hoping to strengthen its SMB foothold, Lenovo Tuesday launched a new series of notebooks geared specifically to price-sensitive, services-starved SMB customers. Fujtsu Computer Systems was also busy with notebook announcements, adding six Centrino 2-based notebooks. Toshiba America Information Systems uveiled two new laptops outfitted with Centrino 2 with vPro.

Morrisville, N.C.-based Lenovo's new SL series of ThinkPads -- the SL300, SL400 and SL500 -- include high-speed mobile broadband, optional Blu-Ray DVD as part of its multimedia offerings, data recovery in its software inclusions and an optional service package that offers online backup and on-site warranty repair. In an briefing with Channelweb, company executives confirmed that 85 to 95 percent of the new notebooks will be sold through the channel.

"We've been selling ThinkPads to SMB for years, but this is a more focused offering. One of the most significant announcements is that services offering," said Charles Sune, Lenovo's worldwide segment manager for the ThinkPad SL series. "We've found in our research that these customers by and large don't have the benefit of having an IT staff. We want to be able to provide services to help those customers be successful, and later this year we're going to add more, with another suite of services. At the and#91;small endand#93; of the SMB segment, it's more cost efficient for them to do things on an as-needed basis as opposed to hiring someone full-time."

Sune cited North American, European and Asian focus groups and market research, including data from IDC forecasting that indicates SMB will comprise 31 percent of the worldwide notebook market by 2011 and says the number of notebooks in the U.S. will increase by more than 4 million in the space.

But the hot hand is pricing: the ThinkPad SL400 and SL500 both start at $799, and the SL300 starts at $899. Lenovo said it has garnered the most interest from channel partners so far based on those comfortable-looking figures.

"It's heavily motivated to address the needs of a very specific customer set," Sune added. "This tends to be a very price-sensitive end of the commercial segment -- there's a lot of focus around those $699 to $1,199 price cells. "

"It used to be that in order to get the high-end features -- e.g. built-in WWAN capability -- we would have to look at the T-series notebooks from Lenovo," said Kevin Oleksa, president of of Johnstown, Pa.-based solution provider Operational Technologies Services (OTS). "However, those notebooks were out of the price range of the small business owner. The SL series brings the features of a high-end notebook and couples it with a price that small and very small businesses can afford."

Lenovo has had a particularly busy 2008 as far as SMB initiatives go. In October 2007, the vendor kicked off Club Lenovo, a new rewards program for SMB partners that now boasts more than 5,300 in North America. According to a Lenovo spokesperson, the sales performance of those partners is 53 percent greater than partners who don't participate in the program.

"As far as OTS goes, we love the program," Oleksa said. "If you are a Lenovo business partner that is selling eligible Club Lenovo products and not taking advantage of Club Lenovo's program, then you are definitely missing the boat. The program is a no-brainer, home run for Lenovo."

"We haven't seen or used and#91;the new Lenovo notebooksand#93; yet, but we have no problem recommending their products," said Richard Nix, executive vice president at 4G Data Systems Inc., New York. "And Club Lenovo is definitely working well. They really are about channel relationships, and they have our trust."

Lenovo also used Tuesday's announcement to unveil six additional notebooks in four series: the ThinkPad R400, R500, T400, T500, X200 and W500. On the consumer side, the vendor also debuted an additional four notebooks -- the IdeaPad U330, IdeaPad Y430, IdeaPad Y530 and IdeaPad Y730 -- all based on Intel's Centrino 2 processors and coming in different colors, including Valencia orange and Crimson red.

The customizable looks and high-definition graphics recommendations both came from customer feedback, said Stephen DiFranco, vice president and general manager of Americas, Consumer. According to DiFranco -- last seen departing beleaguered AMD as VP of worldwide consumer channel sales -- those notebooks will be available through retail and e-tail partners starting this fall. Price points have not yet been disclosed.

NEXT: FUJITSU LIGHTENS UP F

ujtsu Computer Systems Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., also made news Tuesday, unveiling six Centrino 2-based notebooks -- including two new 13.3-inch widescreen convertibles -- to its product stable.

The six new LifeBooks -- A6210 ($1,149 base), T5010 ($1,769 base), T1010 ($1,299 base), E8420 ($1,359 base), S6520 ($1,529) and S7220 ($1,229 base) -- are intended to conform to a mobile lifestyle. Both the T5010 and the T1010 have 13.3-inch displays but weigh in at 4.35 pounds, and the T1010 has the power of its bigger brother without high-end security features required in an enterprise setting.

"We're the only ones out there to put a 13.3 screen on a product under five pounds," said Paul Moore, Fujitsu's senior director of mobile product management. "This is the type of machine you pick up and you smirk because it's so much lighter than you expected it to be. It's great for a student, or a healthcare provider or a sales person always on the move. Cut out a lot of file archiving and dust and dirt and use of natural resources There's a lot of value to be added in keeping people mobile whether or not they need to be."

All six new LifeBooks will have one-year international limited warranties for customers in the U.S. and Canada. Moore confirmed all are available through Fujitsu's reseller channel, as well as through its direct sales force and retail outlets.

Toshiba America Information Systems announced two new laptops outfitted with Centrino 2 with vPro. Both feature the vendor's fourth-generation EasyGuard technology, a Webcam with business card reader software and common motherboard designs. The Tecra M10 and A10 aim to "provide the real-world mobile computing features that our business customers need most -- in the office or while traveling," said Jeff Barney, general manager and vice president of Toshiba's digital products division, in a statement.

Toshiba also expanded its Satellite Pro family to include the S300, which similarly uses Centrino 2 and also offers the EasyGuard, built-in docking and the Webcam. It comes with a one-year standard limited warranty.