Lenovo Seeks To Fast-Track AI Server Deals For Partners With New ‘AI Express’ Program

Pitching ‘Lenovo AI Express’ as a good fit for small, mid-market and enterprise customers, the company’s North America channel chief says the program is also well-suited for ‘competitive or time-sensitive opportunities where rapid quoting and delivery can be a differentiator.’

Lenovo is hoping to win more AI server business with channel partners through a new program that can deliver systems in less than 30 days in some cases, giving the channel potential relief when lead times can stretch out to several months.

Calling it “Lenovo AI Express,” the Chinese tech giant said in a Wednesday email to partners that the program is meant to help partners “bring AI factory solutions to customers faster, with less complexity and greater confidence.”

[Related: Lenovo Exec: New Virtualization Solutions Will Aid Partners In Modernization Push, With Or Without VMware]

“Whether you’re helping customers take their first step into AI or scaling existing AI initiatives, Lenovo AI Express can help you close deals faster and deliver outcomes sooner,” wrote Lenovo North America Channel Chief Wade McFarland (pictured above) in the email.

As demand for AI infrastructure continues at a breakneck pace, channel partners are facing long lead times for AI servers—depending on configuration or vendor—that can sometimes reach 12 months. And with demand creating significant supply issues for GPUs and other components, partners have faced a cavalcade of changes to ordering policies and price quote windows from vendors that have only started to become more favorable in recent months.

Chris Bogan, vice president of alliances at Houston-based Lenovo systems integration partner Mark III Systems, told CRN that the new Lenovo program builds upon the good work the vendor has done with its top-seller program, Top Choice Express, which maintained a 30-day price quote window for all this year and ships many orders within 10 days.

“I think all of that’s helpful for customers because if they have something that comes up that needs to get done, it’s nice to know that you have 20- to 30-day lead times,” he said. “And then for folks like us, it’s helpful because we know it can be gotten there, so it allows us to help the customer build an appropriate plan and execute quickly on projects.”

What Lenovo Is Offering With The AI Express Program

Pitching Lenovo AI Express as a good fit for small, mid-market and enterprise customers, McFarland said the program is also well-suited for “competitive or time-sensitive opportunities where rapid quoting and delivery can be a differentiator.”

The program is building around three GPU-powered Lenovo ThinkSystem server configurations using Intel or AMD CPUs targeted for varying levels of performance and workload support, according to an announcement on Lenovo’s website.

The small option targets tens of users producing more than 30 tokens per second on models with up to 70 billion parameters using an SR650a V4 system powered by two Nvidia RTX 6000 Pro Blackwell Server GPUs. Certain configurations ship in 15 days.

The medium option, on the other hand, is built more specifically for hundreds of users running agentic AI and other inference workloads, producing roughly the same number of tokens per second but on models reaching up to 400 billion parameters. This is based on an SR675 V3 powered by eight of the same RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Server GPUs. Ship times can be as few as 20 days in some cases.

The large option is meant to support “full-scale generative AI models serving thousands of users across a wide range of workloads and interactivity levels, with up to a trillion parameters and enterprise-scale deployment.” This is based on the SR680a V4, which is powered by eight of Nvidia’s HGX B300 GPUs.

The last option can ship in as few as 25 days in some situations, but McFarland’s email to partners said that such configurations “require Lenovo engagement and allocation confirmation prior to customer commitment.”

The channel chief said there are various ways in which Lenovo is trying to remove friction from AI server deals with the new program: faster custom quoting with AI software and services add-on options; simplified quoting that reduces errors, validation cycles and administration work; and upfront pricing for certain systems among others.

“Lenovo AI Express delivers an easier path to a production-ready AI Factory, helping reduce complexity for both partners and customers while speeding every step of the sales process,” McFarland wrote in the partner email.