Lenovo: 'We're Not Just For SMB Anymore'

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Lenovo said it isn't just an SMB server company anymore. With the acquisition of IBM's x86 server business, Lenovo has the compute muscle to handle today's biggest workloads from big data analytics, such as SAP HANA, to converged infrastructure solutions, according to the company.

"Lenovo now has an entire line of enterprise products that scale from file-and-print servers all the way up to converged infrastructure," said Don Frame, North American product manager for Lenovo enterprise products, speaking to CRN at Lenovo's Accelerate 2015 Partner Forum in Las Vegas.

At the top of Lenovo's hardware food chain is the company's Flex System x440 system -- a converged infrastructure solution that goes beyond a run-of-the-mill blade server. Lenovo's blade Flex systems are built on a 10U chassis that can hold up to 14 blades. Each blade can go from 2, 4 and 8 processors. Lenovo boasts it's the only manufacturer that can support up to 8-processor blades, and fiber channel over Ethernet, Ethernet and native fiber channel integrated networking.

Also added to Lenovo's server line card is the System x3850. This enterprise-class server, said Frame, is a "rack once" eight-way server designed for 24/7 uptime. The x3850 and x3950 are certified for SAP HANA, and are optimized for in-memory database applications. Under the hood, the System x3850 holds 6 terabytes of memory and the x3950 model up to 12 terabytes.

"Lenovo is different than other hardware companies," Frame said. "Our business strategy is about leveraging and selling through the channel. Eighty-eight percent of what we sell in North America goes through the channel. That's important with today's server infrastructure. It is not a one-size-fits-all business out there. Every infrastructure has a different need. What Lenovo prefers to do is leverage our business partners to not just sell our products, but allow them to get closer to customers to localize and customize solutions."

PUBLISHED MAY 1, 2015