Just as Hewlett Packard Enterprise gets set to kick off its massive Discover 2016 conference in Las Vegas, Lenovo is trying to crash HPE's hyperconverged data center party. Indeed, Lenovo today unveiled new software defined storage, networking, servers and hyberconverged appliances for customer data centers.
The expanded Lenovo lineup includes:
- StorSelect, which converges third-party SDS software with Lenovo hardware to create turnkey appliances. The first offerings are the DX8200N and DX8200C -- which integrate SDS software from Nexenta Systems and Cloudian, respectively. Both offerings are built upon Lenovo’s x86 server platforms and will begin shipping worldwide in the third quarter of 2016.
- V-Series family of 12Gb SANs for midmarket customers. The V3700 V2 and V5030 are hybrid and all-flash SAN solutions. The Lenovo V Series family will begin shipping worldwide in June 2016.
- The company released its next-generation network operating system, Lenovo Cloud NOS. It will be available for customer download starting on June 17.
Lenovo-Juniper Networking Relationship
Lenovo, as part of its ongoing relationship with Juniper, signed a reseller agreement under which Lenovo will offer Juniper Networks’ EX2300 and EX4550 Ethernet Switches, as well as the QFX10002-72Q data center spine aggregation switch.
Lenovo will sell these Juniper offerings directly as part of an integrated portfolio that also includes Lenovo’s own data center access products. The Juniper offerings will be available from Lenovo beginning in the third quarter of 2016. The companies also jointly published a new virtualized data center reference architecture, available now.
We're checking to see if or how Lenovo and Juniper are cross-training their channel partners to support the new offerings.
Lenovo, Nutanix Hyperconverged Appliances
Also, Lenovo expanded its portfolio of HX Series hyperconverged appliances, based on Nutanix software. The new offerings include:
- The HX1000 Series for Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) appliance
- The HX2000 Series for small to mid-size businesses (SMB) featuring Nutanix’s new Xpress software (announced May 24)
- Integration of Lenovo’s latest server platform into its HX3000 Series, a “compute heavy” solution optimized for VDI and smaller virtualization workloads, and HX5000 Series, a “storage heavy” version optimized for Server Virtualization workloads with larger capacity demands.
- They will be available through Lenovo direct and business partner channels beginning in the third quarter of 2016.
Lenovo's Data Center Ambitions: Not Surprising
Amid the challenging PC and smartphone segments, Lenovo needs to build alternative revenue streams quickly. During the company's Lenovo Accelerate conference in May 2016, the company vowed to work more closely with Nutanix, Juniper, Red Hat, SAP and others as part of a channel-led march into corporate data centers.
Still, the journey won't be easy. HP Enterprise recently announce surprisingly strong quarterly financial results. And this week's HP Enterprise Discover 2016 conference in Las Vegas will surely reveal new hyperconverged data center offerings.
Rivals like Dell and EMC (expected to merge mid-day), Cisco Systems and Oracle also loom large on multiple fronts. But to Lenovo's credit, the company appears to be moving quickly to round out its storage, server and network offerings.
