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hyperconvergence


These new environments are delivering this
speed and effi ciency at a time when many organi-
zations are relying more on big data and analytics
initiatives, expanding their mobile technology envi-
ronments, and moving more aggressively into the
cloud for applications, application development, and
IT infrastructure services.
“Business models are evolving, changing the
way organizations need to operate,” says Kirk
Skaugen, executive vice president of Lenovo Data
Center Group and president of Lenovo. “Data-driven
customer-centric business decisions are more
important than ever, requiring IT solutions that can
deliver the unique capabilities to keep up with the
ever-changing requirements.”
Lenovo, which offers a portfolio of hypercon-
verged and cloud offerings as part of its ThinkAgile
portfolio, expects everything to become software
defi ned—both in the edge and in the cloud. It sees
edge servers becoming more popular and trans-
forming the data center.

bottom line, costing up to $400,000 per hour. For
six consecutive years, Lenovo’s x86 servers—in-
cluding the ThinkSystem server portfolio—have
received the highest reliability of all x86 server
systems, making them comparable to larger-
scale, far more costly mainframe class systems.
The company’s partnership with Nutanix is
key. Lenovo is Nutanix’s fastest-growing partner,
and the two share many joint customers. Lenovo
is integrating its management software with
Nutanix Prism, an end-to-end management plat-
form for virtualized data center environments that
streamlines and automates common workfl ows.
Using advanced machine-learning technology,
Prism analyzes system data to generate insights
for optimizing virtualization and infrastructure
management.
Nutanix has also seen a dramatic increase in
demand for hyperconvergence technology, says
Sunil Potti, the company’s chief product and
development offi cer. Potti likens HCI to Apple’s
iPhone, saying the data center technology ap-
peals to enterprises in much the same way that
smartphones appeal to consumers.
For example, before the iPhone, users needed
discrete products—a separate camera, GPS, and
game system, for instance—which are all now
apps available for use in the user’s single device.
Each of these had to be managed individually
and independently from one another, rather than
being part of a single cohesive system.
“HCI is what delivers this same concept for
the data center,” Potti says. “We took all of these
moving parts—compute, storage, security, net-
working—and used software to create essentially
what Apple did with the iPhone.”
The benefi ts are also similar, including greater
simplicity, increased productivity, and the ability
to manage multiple functions from a single point.
“The value of what Apple does with the iPhone
is that you don’t have to buy all of these different
parts,” Potti says. “That’s the same type of value
we’re delivering with HCI. It’s a good return on
investment.”
And HCI, like the iPhone, comes with a
“desire” factor. “People want to buy the newest
Apple device. They don’t need to,” Potti says.
“In the past, IT was always need-based, looked
at as a necessity rather than something people
wanted.” Now, with HCI enabling IT to focus on
business priorities and promising cost savings,
it’s something technology leaders across indus-
tries want to deploy. ■

The company's HCI business is growing at al-
most double the overall market, and Lenovo expects
this growth to continue as customers increasingly
look to extend simplicity across all technology layers
and achieve comprehensive, turnkey IT operations.
This will allow them to focus on their core business
priorities.
Lenovo’s software-defi ned strategy focuses on
delivering a wide choice of products, services, and
ecosystem solutions to enable customers to achieve
their IT goals. The company partners with software
leaders such as Microsoft, Nutanix, and VMware to
provide multiple levels of product support and solu-
tions, helping organizations shift their IT operations
from a project-driven cost center to a cloud-like,
demand-driven service center.
Among the strengths of the Lenovo HCI platform
are its uptime and reliability. Unplanned downtime
often has signifi cant impact on an organization’s

Business models are evolving,

changing the way organizations

need to operate.”

—KIRK SKAUGEN


EVP, Lenovo Data Center Group,
and President, Lenovo
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