Lenovo Serves Up Fresh Thinking with Next-Generation Enterprise Server Portfolio

SOURCE: Lenovo

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – September 8, 2014: Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) today announced its next-generation enterprise-class server portfolio. The first wave of products consists of three cleverly engineered servers — two rack systems and one tower — designed to provide the ultimate in flexibility and reliability for traditional and software-defined data center environments.

ThinkServer RD550 and RD650: Cleverly Designed Rack Servers Pack More Punch in Less Space

Innovative engineering and design leadership are the foundation of the Lenovo ThinkServer RD550 and RD650 rack systems. By creating space-optimized drive trays, chassis and system boards, the RD550 and RD650 provide clients with industry-leading storage density and more I/O connectivity within standard 1U and 2U form factors. The RD550 can accommodate up to 12 drive bays and up to 26.4TB¹ of internal storage, providing the performance and capacity of a 2U system in a 1U form factor — perfect for line-of-business applications and compute-intensive workloads. The 2U RD650 houses up to 26 drive bays and up to 74.4TB¹ of internal capacity, making it perfect for storage-hungry applications, such as databases, data analytics clusters and video streaming. For ultimate flexibility and scalability, both rack servers are available with hybrid chassis configurations that allow a combination of 2.5- and 3.5-inch drives, ideal for creating a tiered storage environment. Two enterprise-class M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) are available as an option for secure booting, as well as SD card options for hypervisor booting.

IT managers will appreciate Lenovo’s commitment to client flexibility through its new AnyFabric, AnyBay and AnyRAID technologies. Leveraging Lenovo’s AnyFabric design, the RD550 supports many combinations of I/O technologies, including up to four 10GB Ethernet ports and four Fibre Channel ports — leaving three PCIe slots available for other uses. The RD550 can support an incredible amount of network bandwidth in a single 1U server. Lenovo’s AnyBay design, an industry first, allows for multiple storage types in the same drive bay ranging from SAS and SATA HDDs to front-accessible PCIe SSDs². ThinkServer AnyRAID adapters are also available to provide advanced data protection and performance-enhancing features without taking up PCIe slots.

The RD550 and RD650 are equipped with next-generation Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 v3 series processors with up to 18 cores each. Both servers can be configured to support up to 768GB of DDR4 memory, which provides a bandwidth increase of up to 50 percent as well as a 50 percent increase in power efficiency over previous-generation DDR3 memory. Standard, built-in reliability features include ECC memory, hot-swappable HDD and SSD capability, as well as redundant power and cooling.

ThinkServer TD350: Full Enterprise Capacity and Performance in a 4U Tower

With up to two Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 series processors, the TD350 packs performance, scalability and expandability into a tower form factor. It features nearly triple the memory capacity and double the storage capacity of the previous-generation server with up to 512GB of DDR4 memory and 90TB of internal storage capacity with either 2.5- or 3.5-inch drive configuration options — all in a condensed 4U package. With this massive storage capacity and a lower cost than rack infrastructure, the TD350 is an ideal solution for small- to mid-sized businesses running workloads such as business analytics, large database and collaborative applications.

As with the RD550 and RD650, choose ThinkServer AnyRAID adapters for increased RAID protection without taking up a PCIe slot. Two enterprise-class M.2 solid-state drives for secure booting are available as internal options. The TD350 also comes equipped with a lockable front bezel to protect storage drives with critical business data from physical intrusion, and 95 percent of all parts are tool-less for simple expansion. In addition, the TD350 provides excellent acoustic performance allowing the server to operate unobtrusively in a quiet office environment.

Energy-Efficient Designs

Data center power and cooling spending is often equal to or greater than the cost of powering the IT equipment itself, according to a recent study. For every dollar spent on new IT infrastructure, seven dollars are spent on maintenance. With data center operations costs rising, Lenovo’s newest server portfolio is thoughtfully designed to increase energy and cost efficiency. The RD550, RD650 and TD350 are equipped with a dynamic environmental thermal design, meaning all three servers are architected to run at 45 degrees Celsius/113 degrees Fahrenheit (ASHRAE A4) continuously with no impact on reliability. This is important as organizations continue to optimize capital expenses through server virtualization as the increase in utilization puts a greater demand on the system. This is also ideal for customers looking to run servers in harsher environments or to reduce cooling expenses. All three servers are also equipped with 80 PLUS Titanium or Platinum-rated power supplies, providing 11 percent more performance efficiency than Gold standard.

Systems Management Tools Optimized for Mobility

With all three new ThinkServer systems, clients get access to a suite of new, intuitive lifecycle tools that make management easy, including server-embedded tools for configuration and deployment, energy management and power planning. Partner packs for Microsoft and VMware — which allow clients to manage and monitor their ThinkServer environment from VMware vCenter or Microsoft System Center Operations Manager — are also available.

Convenient and Flexible Enterprise Service Offerings

Lenovo Services offer customers the level of protection required to keep their businesses up and running. Optional upgraded services are also available to help maximize uptime and productivity.

Quotes

“With our intense focus to become a leader in the enterprise space, we are announcing our most creative, capable, and by far, the most versatile platforms you’ve ever seen from the ThinkServer brand,” said Darrel Ward, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Product Group, Lenovo. “The new ThinkServer RD550, RD650 and TD350 are the result of strategic planning backed by a massive investment in enterprise.”

“Lenovo’s new next-gen ThinkServer systems are the evolution in Lenovo’s expanding commitment to the data center,” said Shannon Poulin, vice president, Intel Data Center Group. “These servers, based on Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 v3 processors, are designed to deliver the best combination of performance and efficiency across an array of data center solutions and deliver remarkable performance gains over the four-year old installed base.”

“The flexibility of the ThinkServer RD650 hybrid is ideal for our environment,” said Michael Sullivan, systems administrator, Semiconductor Research Corporation.  “Large 3.5-inch drives combined with super-fast 2.5-inch drives in the same server create a cost effective yet high-performance solution well suited to database test and production systems.”

Pricing and Availability³

The TD350, RD550 and RD650 will be available September 9.  The TD350 starts at $1,629, the RD550 starts at $1,829 and the RD650 starts at $1,929.

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About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$39 billion personal technology company – the largest PC maker worldwide and an emerging PC Plus leader – serving customers in more than 160 countries. Dedicated to exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution.  Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the Company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo, a global Fortune 500 company, has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina.  For more information see www.lenovo.com.