Lenovo announces new edge and Azure cloud-tiering solutions

Lenovo Data Center Group (DCG) has today announced an expansion of its portfolio of IT infrastructure solutions, introducing two new products – the ThinkAgile MX1021 and the ThinkSystem DM7100.

DCG says the solutions were designed in response to the ever-increasing number of connected IoT devices and the masses of data this creates from edge to the core.

The products provide validated solutions for cloud tiering for organisations and enterprises building end-to-end applications leveraging Azure.

"At a time when the speed of processes critically impacts your daily business operations, our customers demand more powerful, secure and flexible solutions," says Lenovo DCG vice president and general manager of server, storage and software-defined infrastructure, Kamran Amini.

"Lenovo's technology architecture is purpose-built to deliver insights from edge to core to cloud, enabling a new era of intelligence where customers can realise the potential of the data at their disposal.

This solution utilizes Microsoft Azure Stack HCI solutions to enable enterprises to move compute to the edge and act on the data where it's created.

For retailers looking to reduce inventory losses, the solution offers customer sentiment analysis data, to be analysed by decision-makers to proactively address challenges.

In manufacturing, edge servers can collect sensor data, enabling real-time monitoring to increase efficiency and productivity of manufacturing plants.

When ThinkAgile MX1021 is combined with Azure Stack Hub and Azure IoT Hub, healthcare organisations can tier medical data and increase the efficiency of clinical, customer and operational analytics, says DCG.

All-Flash Array and Hybrid Flash enterprise-class storage solutions accelerate mission-critical applications with end-to-end NVMe technology while delivering integrated hybrid cloud capability for Microsoft Azure and other public cloud provider solutions.

Delivering All-Flash performance with integrated Azure cloud tiering enables customers to deploy applications that leverage Azure with consistent data management across the enterprise.

Users will also retain enterprise data reduction capabilities in the cloud, allowing them to reduce their cloud footprint by up to 66%, according to DCG.

For retailers, improved transaction rates from All-Flash NVMe storage allow them to manage real-time inventory information, as well as streamline eCommerce to improve customer delivery times.

With the explosion of data and the need for real-time decision-making, industries such as manufacturing and healthcare demand streamlined approaches to better serve customers.

NCG says NVMe technology can improve the speed of data analytics by 30%.

"New business insights and innovation are increasingly dependent on analysing data at the edge and efficiently storing data in the cloud," says Microsoft senior director of Azure marketing Talal Alqinawi.

"That's why we are collaborating with partners such as Lenovo on platforms and are working together to deliver Microsoft Azure Stack HCI on Lenovo's ruggedised, compact ThinkAgile edge computing platform in tandem with Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series All-Flash Storage for transparent cloud tiering to Azure.