Lenovo unveils AI-optimised storage for faster enterprise ROI

Lenovo has announced a significant expansion of its data storage portfolio with the release of new AI-optimised storage solutions aimed at supporting enterprise AI and data modernisation strategies.

The new portfolio consists of 21 ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile models and is designed to assist organisations in addressing challenges related to AI deployment, virtualisation, and sustainability. The updates encompass storage arrays, software defined infrastructure, and new solutions intended to deliver improved efficiency, performance and scalability required by modern data centres.

"The new Lenovo Data Storage Solutions help businesses harness AI's transformative power with a data-driven strategy that ensures scalability, interoperability, and tangible business outcomes powered by trusted infrastructure," said Scott Tease, Vice President and General Manager of Infrastructure Solutions Product Group at Lenovo. "The new solutions help customers achieve faster time to value no matter where they are on their IT modernisation journey with turnkey AI solutions that mitigate risk and simplify deployment."

The range includes the introduction of AI Starter Kits for the Lenovo Hybrid AI Platform, pre-configured options designed to accelerate enterprise adoption of AI, notably for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows. Also launched is the ThinkAgile HX Series GPT-in-a-Box solution, equipped with Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling technology. Lenovo states that this is the industry's first liquid-cooled hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) appliance, capable of providing up to 25% energy savings over previous generations.

"This refresh is an imperative step in supporting local organisations achieve their AI ambitions. We know AI investment in ANZ is accelerating, growing fourfold in 2025, yet our CIO Playbook highlights that ROI remains a key barrier to AI adoption" said Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific Infrastructure Solutions Group, Lenovo. "We are assisting in speeding up ROI, particularly with our industry-first liquid-cooled HCI appliance, which will yield up to 25% energy savings over previous generations."

Among the products launching as part of this portfolio refresh is the Lenovo ThinkAgile SDI V4 Series, which is described as a full-stack, turnkey solution intended to streamline IT infrastructure and facilitate computing for data-driven workloads, including AI large language models (LLMs) inferencing. The ThinkSystem Storage Arrays are also part of the release, with claims of offering up to three times faster performance and power consumption reductions, translating to up to 97% energy savings and 99% improvement in storage density over legacy hardware based on 10K HDDs.

The converged ThinkAgile and ThinkSystem hybrid cloud and virtualisation solutions now allow for independent scaling of compute and storage capabilities, with Lenovo reporting potential software licensing cost reductions of up to 40% by enabling additional storage without incurring extra licensing charges.

The ThinkAgile HX Series GPT-in-a-Box offerings, which use Neptune Liquid Cooling, are engineered to allow turnkey AI inferencing suitable for distributed applications across edge and cloud environments. The solution is positioned to reduce energy usage, which Lenovo states will increase return on investment and allow organisations to achieve data-driven outcomes faster.

The AI Starter Kits for the Lenovo Hybrid AI Platform come as pre-configured packages combining compute, storage, GPUs, and networking components. These kits are intended to be scalable and adaptable to various organisational needs and to minimise the complexity involved with deploying enterprise AI services. Storage arrays configured with the AI Starter Kits support unified file, block, and object storage, leveraging SSD flash technology to accelerate time to insight from enterprise data.

Bringing computation capabilities closer to the source of enterprise data is a growing requirement for AI model training and inference tasks. Lenovo's new ThinkAgile SDI V4 Series and ThinkSystem Storage Arrays are positioned as full-stack AI-ready infrastructure options for organisations at the start of their AI journey. Additionally, the new hybrid cloud and virtualisation solutions are designed to offer flexibility and operational simplicity.

For virtualisation, the Lenovo ThinkAgile Converged Solution for VMware brings together features from the ThinkAgile VX Series and ThinkSystem DG Series storage arrays. The aim is to provide a unified hybrid cloud platform capable of supporting diverse storage workloads, facilitated by integrated lifecycle management and operational features.

The new ThinkAgile V4 series now includes what Lenovo describes as the industry's first liquid-cooled HCI appliance, specifically targeting the efficiency challenges of high-powered AI workloads. The company asserts up to 25% energy savings when compared with the previous generation, and this hardware is positioned as a repeatable solution for swift AI integration.

The security aspect of Lenovo's storage solutions includes features like Premier Enhanced Storage Support, which provides expert support and rapid response for IT teams. Additionally, the ThinkSystem DG and DM storage arrays have new AI-powered autonomous ransomware protection that employs machine learning to proactively identify and mitigate cyber threats.

Lenovo Data Storage Solutions also include the company's XClarity systems management software, offering comprehensive security, management, encryption, and compliance features for storage management across enterprise environments.