Like their larger counterparts, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are undergoing a digital transformation. Similar to enterprises, these companies want the latest and greatest technologies, but can face unique challenges when updating their IT infrastructure due to space and budget constraints.
While most larger enterprises have fully-staffed IT departments and on-premise data centres or cloud capabilities, many smaller companies do not have dedicated IT personnel onsite and their infrastructure consists of a few servers rather than a data centre facility.
Companies with remote offices/branch offices (ROBOs) face similar IT challenges due to their distributed environment – many smaller locations connected to a larger “home base” or headquarters. While the individual ROBOs might have access to a remote administrator, they still need a product that can be easily deployed and maintained from a central location.
For some of these companies, a cloud solution might be ideal, but there are also many advantages to having the compute and storage needs on-premise, including security, availability, governance and reduction in operating expenses.
While SMBs and ROBOs may be classified as small in terms of employees, their aspirations are anything but. As their businesses grow, they need IT equipment that can scale accordingly…but at a price point that won’t break the bank.
Then there’s the issue of security. Many small businesses – especially startups – prefer to keep their data on-premise for a multitude of reasons, most notably the protection of intellectual property and the high monthly costs associated with a cloud deployment.
For ROBOs, there are added concerns over availability and governance. Retail stores can’t afford to have their internet connection to a centralised data centre crash and risk losing sales because a cash register isn’t working. Banks and credit unions must keep the financial records of their customers secure from hackers and ROBOs in regulated industries like health care and law must adhere to legal requirements for data storage and protection.
All of these challenges and hurdles can be quite concerning for these businesses, so they need a data centre partner they can trust. As a company that empowers Intelligent Transformation for customers of all sizes, Lenovo strives to provide solutions that address IT needs for businesses – big and small.
“It’s well known that Lenovo is the #1 provider of systems on the TOP500 list of supercomputers and has design wins with 6 of the Top 10 hyperscalers in the world, but Lenovo also provides data centre solutions for smaller companies that may only need one server for their email, printing, storage and general business needs,” says Jim Holland, country head at Lenovo Data Centre Group (DCG) South Africa.
“For these customers, Lenovo has long offered a portfolio of single-socket servers that provide strong performance at an affordable price. But as customer needs continue to evolve, so does Lenovo’s offerings. The company is proud to announce a new portfolio of single-socket servers ideal for SMB and ROBO deployments,” says Holland.
The three new solutions – Lenovo ThinkSystem ST50, ST250 and SR250 – are available for purchase worldwide today.
As part of the ThinkSystem brand, these three new servers provide the same industry-leading reliability and customer satisfaction as Lenovo’s larger, more powerful servers and easy serviceability with common ThinkSystem parts and redundant components. Each of these solutions is powered by next generation Intel(r) Xeon(r) E-2100 processors and faster 2666Mhz memory.
These solutions are compact, allowing for easier operation and installation in space constrained environments, and the Lenovo XClarity software simplifies resource management with easy-to-use interfaces for quick deployment and provisioning. They’re affordable, capable of tackling multiple workloads and can grow with the business.
“No two businesses are alike, and neither are their IT needs, which is why Lenovo has designed these new single-socket servers to be as flexible and nimble as the companies using them,” concludes Holland.