Lenovo and VMware to Develop, Market Joint Infrastructure Solutions

Lenovo and VMware have entered a technological partnership around software-defined data center infrastructure whose plans include validated cloud infrastructure and storage solutions that consist of both vendors' products.

The two will define and market the solutions -- that will consist of Lenovo hardware and VMware software -- together. Private and hybrid cloud solutions are on the slate, as well as software-defined storage, based on Lenovo's newly acquired x86 server line and VMware's Virtual SAN software.

The partnership is a carryover from Lenovo’s $2.3 billion acquisition of IBM's x86 server business, closed in September. The development relationship between IBM’s System x and VMware goes back 16 years.

Lenovo has also worked with VMware in the past, most recently validating vSphere with Operations Management, a virtualization platform with insight to IT capacity and performance on its enterprise-grade ThinkServer machines. They've also collaborated on network virtualization gateways and integrated traffic management solutions, and virtual desktop services through Lenovo eXFlash tech and VMware’s Horizon virtual desktop infrastructure platform.

“With the combination of VMware and Lenovo solution, we are empowering organizations with powerful automation, agility and flexibility in their IT infrastructure," said Raghu Raghuram, executive vice president of the Software-Defined Data Center Division at VMware.

“By leveraging the strengths and respective geographic reach of our teams, we see significant synergy in delivering end-to-end designed-for-cloud infrastructures to our customers and their service providers,” said Adalio Sanchez, senior vice president, Enterprise Systems Group, Lenovo.