Lenovo and NetApp deepen relationship

As more customers are seeking simplification in the way they purchase, deploy and leverage their Data Centre assets, Lenovo and NetApp are further empowering their partners to position themselves as digital transformation catalysts — promising simplification to their customers.

 

The two companies announced a global strategic partnership back in 2018. That partnership aimed at co-developing the largest range of new Lenovo-branded storage products that combined NetApp^® industry-leading all-flash data management solutions with Lenovo’s award-winning ThinkSystem infrastructure.

The Lenovo and NetApp collaboration and new channel initiative aims to attract and recruit new partners and to give existing partners the best-of-breed solutions, tools, and incentives they need to stimulate growth in the SMB and mid-market segments. According to the U.K. Office of National Statistics, these segments consist of over 5 million businesses in the United Kingdom.^[1]

 

Andrew Dean, Sales Director, OCF Ltd, said, “As a strategic partner of both Lenovo and NetApp, OCF welcomes the strengthening of this existing partnership. This new program enables us to reap the benefits of both the server and storage worlds, and uniquely positions us to deliver the next generation of data management solutions, offering customers unprecedented new performance, value, and choice, combined with Lenovo, the world’s fastest growing server company. We are committed to the vision of both companies in order to drive more innovation and a positive experience for our customers’ digital transformation journeys.”

 

Lenovo and NetApp’s public sector and enterprise customers already benefit from enterprise-class solutions and simple, easy-to-use software to manage both storage and server environments. With the new initiatives, the companies are launching competitively priced bundled server and storage offerings designed for SMBs and mid-market companies and aimed to solve their data management challenges. The offerings are based on Lenovo’s portfolio of All-Flash storage products, including the ThinkSystem DM Series powered by NetApp ONTAP^® and the ThinkSystem DE Series powered by SAN OS software.

Combining Lenovo storage hardware and NetApp software, partners can now help solve the specific business challenges faced by smaller companies and address their most common server and storage pain points. This ability will help these businesses increase productivity, acquire and retain customers, keep business up and running, and reduce costs.

 

“For almost two years, Lenovo and NetApp have been working globally together in all market segments. This latest initiative is aimed specifically at the medium and small business space in the United Kingdom. The data and storage market in this segment is a massive revenue opportunity that we can best address together,” said Kristian Kerr, Vice President, EMEA Partner Organisation, NetApp. “By delivering best-of breed technology, easy to use and at the right price, NetApp is helping Lenovo address crucial customer needs, and build economies of scale for their partners and customers.”

 

Ian Jeffs, General Manager, Lenovo Data Centre Group UK and Ireland, said, “Up and down the country, the UK is home to a huge amount of successful small-to-medium-size business. With new ways of working and a more dispersed workforce, IT managers are looking for technology to help them transform and increase productivity. We’re bringing together the best in server hardware and storage and making a compelling offering for the UK channel.”

 

Launching in July, Lenovo and NetApp resellers will be able to access a series of new enhanced advantages as part of the Lenovo Partner Program for Data Center Group – from a financial and enablement standpoint. In addition, NetApp partners will also benefit from sales of select Lenovo ThinkSystem DE and DM Series storage products with revenues being recognized toward NetApp’s goal attainment revenue (GAR), proving the joint commitment to the market and their partners.

 

^[1] Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, “National Statistics. Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions: 2019 Statistical Release,” January 2020.