Lenovo no longer sees itself merely as a hardware specialist, but as a full-fledged service provider. An as-a-Service model is core to this strategy. With TruScale, Lenovo aims to offer an on-prem cloudlike experience, but for the workplace thare are solutions as well.
No computer or server manufacturer wants to be pigeonholed purely as a hardware specialist today. Manufacturing alone is not enough to attract customers. Like major competitors in the sector, Lenovo has positioned itself as a full-fledged service provider for some time now. The service offering has steadily grown over the past half-decade. A combination of proprietary hardware and services on the one hand, and partnerships on the other, aims to make the company a one-stop shop for all things IT.
TruScale umbrella
That’s not new. As early as 2019, Lenovo announced TruScale. Even today, TruScale remains a key pillar in the manufacturer’s DaaS (Device-as-a-Service) offering, although the brand name covers a broader range than six years ago.
“Lenovo TruScale is an umbrella with all as-a-Service solutions, ranging from DaaS to Software to Infrastructure-as-a-Service”, explains Robbert Tan, responsible for Solution Services at the company. “Lenovo’s hardware expertise is complemented by a range of services offered in a consumption model.”
Lenovo’s hardware expertise is complemented by a range of services offered in a consumption model.
Robbert Tan, Solution Services Lenovo
In short, almost the entire portfolio of the company is available in a subscription model, although the TruScale umbrella includes a more structured offering.
IaaS: billing based on consumption
First and foremost, there is IaaS. TruScale has grown from an infrastructure offering aimed at on-premises data centers. “The goal is to provide the customer with on-prem hardware, but through a consumption model that resembles the cloud”, explains Tan.
Lenovo targets customers interested in the benefits of on-prem, such acontrol, lower latency, data sovereignty, and the ability to run legacy software not ready for the cloud. “There are also customers who have already moved to the cloud but see their costs rising excessively there”, says Tan.
Those who join the IaaS story receive infrastructure from Lenovo delivered in an Opex model. The customer’s needs are assessed in consultation, after which Lenovo provides tailored infrastructure. To enable scalability, Lenovo will slightly overprovision that infrastructure. Tan: “Just like in a classic model, we provide the right hardware based on usage peaks.”
However, the customer does not have to constantly pay for that peak hardware. In addition to a monthly base rate, Lenovo charges costs based on actual consumption, measured by electricity usage. The peak capacity of the installed hardware is available, but the customer only pays when it is actually used. “Billing based on consumption generally delivers significant TCO benefits”, Tan notes.
What an IaaS solution looks like depends on the customer. Lenovo supports its entire server portfolio, including GPU servers and water-cooled Neptune installations.
DaaS: tailored workplace
On the other end of the spectrum, Lenovo offers endpoints and support, again as a service. “For such devices, it is not really possible to bill based on consumption”, Tan explains. “That’s why we offer a complete service instead. We see where a customer wants to go and what the pain points are for the entire lifecycle of the hardware.”
Concretely, this means Lenovo can set up the entire workplace for employees in an organization, including peripherals like monitors. “Outsourcing is also possible”, Tan continues. “Lenovo can take over the service desk or handle security. We play the role the customer wants.”
Partners and services
Between the office and the data center are the software services. “Lenovo collaborates with Veeam for backups, and with VMware, Microsoft, Nutanix, Red Hat, and SAP for hybrid cloud.” Regarding security, Lenovo has consolidated an entire ecosystem of partners and combined it with its own capabilities under the ThinkShield brand.
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Lenovo is not the only laptop and server specialist that prefers to profile itself as a provider of total solutions. So that approach alone is not enough as a distinguishing feature. Tan notes that Lenovo maintains a very flexible offering. “Because we measure consumption, you only pay the service fee if you consume nothing in your data center. This approach is unique.”
Modular
“Furthermore, we work very modularly”, Tan continues. “We always sit down with the customer and only include the services that are truly needed, so solutions meet the needs without exceeding them.”
Lenovo can thus manage the entire IT environment of a customer. According to Tan, there are indeed customers who take such a total offering. “Usually, those customers have one of the two solutions running”, he knows. “Either IaaS or DaaS. They are then satisfied and look at the synergy the total solution can offer.”
This editorial article was created in collaboration with ITdaily partner Lenovo.