VMworld 2013: Lenovo, EMC Target Server, Storage Virtualization

Global PC market leader Lenovo attended VMware (VMW)’s VMworld 2013 to show-off some of the company’s new products, including the company’s support for EMC (EMC)’s VSPEX program. But the company also had a message for channel partners. 

On the EMC front, Lenovo is striving to “assemble a virtualization solution to meet IT challenges of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), particularly mitigating costs associated with supporting IT infrastructure and accelerating IT service delivery.”

And what about the channel? Lenovo Enterprise Alliance Marketing Manager Sean Gilbert and Vice President of Enterprise Marketing Darrel Ward spoke with The VAR Guy at VMworld 2013 to offer updates.

Gilbert said Lenovo is known for its laptops and the company is trying to show partners in the channel that they are more than that — with the company’s relationship with the channel.

“We’re trying to build branding and awareness with ThinkServer, and having someone like EMC come in and say, ‘okay, Lenovo, now you’ve got another option to add compute to our reference architectures and our data center validation’ gives us some more credibility and more awareness in the market, becoming another option with ThinkServer.”

Ward said channel focus depends on region: “In North America we’re 90-95 percent channel. We have a few small number of direct accounts, handled by our sales team. In China, on the other hand, we’re 60 percent direct versus 40 percent channel, so it really varies by region.”

Ward said there is much promise for Lenovo in the future, given their relationships with EMC and VMware, moving on from server virtualization to storage virtualization.

Additionally, Lenovo, which has relied on thousands of channel partners in its native China to sell its products in country, is now opening company-owned stores locally to challenge Samsung’s dominance in the smartphone market.