Lenovo ThinkSystem Servers Now Offer Excelero NVMe Storage

Lenovo ThinkSystem servers can now be purchased with accompanying NVMesh software-defined block storage products from Excelero through a recent partnership deal, giving users the ability to share Non-Volatile Memory Express storage across any network while using any local or distributed file system.

The partnership means that Lenovo customers will be able to now directly purchase the technologies together through Lenovo’s channel partners worldwide.

Lenovo’s John Majeski

“Lenovo’s ThinkSystem portfolio is ideal for Excelero deployments – it’s a high-quality solution that balances high IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second), low latency, high performance and cost-efficiency,” said John Majeski, founder and general manager of software and solutions for Lenovo’s data center group. “We are delighted to expand our work with Excelero to enable Lenovo’s global channel organization to help customers leverage Lenovo’s high-quality solutions in concert with Excelero’s innovative NVMesh software.”

Excelero’s Patrick Guay

Patrick Guay, Excelero’s vice president of strategic accounts, told Channel Futures that the company’s technology gives users the ability to create larger storage volumes by pooling all of their NVMe storage across a network. Excelero’s NVMesh distributed block storage software is designed to be installed on-premises and can be used with a wide range of industry-standard servers and other hardware, said Guay. Excelero sells 100% of its products through the channel by way of companies like Lenovo and others.

“The NVMe market is absolutely on fire right now,” said Guay. “There is lots of activity in NVMe storage as the next generation of flash storage.”

Excelero’s approach, however, differs from other vendors in the marketplace, he said, because the company allows users to have a choice of servers and networks so they can build whatever they need.

Alliance Integrated Technology’s Billy Russell

Billy Russell, vice president and chief technology officer for Alliance Integrated Technology, an Excelero channel partner, called the server/NVMe partner deal “a great match for us and for the channel in general.”

Excelero has already proven itself a leader in the software-defined storage market, said Russell, by providing high performance, massive scaling and efficient power, cooling and rack densities.

“This also allows us to build perfect-fit storage pods,” he said. “There is no longer a need to put in massive pools of spinning disks to hit a performance requirement and end up with way more capacity than needed.”

Russell said the ability to run Excelero’s software on industry-standard hardware is also a large benefit because it allows users to grow their performance as new technology advancements appear.

“Having the software coupled to the…

…hardware and supported by one vendor will be a great addition to the channel,” said Russell.

Storage Switzerland’s George Crump

George Crump, principal analyst with Storage Switzerland, told Channel Futures that the Lenovo partnership arrangement is a big deal for Excelero while also being an interesting move for Lenovo.

“The reseller side if this is interesting because I think it makes it easier for the channel to deliver the Excelero products,” said Crump. “The whole software-defined model sounds good except if you are the guy that has to get it work. It doesn’t always go smoothly.”

Through the Lenovo and Excelero partnership, that will simplify deployments for users, said Crump. “I think that Excelero is one of the better and easier to do software-defined applications out there. This just makes it even easier by having it come with the Lenovo products.”