Lenovo Data Center Group recently announced the expansion of its IT infrastructure solutions for IoT and 5G technologies. With the global rollout of 5G in full effect, more devices than ever will be connected and collecting huge amounts of data from the edge of networks. Enterprises are building end-to-end applications with various cloud providers, including Microsoft Azure.
Lenovo’s ThinkAgile MX series are certified nodes. Nodes are basically packages of Azure Stack HCI (hyperconverged infrastructure) solutions with accessible machine types that are easy to order. Lenovo Certified Nodes come with enforced configuration rules and optimized firmware to make it easier to use Windows Servers. They are also certified with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) software for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI solutions.
The expansion of Lenovo’s IT infrastructure solutions revolves around the Lenovo ThinkAgile MX1021 and ThinkSystem DM7100.
The Lenovo ThinkAgile MX1021 leverages the Azure Stack HCI at the edge of networks where data is collected. This has the effect of improving efficiency and reducing latency while transmitting data to a local data center or to Azure in the public cloud.
Lenovo ThinkSystem DM7100 storage solutions protect and accelerate the transfer of data at the edge of networks with integrated Azure cloud tiering. They also have mobile capabilities that allow the deployment of end-to-end enterprise Microsoft Azure-based solutions that demand immediate access to huge amounts of mission-critical data.
Enterprises will continue to build more operational and managerial apps in-house leveraging cloud systems like Microsoft Azure. Integrating data tiering to Azure may require validated solutions like the new Lenovo ThinkAgile MX1021 and ThinkSystem DM7100.
From the edge to the core to the cloud, real-time data analytics is going to become more crucial in the next few years and in the foreseeable future. For example, edge servers in manufacturing facilities can collect sensor data from production equipment and help workers predict when maintenance and repair will be needed, preventing costly downtime, which can reverberate up and down the supply chain.
Healthcare facilities could integrate ThinkAgile MX1021 with Azure Stack Hub and Azure IoT Hub to tier the medical data of patients, improving operational and managerial analytics to improve patient care.
The ThinkSystem DM7100 has all-flash array and hybrid flash storage solutions available to improve the efficiency of mission-critical apps with end-to-end NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express, an interface protocol for SSDs) for use with hybrid cloud solutions. The all-flash array ensures that applications deployed in an organization that use Azure Cloud Services will enable reliable and centralized data management in all areas of operation. It also provides flexibility in terms of moving data from the cloud to local storage, depending on the situation.
Bottom Line
Cloud and hybrid cloud solutions that help organizations capture and transmit data from the edge of networks to the core to the cloud with their own custom-built, mission critical apps for improving operational and managerial efficiency are going to become indispensable as 5G continues to rollout worldwide.