Lenovo Infrastructure Group South Africa Discusses its New ThinkSystem Enterprise Storage Array

BusinessTech Africa sat down with Dean Wolson, Country Manager, Lenovo Infrastructure Group South Africa, to talk about the company’s new ThinkSystem Enterprise Storage Array and how artificial intelligence is reshaping the technology industry.

How does the Lenovo ThinkSystem DG Enterprise Storage Arrays and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM3010H Enterprise Storage Array work and how is it different from one another?

The new line of ThinkSystem DG Enterprise Storage All-Flash Array (AFA) is a new line featuring Quad-level Cell (QLC) architecture, with 6x faster IOPs performance vs HDD arrays, are specifically designed to handle read-intensive enterprise AI workloads and large dataset workloads, offering faster data intake and accelerating time to insight.

The 6x faster IOPs performance compared to traditional HDD arrays allows for significantly improved data access speeds, which is crucial for handling read-intensive workloads and large datasets. Faster data intake and processing mean reduced waiting times, increased productivity, and more efficient use of computing resources.

As the world moves towards incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into various industries, there is a growing need for high-performance storage solutions that can handle the massive amounts of data involved in AI workloads. AI applications often require real-time processing and analysis of vast datasets, and the faster data intake offered by the new AFA line can accelerate the training and inferencing processes, leading to quicker insights and more responsive AI systems.

ThinkSystem DG Enterprise Storage All-Flash Array (AFA) also provide easier management with less fine-tuning on the application-side and guarantees significant improvement on the sustainability front over HDD arrays.

The Lenovo ThinkSystem DM3010H Enterprise Storage Array is the next-generation of hybrid unified storage solution ideal for SMB customers that delivers better scalability with up to 27.6 PB (petabytes), offering exceptional flexibility for a wide range of workloads, including file services, virtualization, backup and archive and other I/O applications.

the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM3010H Enterprise Storage Array addresses the specific requirements of SMB customers who need a scalable, flexible, and cost-effective storage solution. Its ability to accommodate a wide range of workloads and offer high performance makes it a valuable asset for SMBs seeking to efficiently manage their data while planning for future growth.

How does the ThinkAgile SXM Microsoft Azure Stack work and how is it different from others?

The Lenovo ThinkAgile SX for Microsoft Azure Stack Hub (“ThinkAgile SXM”) solution delivers a pre-integrated, easy-to-deploy rack-level solution for hybrid cloud to dramatically reduce time-to-value and total cost of ownership (TCO). The solution is based on Lenovo’s industry-leading data center infrastructure and Microsoft Azure Stack, an extension of Microsoft Azure Services to on-premises environments.

The Lenovo ThinkAgile SXM solution integrates computing, storage, networking, and management, and it is designed with industry-standard building blocks, including hyperconverged nodes that are built on powerful and highly reliable Lenovo ThinkSystem servers and Microsoft Azure Stack Hub software that extends Azure technologies on-premises.

You’ve incorporated artificial intelligence in your system, how do you think AI will change the game for your brand, and when it comes to smart technology systems?

Our customers benefit greatly from the integration of AI technology into their solutions. Leveraging AI capabilities, Lenovo provides smarter, more efficient, and innovative offerings that enhance performance, security, and support. The optimization enabled by AI-driven analytics and automation allows businesses to scale their infrastructure seamlessly, respond to changing demands effectively, and achieve higher levels of efficiency and productivity. With AI-powered threat detection and real-time analysis, Lenovo ensures the protection of critical data and systems, instilling confidence in the reliability of its infrastructure solutions. Predictive maintenance further reduces downtime, offering enhanced system availability and uninterrupted business continuity. Additionally, the personalization aspect of AI technology tailors infrastructure solutions to individual customer needs, providing personalized experiences and elevating customer satisfaction. AI-powered customer support tools expedite issue resolution and provide accurate assistance, further enhancing the overall customer experience.

The data-driven insights generated by Lenovo’s AI technology empower customers to make informed decisions, driving innovation and identifying opportunities in a data-driven world. By optimizing energy consumption and cooling requirements, Lenovo’s AI-powered infrastructure solutions reduce operating costs and align with customers’ sustainability goals. The incorporation of AI also brings innovative features and services, making Lenovo a frontrunner in the industry, attracting businesses seeking cutting-edge solutions that adapt to future needs. Lenovo’s commitment to AI technology gives customers a competitive edge, enabling them to thrive in a rapidly evolving market. As technology continues to evolve, Lenovo remains at the forefront of innovation, leveraging AI to continuously enhance its infrastructure group’s capabilities and deliver unparalleled value to its esteemed customers.

Can you take us through Lenovo ThinkAgile SXM4600 and SXM6600 Servers and how it changes the management of cloud and database performance?

The Lenovo ThinkAgile SXM are integrated systems for Microsoft Azure Stack Hub. Microsoft Azure Stack Hub is an extension of Azure, with an ever-growing subset of Azure cloud services. These services enable customers to select, provision and monitor the required services for their environments. The services enable Azure Stack Hub to offer the same ease of use as is expected of a cloud environment and thus bring the agility of the public cloud to the private data center. These latest solutions provide up to 183% increase in transactional database performance improvement and up to 3 to 1 consolidation for Microsoft applications. Lenovo ThinkAgile SXM solutions are designed with full-stack lifecycle management, native Azure integration and extend applications across public and private clouds.

With ransomware attacks increasing and made easier by AI, how is Lenovo making sure to avoid such unfortunate incidents?

Leveraging the powerful, all-inclusive Lenovo Unified Complete Software suite, the new DG and DM storage solutions include ransomware and data protection features designed to preserve and protect valuable business and AI data throughout its lifecycle, reducing risk and mitigating costs associated with data intrusion and data loss. This unified management software provides customers with out-of-the-box features, including built-in ransomware protection, multi-tenant key management and immutable file copies to diminish the ability for ransomware to change the file. It is indeed important for ransomware detection to occur as early as possible so that you can prevent its spread and avoid costly downtime. DG and DM Series leverage built-in on-box machine learning (ML) that looks at volume workload activity plus data entropy to automatically detect ransomware and protect customer data.