Lenovo Server Reseller

Lenovo Server History:

From Little Known Chinese Company to Global Powerhouse

Founded in November 1984, very few people in the United States have heard of Lenovo until the company surprised the world by acquiring IBM’s PC business back in 2005. After the acquisition, Lenovo became the third biggest computer maker in the whole world. Since then, it has introduced a lot of products including smartphones and feature phones, tablets, smart televisions, and servers.

The ThinkServer Line

The ThinkServer is Lenovo’s primary line of servers.

Its first servers came in 2008 with the release of TS100, which was developed together with IBM using the latter’s xSeries Technology. It was an entry-level server that had good support package. At that time, Dave Mitchell at PCPro described it as being made for small- and medium-sized businesses. The TS100 was a powerful server that was easily upgradable with a network management software that exceeded what you might expect for a SMB-focused server. Compared to a Dell PowerEdge T100, the TS100 won because of its excellent build quality, better RAID choices and its expansion potential.

In 2009, Lenovo upped the pace and released seven ThinkServer models:

• TD100x
• TD100
• RS110
• TD200
• TS200
• RD210
• RD120

Lenovo TD100 Server

The TD100 ran on Intel Xeon E5400 with an Intel 5000 chipset. It boasted a maximum of 32GB memory running 667 MHz DDR2 FBDIMM. It had both the standard and premium flavors of Microsoft Windows Server 2008, as well as Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2. It also came with Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Management software included ThinkServer EasyStartup, ThinkServer EasyUpdate and ThinkServer EasyManage.

Lenovo TD100x Server

TD100x had an Intel Xeon 5000 series processor and an Intel 5000P chipset. It had a maximum of 48GB of RAM.

It also had the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2, but it also had Microsoft Windows Server 2003 installed along with Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Lenovo RS110, RD120, RD210

The Lenovo RS110 was also a server that is geared towards small businesses. PCPro’s Mitchell reviewed the RS110 and concluded that it was an affordable multi-purpose rack server packed with great specs and valuable customer support.

The RD120 and RD210 Servers, however, were for small businesses that need a more basic server. The RD120 had decent specs but was easily upgradable, while the RD210 was for those who are looking for a 1RU server.

Lenovo TS200 and RS210 Servers

The TS200 and the RS210 were both announced by the company in 2009. The TS200 had a 2.66 GHz Intel Xeon X3450 processor and an Intel 3420 chipset. It had space for a maximum of 32GB of RAM. You can also put a DVD reader and writer onto the system.

It came with Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SBS, Microsoft Windows Foundations R2, SLES, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and VMware ESX Server 4.0 & 4.0i as its operating systems.

Meanwhile, the RS210 has the same specifications as the TS200.

2010: Another Seven Servers from Lenovo

Lenovo kept up the pace in 2010, releasing an array of seven more servers:

• TD200
• TD200x
• TS200v
• TD230
• RD220
• RD230
• RD240

The TD200 ran on a 1.86-gigahertz Intel Xeon E5502, a quad core processor. It also allowed for up to 96 gigabytes of RAM. It had an Intel 5520 chipset and four 3.5 inch bays and four 5.25 inch simple swap front accessible bays. The TD200x had better specs than the TD200, coming with a quad core 2.4 GHz Intel Xeon E5530 processor and an Intel 4420 chipset. It had eight 5.25 inch and three 2.5 inch bays, and allowed up to 128 gigabytes of RAM.

Lenovo called the TS200v as the dependable and manageable value server with its enterprise class HDDs, highly efficient RDX backup and gigabit Ethernet networking features. Meanwhile, Lenovo touted the TD200 as a flexible and scalable all-in-one server that uses high performance but less powered HDDs. It also had very reliable memory, efficient RAID data protection, along with other advanced manageability features.

Then there are the rack type servers: RD220, RD230 and RD240, all giving you energy saving and very slim HDDs offering you up to 300 gigabytes of space. They also had a very reliable memory, gigabit Ethernet expansion and RAID data protection.

The RD220 had an Intel Xeon 5500 Series processor and a maximum RAM of 128 GB. It can hold up to 8 2.5 HS SAS/SATA SFF. The RD230, on the other hand, used an Intel Xeon 5600 processor with up to 64 GB max memory. The lower specs of the RD230 made it more affordable than the RD220.

Lastly, the RD240 came with the same processor and memory capacity as the RD230, but it could have twice as many as the four 3.5 HDDs you get from RD240.

In 2011, Lenovo still focused on small businesses, but it had begun to veer away from the entry-level models that it had released in the previous years.

The company came up with two server products in June 2011, the TS130 and the TS430.

The TS130 was an upgrade of the earlier TS100 releases and came with both Windows Small Business Server 2011 and Windows Server 2008 R2. You had a choice among four different Intel processors, too: Xeon E3-1200 series, Core i3, Pentium and Celeron. It had two 3.5-inch HDD bays, as well as a maximum of 16 GB ECC RAM. Lenovo’s TS130, according to the company, was a great solution for businesses with no IT staff on board.

The TS430, on the other hand, was notable for its 16 terabytes of hot swap memory, redundant power supplies and outstanding RAID data protection. It came with 32GB of RAM, and had SLES 11.1, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 and VMWare ESX/ESXi 4.0 and 4.1 along with the Windows Server flavors seen in TS130.

Lenovo Eyes Partnership with EMC and, Again, IBM

In August 2012, Lenovo announced that it would be teaming up with EMC, who promised to bring more research and development into Lenovo’s server line, as well as innovative new products and features. Notably, the partnership will help boost Lenovo’s x86 server capabilities.

In November, EMC got the TD330, which Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Register described as a very cost-effective XEON E5 tower server for small businesses.

Can we expect more offerings and better servers from Lenovo? It may seem that the company is planning just that with the rumors that it is talking with IBM again. This time, Lenovo is interested in getting IBM’s x86 server business. As Rachel King at ZDNet points out, this would put Lenovo in the competition with HP and Dell, and maybe Oracle. People might have to wait longer, though, as recent reports indicate that the negotiations have hit a standstill.

We will see what happens, but either way, Vibrant already carries used IBM System X servers, IBM Blade Servers and Lenovo equipment – so a merger would be a natural fit for VTI as a secondary market reseller.

Request a quote today for pricing on used Lenovo Server hardware or contact us with any questions