Lenovo and EMC to form SMB-focused storage joint venture

Lenovo and EMC are partnering in the server and storage space in a move designed to harness the product development skills and resources of both companies to better service SMB customers.

Lenovo’s stake in the deal is to be better positioned with industry standard servers and networked storage using EMC’s technology, while EMC hopes to use the Chinese vendor’s skills and know-how to deliver storage solutions in China and other high-growth, emerging markets

Lenovo A/NZ solutions and alliances director, David Heyworth, said the deal with EMC came about because it was looking for a partner to grow its server and storage business.

“EMC, on the other hand, was looking to grow its business in China, so both parties concluded that the other partner had expertise that would be a good fit towards pursuing these goals,” he said.

By forming this joint venture, Heyworth said both companies had aligned their focus on a targeted business plan, one that he expects will take advantage of each company’s strengths, while at the same time supported by dedicated resources and specific measurements.

“We will have industry leading SMB and distributed enterprise targeted NAS technology and products to sell in emerging markets that are well suited for these products and price points,” he said.

“The joint venture will also form the foundation for Lenovo and EMC to develop unique capabilities in the marketplace, especially with rapidly growing market verticals like Cloud and hosting driving NAS to be the fastest-growing segment of the storage industry.”

As for the timing of the announcement, Heyworth says the market conditions were ideal for EMC to help Lenovo accelerate its industry-standard server market business.

“Lenovo is also at the point now where it can help EMC expand its presence in the China market and other emerging markets around the world,” he said.

At the time of the announcement, Heyworth was not able to provide an estimate of when Lenovo expects to be reaping the benefits of the EMC partnership,

“However, we will make additional announcements as the relationship expands and Lenovo discloses its plans to bring servers to market in each geography,” he said.

“The relationship expansion will closely follow our go-to-market investments in its various geographies as its servers are launched.”

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