Lenovo teams with Cisco for dynamic work and AI solutions

Integrated Solutions Revolutionize IT, Propel Enterprise AI, and Boost Business Efficiency on Secure, Scalable Infrastructures

October 28, 2024 – Lenovo and Cisco have teamed up to introduce groundbreaking innovations stemming from their strategic partnership that was first announced in May. At the Cisco Partner Summit 2024, the two technology giants unveiled a suite of offerings designed to simplify work environments, optimize enterprise infrastructure, and pave the way for enterprise AI. These solutions incorporate elements of Cisco’s Collaboration Devices, networking capabilities, and security features. Among the announced solutions are TruScale Meeting Room as a Service (TS MRaaS), TruScale WorkSmart, Factory and Rack Integrated solutions, ThinkAgile HCI hybrid cloud, and SAP HANA solutions with Cisco networking integration. Each solution is tailored to simplify IT operations, enhancing user outcomes and enabling organizations to function more efficiently.

Brian Connors, Worldwide VP & GM, Enterprise and SMB Segment & AI, Infrastructure Solutions Group at Lenovo, emphasized the importance of the partnership by stating, "Our collaboration with Cisco reflects our dedication to customer-centric innovation. These new solutions exemplify our joint commitment to providing businesses with the tools they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital and AI landscape."

Shannon Leininger, VP of Global Partner Sales at Cisco, echoed this sentiment, highlighting how "Cisco and Lenovo’s strategic collaboration allows us to harness the strengths of our combined portfolios to address our customers’ most complex challenges. Whether they are accelerating hybrid and flexible work strategies or preparing their infrastructure for AI, our customers can rely on Cisco and Lenovo to deliver simplified, fully supported, and future-proofed solutions."

TruScale Meeting Room as a Service (MRaaS)

The TruScale Meeting Room as a Service (TS MRaaS) is a fully managed solution aimed at transforming collaboration spaces by utilizing Cisco’s suite of Collaboration Devices alongside Lenovo’s comprehensive support and monitoring services. This new meeting room service takes advantage of Cisco’s award-winning video solutions, expanding Lenovo’s ThinkSmart portfolio and Collaboration as a Service (CaaS) offering.

By simplifying the complexity of modernizing meeting rooms, TruScale MRaaS provides a scalable, single-point solution that enhances the employee experience. It offers seamless interoperability for a streamlined user interface and ensures a consistent and equitable experience for all users. By combining Lenovo’s proactive monitoring with Cisco’s collaboration devices, businesses can achieve a seamless conferencing experience that is easy to deploy. Service options are tailored to meet diverse enterprise needs, ensuring swift deployment, proactive issue resolution, and improved cost efficiency.

Leveraging Lenovo’s managed services expertise along with Cisco’s advanced collaboration technology, TruScale MRaaS emerges as an all-in-one solution for enterprises aiming to revolutionize employee interaction and collaboration in today’s dynamic work environment. This strategic partnership between Lenovo and Cisco extends customers’ options, complementing Lenovo’s extensive Smart Collaboration Professional Services portfolio.

TruScale WorkSmart

The TruScale WorkSmart solution integrates Lenovo’s Digital Workplace Solutions (DWS) with Cisco’s secure networking, collaboration, and security portfolio to create a unified, efficient hybrid work environment. This solution caters to the increasing demand for personalized hybrid work environments with enhanced security. Through Lenovo’s Care of One platform, TruScale WorkSmart is customized to suit distinct personas, ensuring seamless collaboration, heightened security, and optimal productivity for office-based, mobile, and remote employees. By consolidating services under one vendor, enterprises can streamline IT operations, enhance employee satisfaction, and reduce costs.

This collaboration leverages the global technology leadership of both Lenovo and Cisco, providing an ideal hybrid work solution that encompasses networks, hardware, software, and managed services, all while eliminating the complexity of dealing with multiple vendors. As the world’s largest PC provider, Lenovo brings deep expertise in understanding and addressing the critical need for workforce productivity.

Factory and Rack Integration with Cisco Networking Solutions

Lenovo now incorporates Cisco networking components into its Factory and Rack Integration solutions, offering fully integrated compute, storage, and networking to simplify deployment and minimize operational complexity. This enhanced offering opens new revenue streams and value-added service opportunities while providing customers with more straightforward solution management through a single contract for all hardware deployments.

Enterprises can now order pre-integrated, tested solutions featuring Cisco’s Nexus 9300 series switches and Nexus Dashboard, alongside Lenovo’s data center infrastructure. This comprehensive factory rack integration accelerates deployment, enhances reliability, and simplifies management, delivering a fully engineered and interoperable solution that provides optimal performance for AI and enterprise workloads.

ThinkAgile HCI Hybrid Cloud Solutions and SAP HANA Integration with Cisco Networking

Lenovo’s ThinkAgile Software-Defined Infrastructure (SDI) and SAP HANA solutions now come with pre-configured Cisco networking capabilities that ensure a robust hybrid cloud infrastructure. The Lenovo ThinkAgile HCI Series integrated hybrid cloud solutions with Cisco networking ecosystem include ThinkAgile HX Series (Nutanix), ThinkAgile MX and SXM Series (Microsoft), and ThinkAgile VX Series (VMware by Broadcom). The Lenovo SAP HANA solutions, with fully integrated hardware, software, Cisco networking, and services, deliver comprehensive enterprise solutions that empower customers with real-time actionable insights for their business.

These integrated solutions help enterprises optimize AI, machine learning, and mission-critical enterprise workloads. Whether deploying SAP HANA databases or scaling hybrid cloud operations, the inclusion of Cisco’s networking provides scalable and high-performance infrastructure with enhanced security, tailored for enterprises looking to innovate faster and more efficiently.

A Trusted Partnership for the Future

The expanded collaboration ensures that customers gain access to fully engineered solutions that streamline hybrid work, accelerate AI innovation, enhance infrastructure performance, and reduce operational complexity. With a shared commitment to customer innovation, these offerings are designed to meet the demands of modern enterprises, driving productivity, security, and efficiency, allowing customers to accelerate go-to-market initiatives and business outcomes.

Available Markets

The Lenovo Factory and Rack integration of Cisco networking solutions, ThinkAgile HCI Hybrid Cloud Solutions, and SAP HANA Solutions with Cisco networking are available in select markets: United States, Brazil, Germany, India, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a global technology powerhouse with a revenue of US$57 billion, ranked #248 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high-performance computing, and software-defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more, visit Lenovo’s official website and read about the latest news via their StoryHub.

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