The Lenovo Group (HKSE:0992.HK) has introduced an array of data center systems, software, and services optimized for artificial intelligence workloads as a part of its Hybrid AI Advantage product line.
At the heart of the announcements is a compute appliance called the ThinkSystem SR680a V4. Lenovo says it features nearly two dozen processors in an air-cooled chassis and can run inference workloads up to 11 times faster than the company’s previous-generation hardware.
Eight of the processors in the SR680a V4 are Nvidia Blackwell B200 AI accelerators while another six of the processors are Intel Xeon 6 CPUs with up to 288 Efficient cores. Everything is connected by eight Nvidia BlueField-3 DPU SuperNICs, which offer high speed interconnects between CPUs and GPUs as well as offload some tasks from the CPUs to frere up computing capacity for AI workloads.
Lenovo also introduced two other new hardware offerings based on machines from its existing ThinkSystem SR675 server lineup. The first combines SR675 V3 servers with Cisco Nexus switch series. It can be equipped with up to eight of Nvidia’s RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition graphics cards. The RTX PRO is based on the same architecture as the B200 but are designed for more than just AI workloads.
The third new system is also based on the SR675 series, but this one is optimized to run IBM’s watsonx software suite, which helps companies build AI models and manage the data that they process.
Hardware/software bundles
Lenovo is also introducing four new Hybrid AI Advantage offerings which are product bundles consisting of Lenovo hardware and third-party AI software. The four are:
- Hospitality with Centific AI Data Foundry and Nvidia: Enables hotels and resorts to boost real-time personalization, streamlined operations, and gain guest data-driven insights.
- Workplace Safety & PPE Compliance with Avathon Visual AI and Nvidia: Powers real-time hazard and PPE compliance monitoring, to instantly detect safety risks, violations and hazardous behaviors.
- Retail and Smart Spaces with WaitTime and Intel: Delivers real-time crowd analytics via Edge AI-based computer vision and transforms camera feeds into instant insights that drive revenue growth and enhance guest satisfaction by up to 30% in some deployments.
- Quality Inspection with Trifork and Nvidia: Delivers automated defect detection, on-device model retraining and transforms real-time sensor data into actionable insights on the factory floor.
Making AI pay off
According to Lenovo’s Global CIO Playbook, AI budgets are expected to triple to nearly 20% of IT budgets in 2025. Despite the spending spree, half of employees surveyed feel they receive only moderate support for AI training and two-thirds of organizations have yet to see ROI from their AI investments.
So Lenovo is introducing AI Adoption and Change Management Services, which are tailored to help organizations assess their AI readiness, upskill their workforce, boost engagement, and maximize ROI from their enterprise systems through persona-based change management and best practices. Key applications include:
- Lenovo AI People Readiness Assessment: Assess employee readiness for AI transformation and identify targeted enablement strategies, personas, and high-impact use cases.
- Persona-Based Training & Engagement: Tailor adoption programs based on employee roles to accelerate confidence, reduce resistance, and boost engagement.
- Copilot Adoption: Equip employees to successfully integrate generative AI tools, like Copilot through targeted training, change planning, and productivity tracking.
- AI Governance & Cultural Readiness: Help leadership and teams align on responsible AI use, overcome resistance, and embed AI-friendly ways of working.
“AI adoption demands a clear strategy, trusted expertise, and the right technology mix that can accelerate time to value. With the Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage, we are helping customers turn AI potential into real performance gains, enabling every part of the organization to work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence,” Ken Wong, executive vice president and president, solutions and services group at Lenovo said in a statement.
Source: https://www.networkworld.com/
