Learn how the differences add up to Epic proportions for small business

Anyone who is involved in running the technology underpinning a business doesn’t necessarily want a career in IT. In many cases, providing a reliable, secure, and cost-effective technology framework is all that’s required. Most businesses want a “fire and forget” provision that can be stood up, then left to run without constant attention.

However, that approach does not mean that due diligence is forgotten or that the first solution presented will be the one chosen. The decision to select a platform and the technology on which it runs is critical in today’s business environment. After all, few businesses can run without technology, and many are processing highly sensitive data as a matter of course.

In fact, it is arguable that the effectiveness of a business’s processes is determined to a significant degree by the efficacy of its technology backbone. So, choosing safe, reliable, and cost-effective solutions is a critically important business decision.

The landscape overview

Every industry has its specialist technology and requirements. Some need highly-encrypted, fast data storage, while others want to deploy software or hardware that has been created for a very specific vertical. But outside the specialist tools that organizations need, pretty much every organization uses text documents, emails, spreadsheets, file storage, sharing & collaborative tools, and virtual meeting tech: these functions are, in many ways, the table stakes of any business.

In technology terms, Windows Server, Microsoft Office & Outlook, Zoom, and Teams form the backbone of most provisions, and it is a reasonably safe bet that the Microsoft basis of any infrastructure will be able to support a decent number of those industry-specific tools, too.

However, the ubiquity of Windows, Office, and Microsoft does not necessarily translate into homogeneity: in short, not all hardware and software combinations are made the same. When we add together the combined factors of hardware reliability, licensing costs, inherent security characteristics, and return on investment, the choices narrow.

The Lenovo difference

While it’s true that larger firms have the IT skills in house to use complex, all-cloud IT provision, for most organizations, an in-house provision is preferred. In fact, many large organizations in both the public and private sectors retain at least some “bare metal” facilities for the highest standards of data security for sensitive data.

So if in-house provision seems like the best option, it might be tempting to rush any hardware procurement processes — after all, the “big name” server providers’ offerings are pretty similar, right? Nothing could be further from the truth.

Many household-name vendors have their sights set on enterprise customers as they are their most profitable clients. For buyers at the larger end of the market, economies of scale, substantial procurement budgets, and repeat business can assure many of the best possible deals.

But a tier down from these large enterprise customers, organizations making big financial decisions (for them) need to exercise some care. That’s why many are leveraging Lenovo’s dedicated hardware and software licensing plans: computing provision structures that are dedicated to the smaller, private concern. Apart from hardware, Lenovo actively helps companies deploy and protect custom setups across workstations, provides support, manages upgrades, ensures security standards, and can even supplement your IT headcount with trained professionals on-site. All this is in addition to Lenovo’s unparalleled reputation as the manufacturer of the world’s best hardware for businesses.

The core difference is Epic

Foremost in terms of power and cost-effectiveness in the medium-sized and small business market sectors is the Lenovo ThinkSystem EPYC range of servers. It is available in four versions, each based around the highly performant AMD processor range. Compared to the alternatives, AMD’s multi-core chipsets outperform in terms of data processing, plus they are renowned for only “sipping” energy where other processors take huge gulps of expensive power.

There are  four ThinkSystem EPYC models available: the SR635, SR645, SR655 and SR665. These include up to 64 cores per processor, allowing for a total of 128 processor cores in the two socket models along with expandable storage and terabytes of memory. As capacity in the business grows, the platform can easily scale too with expansion options for storage and memory.

Alongside measurable and reliable performance, the AMD-powered EPYC servers are available with clearly stated Microsoft licensing costs that are significantly lower than many of the alternatives. Simply put, Lenovo’s single-socket design in the ThinkSystem server platforms can cut licensing costs significantly — AMD EPYC single processors are more powerful than parallel pairs of Intel chips, but with half the license cost.

The perpetual Microsoft Windows license shipping with EPYC servers also covers your storage management, VM management, server, and cloud management. Furthermore, if your small business virtualizes some or all of its server instances, savings on VMWare licenses, too, can be up to 73%. Only Lenovo offers this type of one-stop-shop that includes the latest patches, drivers and firmware, and pre-installed perpetual licenses.

The outcome of these under-the-hood advantages manifests as daily lower running overheads, low Windows licensing costs, a faster and more performant platform, and smoother and faster activities like print serving and collaboration, file sharing, and communication; capabilities that extend and grow at scale as the organization does.

As systems grow, administrators will appreciate the Lenovo XClarity software suite that automates deployment and management of servers at any scale. Security risks often come from oversights as infrastructure is rolled out – not the case with Lenovo. Furthermore, the AMD EPYC chipset offers SEV for safer virtualization: hardware-based prevention of processor-level security leaks.

Lenovo ThinkSystem servers also benefit from three levels of exceptional service and support (Foundation, Essential, and Advanced), so choices run to support levels as well as server model, internal specifications, and licensing costs.

To take advantage of the Lenovo EPYC ThinkSystem platform for your Microsoft infrastructure, including exclusive pricing, click here or have a Lenovo representative contact you by clicking here. Like the company’s hardware and software offerings, it has specialist staff trained in helping organizations of all sizes and needs.