Lenovo has launched a desktop computing solution that can dramatically help businesses reduce IT costs and security risks by turning off hard drives and storing all data in a non-server remote location.
Called Secure Managed Client (SMC), the company claims it is the first solution to do all this while still offering users the flexibility and performance of a traditional desktop PC.
It consists of a client, a hard drive-less ThinkCentre desktop PC Intel vPro technology, a Lenovo co-developed software stack and a centralized Lenovo Storage Array, powered by Intel.
Peter Schrady, vice president, general manager, software and peripherals Relevant Products/Services, Lenovo, said SMC was the rarest of gems – a breakthrough technology in desktop computing.
"We’ve all seen the rapid-fire advances in mobile Relevant Products/Services computing such as batteries, connectivity, and the like, but this is the desktop PC’s turn to shine," he said.
"SMC is an exceptionally engineered innovation designed for better manageability, better security, better performance and a better balance sheet."
Shrady said SMC offers several significant benefits over current server-based computing options such as blade PCs, thin clients or desktop virtualization Relevant Products/Services.
Most notably, these include:
- Preserves PC fidelity — SMC gives the end user a full Windows experience
- Avoids IT complexity — SMC works with and enhances current IT process and tools
- Safe and flexible investment — An SMC ThinkCentre can easily be converted back to a traditional desktop PC by re-enabling the hard drives
- Energy efficient — An SMC ThinkCentre uses less energy Relevant Products/Services than a traditional desktop PC
- Security — Information from all desktops in an SMC fleet is stored in a safe, single location, significantly reducing the threat of on-site theft of data
Lenovo said some of its large enterprise customers have already recorded significant results from SMC pilot deployments.
The company estimates that using the SMC solution can potentially reduce the expense of fully managing a PC from USD $120 per month to as low as $70 per PC.
This is based on expense estimates for large enterprise customers in North America that take into account such things as deskside IT visits, call center support Relevant Products/Services, and management costs.
The SMC solution is currently being offered on the ThinkCentre M57p(1) desktop PC, and can also be offered on the ThinkCentre M58p(2 )in early 2009.
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