By Joel Pinaroc
Chinese technology giant Lenovo has completed its acquisition of IBM?s x86 server business, officials said Wednesday, Dec. 2, and will now train its sights on the local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
The impact of the acquisition, which was reportedly around $2.1 billion, will be felt ?in a positive way,? Lenovo executives added.
Michael Ngan, country general manager of Lenovo Philippines, said the acquisition involved the entire IBM x86 business portfolio — from ?intellectual property to the people handling the business.?
Ngan said IBM staff handling the local x86 server market will be transferred to Lenovo Philippines headquarters.
?Lenovo is currently ranked sixth in the server market, while IBM is ranked third. The acquisition will only strengthen our position in the global server market,? Ngan said.
In terms of new markets and targets, the company will still continue to target the same vertical industries such as finance and banking.
However, Lenovo will also look at other opportunities such as the local BPO sector, Abraham Lim, country manager for enterprise business of Lenovo Philippines, disclosed.
?We are looking at expanding in this (BPO) sector,? Lim said, adding that in the meantime, there will be no rebranding of Lenovo server products at least for one year.
The global x86 (Intel-based servers) market continues to enjoy an upswing, and according to Lenovo, is now a $42.1-billion global x86 server market.
As part of the deal, Lenovo acquired System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and associated software, blade networking, and maintenance operations.
IBM will retain its System z mainframes, Power Systems, Storage Systems, Power-based Flex servers, PureApplication and PureData appliances.
?The IBM x86 acquisition builds upon the excellent momentum in our enterprise business, which grew by more than 30 percent last quarter organically. With the successful closing of our acquisition, Lenovo will add a world-class business that enhances our capabilities in enterprise hardware and services, bringing us to the No. 3 spot in the global server market,? Ngan said.
As part of the strategic alliance, Lenovo will also serve as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to IBM and resell selected products from IBM?s storage and software portfolio.
