Lenovo unveils TruScale Infrastructure Services, consumption-based data center pricing

In February Lenovo’s Data Center Group (DCG) unveiled TruScale Infrastructure Services. A Hardware as a Service (HaaS) solution with subscription-based pricing, TruScale makes DCG’s entire ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile portfolio available to customers “as a Service” through both Lenovo sales associates and channel partners. For a monthly fee, customers will gain access to data center infrastructure, which can be installed at the customer’s location of choice. Cost will be based on power consumption, as power consumption is a relatively accurate way to measure usage without compromising infrastructure security. The hardware remains Lenovo-owned, -maintained and -supported, and with no minimum usage requirement, customers gain the financial flexibility available through public cloud offerings without the risks associated with taking data off premises. Further, the monthly pricing structure includes installation, deployment, management, maintenance, remote monitoring, system health checks and removal of the hardware once the subscription expires. Pricing details of the solution have not yet been disclosed and are likely to be determined case-by-case. The solution is currently available only in English and priced in USD and Euros.

DCG’s late-to-market status will be advantageous in the consumption-based pricing realm

DCG is a fast-follower in consumption-based pricing, as Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Dell Technologies have offered consumption-based pricing for over a year. While these offerings have greater market longevity, as they are typically multiyear agreements, customer adoption remains relatively nascent for consumption-based pricing models. These deals are more complex than traditional hardware sales, and therefore require a mindset shift in some ways to promote adoption, just as cloud did initially. DCG’s entrance into the market times well with customer interest, and the vendor’s later arrival to the space will not prove to be a major inhibitor to growth.

The total inclusion of DCG’s channel partners, in addition to its direct sales force, in providing TruScale, is an asset and distinction for the group. Because Lenovo’s services portfolio is not as mature as that of vendors such as Dell EMC, providing channel partners with this opportunity will prove to be a win-win as it enables channel partners to sell attached services while affording Lenovo a more passive revenue stream. Involving the channel has been an initial challenge for some vendors offering consumption-based pricing as the partners need to be incentivized to pursue it over a traditional hardware sale, in which they would get a lump sum payout versus a subscription-like payout. TBR believes that because Lenovo has arrived to market later than peers with its consumption-based pricing offerings, it was able to work out channel partner challenges before going live with the solution.