Lenovo channels the spirit of IBM: Lays off 500 staff, savages Data Centre Group

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Will Lenovo ever think beyond hardware?

Then again, why develop your own software à la HPE GreenLake when you can use someone else's?

Tobias Mann Mon 27 Jun 2022 // 15:00 UTC

Analysis Lenovo fancies its TruScale anything-as-a-service (XaaS) platform as a more flexible competitor to HPE GreenLake or Dell Apex. Unlike its rivals, Lenovo doesn't believe it needs to mimic all aspects of the cloud to be successful.
While subscription services are nothing new for Lenovo, the company only recently consolidated its offerings into a unified XaaS service called TruScale.
On the surface TruScale ticks most of the XaaS boxes — cloud-like consumption model, subscription pricing — and it works just like you'd expect. Sign up for a certain amount of compute capacity and a short time later a rack full of pre-plumbed compute, storage, and network boxes are delivered to your place of choosing, whether that's a private datacenter, colo, or edge location.

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Lenovo reveals small but mighty desktop workstation

ThinkStation P360 Ultra packs latest Intel Core processor, Nvidia RTX A5000 GPU, support for eight monitors

Dan Robinson Thu 23 Jun 2022 // 17:14 UTC

Lenovo has unveiled a small desktop workstation in a new physical format that's smaller than previous compact designs, but which it claims still has the type of performance professional users require.
Available from the end of this month, the ThinkStation P360 Ultra comes in a chassis that is less than 4 liters in total volume, but packs in 12th Gen Intel Core processors – that's the latest Alder Lake generation with up to 16 cores, but not the Xeon chips that we would expect to see in a workstation – and an Nvidia RTX A5000 GPU.
Other specifications include up to 128GB of DDR5 memory, two PCIe 4.0 slots, up to 8TB of storage using plug-in M.2 cards, plus dual Ethernet and Thunderbolt 4 ports, and support for up to eight displays, the latter of which will please many professional users. Pricing is expected to start at $1,299 in the US.

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Lenovo to form venture with Hong Kong comms conglomerate PCCW

Gains access to offshoring centers in Malaysia and Philippines

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Wed 15 Jun 2022 // 05:58 UTC

Lenovo has struck an agreement with Hong Kong comms conglomerate PCCW to create a jointly owned services company, advancing its strategy of growth through services.
PCCW operates a globe-spanning software-defined network, some of which uses its own submarine cables. The company also owns PCCW Solutions – an IT services provider with a big footprint in Hong Kong, mainland China, and parts of Southeast Asia.
Lenovo and PCCW Solutions will create an entity dubbed PCCW Lenovo Technology Solutions (PLTS) that will see the Chinese kit-maker and the Hong Kong services company offer "one-stop customer solutions that integrate services, devices and digital infrastructure" according to a joint Lenovo/PCCW announcement.

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Lenovo opens doors on first in-house European factory

Will make 1,000 servers and 4,000 workstations a day for EMEA, put production closer to Euro clients

Dan Robinson Wed 15 Jun 2022 // 10:15 UTC

Lenovo has officially opened its first manufacturing facility in Europe, to locally build servers, storage systems and high-end PC workstations for customers across Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

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Lenovo, Barcelona Supercomputing Center sign joint research deal

Collab to 'generate significant returns' for Europe in science, tech, economy

Dan Robinson Tue 21 Jun 2022 // 17:00 UTC

Lenovo has inked an agreement with Spain's Barcelona Supercomputing Center for research and development work in various areas of supercomputer technology.
The move will see Lenovo invest $7 million over three years into priority sectors in high-performance computing (HPC) for Spain and the EU.
The agreement was signed this week at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), and will see Lenovo and the BSC-CNS try to advance the use of supercomputers in precision medicine, the design and development of open-source European chips, and developing more sustainable supercomputers and datacenters.

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Tesla lawsuit alleges unlawful layoffs at Nevada gigafactory

It's the second time a Musk-owned company has been accused of WARN Act violations

Brandon Vigliarolo Tue 21 Jun 2022 // 16:30 UTC

Tesla is facing another lawsuit, and it's treading over old territory with this one. Fired Gigafactory workers are alleging that the electric car maker improperly terminated more than 500 people.
The proposed class action suit, filed on Sunday, stems from an email owner Elon Musk sent to Tesla leaders in early June – no, not the one where the billionaire said Tesla's workforce needed to be reduced by 10 percent.
According to the lawsuit [PDF], filed by two former employees at Musk's Nevada battery plant, Tesla moved far faster than it was legally allowed to when it fired employees at the gigafactory in the city of Sparks, NV.

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Coinbase CEO cuts 1,100 jobs, warns of 'crypto winter'

The buck stops with me, says Armstrong, but I still have a job

Katyanna Quach Tue 14 Jun 2022 // 22:15 UTC

Coinbase has axed 1,100 employees, cutting its workforce by 18 per cent, while the value of digital assets including Bitcoin plummet amid rising inflation rates in the US.
CEO Brian Armstrong announced on Tuesday he was "making the difficult decision to reduce the size of [the] team ... to stay healthy during this economic downturn." As the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase employed about 1,250 employees at the start of 2021, when novel blockchain-based technologies such as NFTs and stablecoins exploded, launching the current Web3 hype to new heights.
But the glowing promise of getting rich from trading cryptocurrencies or cartoon apes is losing its shine, spelling bad news for Coinbase. Armstrong warned of a "crypto winter" as America looks set to enter a recession.

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PC shipments sink amid steady waves of supply chain, war disruptions

320 million units forecast, still well above pre-pandemic, but boom is over for now

Paul Kunert Thu 9 Jun 2022 // 14:30 UTC

Orders for PCs are forecast to shrink in 2022 as consumers confront rising inflation, the war in Ukraine, and lockdowns in parts of the world critical to the supply chain, all of which continue.
So says IDC, which forecast shipments to decline 8.2 percent year-on-year to 321.2 million units during this calendar year. This follows three straight years of growth, the last of which saw units shipped rise to 348.8 million.
Things might be taking a turn for the worse but they are far from disastrous for an industry revived by the pandemic when PCs became the center of many people's universe. Shipments are still forecast to come in well above the pre-pandemic norms; 267 million units were shipped in 2019.

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Higher spec machines lift US PC revenues 40% even as shipments drop

Desktops, inflation and other factors also shaping American demand

Paul Kunert Mon 6 Jun 2022 // 14:14 UTC

US PC shipments fell by double digits in the first quarter of 2022, mostly due to the collapse of Chromebook orders, yet the effect of inflation and a greater mix of higher spec machines lifted the value of those sales.
According to data compiled by tech analyst Canalys, some 19.554 million units were shipped into the channel during the three months, down 14 percent year on year, but revenues were up a whopping 40 percent.
This is the third straight quarter of unit sale declines after the "relative strengths of end-user segments changed," said Brian Lynch, research analyst. "The consumer and education segments saw demand slow further due to market saturation and rising concerns about inflation, which peaked in March at 8.5 percent, the highest rate of 12-month increase since 1981."

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Lenovo infrastructure group and Alibaba Cloud both make first annual profits

Chinese giants' enterprise businesses do well despite lockdowns. Other segments? Strap in for a bumpy ride

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Fri 27 May 2022 // 07:57 UTC

Ever since Lenovo acquired IBM’s x86 server business in 2014, one thing has proven elusive: profit.
Now the company can point to a pair of consecutive quarters, and a full year, in the black.
The Chinese kit-maker yesterday reported Q4 and FY 2022 results, with quarterly revenue of $16.7 billion representing seven percent year on year growth. Annual revenue reached $71.6 billion, an increase of 18 percent. Annual net income topped $2 billion.

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