Lenovo is teaming up with Intel to offer a new cloud-computing software package called Cloud Ready Client, which works with Lenovo's Secure Cloud Access technology.
Lenovo made a
new commitment to cloud computing April 12 with the introduction of Cloud Ready
Client, a software package designed to ease the process of accessing
applications and services from a cloud infrastructure.
In addition to
the new cloud software, Lenovo is rolling out its SCA (Secure Cloud Access),
which is powered by Stoneware's webNetwork. This complementary delivery network
lets smartphones, tablets and other devices access Web or local applications
through an interface that mimics a standard Microsoft Windows desktop
interface.
Cloud Ready
Client is compatible with all Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and ThinkCentre desktops
powered by Intel's 2nd generation Core and Core vPro Processors, as well as
Intel-developed APIs (application programming interfaces) that expose the
client's key hardware attributes to the cloud applications.
SCA is the
first commercial application Lenovo is offering through Cloud Ready Client.
"When
users access a cloud service from their Cloud Ready Client or from a different device,
SCA recognizes situational cues, including the user-authentication method,
capabilities of the device being used, time of day, location and network,"
according to Lenovo.
"SCA
secures and guides the delivery by allocating local or cloud-based resources
based upon these situational cues," the PC maker added. "If the user is
operating a Lenovo Cloud Ready Client, SCA detects the device's capabilities,
such as processor performance, free memory, graphics and available bandwidth
and takes advantage of those capabilities to optimize application delivery and
end-user experience securely."
SCA also
allows businesses to deploy private, hybrid clouds inside a data center on
physical or virtual servers. Lenovo is also offering a Cloud Ready Client with
a built-in fingerprint reader, as well as single sign-on to applications that
are expected to further reduce the IT overhead associated with password resets.
Technology
Business Research Analyst Ezra Gottheil wrote that Lenovo is trying to
differentiate its enterprise PC offerings from other business computers.
Gottheil added that the Cloud Ready Client "will help make its ThinkPad
PCs more attractive to businesses, and that the new solution is a leader in an
emerging trend of improving user experience on a widening array of client
platforms."
Lenovo is
among the numerous companies expanding its enterprise offerings and consumer
mobile devices, and seeing the groups find increasingly common ground. Like
Hewlett-Packard and Dell, it has developed a smartphone, the LePhone, and, with
its LePad, contributed to the media tablet market created by the Apple iPad.
TBR, Gottheil
wrote, "believes Cloud Ready Client is a stepping stone for higher
utilization of tablets and smartphones in the enterprise space, by allowing the
server to optimize the end-user's experience. Going forward, Lenovo plans to
expand its Cloud Ready Client software to include its LePhone smartphone and
its LePad tablet."
Cloud
computing has been enjoying enormous growth for several years now. IBM, whose
cloud clients include FritoLay, American Airlines and IndiaFirst, said earlier
this month, at a San Francisco event, that it expects cloud-computing services
to generate $7 billion in revenue for the company by
2015.
"IBM is
seeing cloud adoption in the enterprise hit a stride," Ric Telford, IBM's vice
president of Cloud Services, said at the event. The cloud is another key
inflection point in the industry, similar to e-business, and Linux and open
source, he explained. "Between our hardware, software and services that will go
into supporting our client needs for cloud computing, we can see our way to the
$7 billion figure by 2015."
The Lenovo SCA
is now available in North America, with pricing beginning at $80 per user for
commercial customers.
Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.
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