Lenovo to acquire Infinidat to expand its storage folio

Lenovo Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tel Aviv-based enterprise storage provider Infinidat, for an undisclosed sum, to expand its storage offerings.

The startup provides several offerings, such as InfiniBox, Infinibox SSA, InfiniGuard, and InfuzeOS.

While InfiniBox is a storage platform for mixed application workloads, Infinibox SSA is a storage platform for workloads that require intensive computing and microsecond latency along with other features such as high availability and cybersecurity.

InfuzeOS, on the other hand, is the software-defined storage architecture powering Infinidat’s platforms.

InfiniGuard is an offering that targets cybersecurity and the rapid recovery of data.

Infinidat, backed by venture capital firms such as TPG and Goldman Sachs among others, has raised about $325 million to date and has an estimated value of $1.6 billion.

The company, which CEO Phil Bullinger currently leads, was founded by Moshe Yanai in 2011. It also has an office in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Lenovo eyes high-end enterprise storage market

The acquisition is part of Lenovo’s growth strategy to meet the evolving needs of modern data centers that are expected to handle AI and generative AI workloads, the company said, adding that Infinidat’s offering will find synergy with its Infrastructure Solutions Group and jointly will target the high-end enterprise storage market.

Currently, Lenovo’s Infrastructure Solutions business operates in the entry and mid-range enterprise storage market offering a portfolio of options, such as flash and hybrid arrays, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), software-defined storage (SDS), and data management suites such as Lenovo TruScale.

“This is a win-win for both companies. Lenovo fills a big void in its storage portfolio, while Infinidat is able to leverage a hardware design and manufacturing machine,” Matt Kimball, principal analyst at Moor Strategy and Insights, wrote on LinkedIn.

Lenovo is expected to quickly train its sites on Infinidat’s storage software IP and look to where it can leverage this more broadly, Kimball explained, adding that “if Lenovo’s channels are properly leveraged, we can see real disruption in the enterprise storage market.”

Early focus on the enterprise storage market

According to analysts, Lenovo has been hyper-focused on the enterprise storage market since it acquired IBM’s x86 server business for about $2.3 billion in 2014.

Another landmark deal for the company, targeted at competing more aggressively with Dell and HPE — the dominant players in the enterprise storage market, came in 2018 in the form of a partnership with NetApp, under which it also developed a joint venture in China to co-develop a new range of ThinkSystem Infrastructure that imbibes NetApp’s data management expertise.

While the deal saw Lenovo get access to a new supply chain and storage technology helping it expand its offerings, NetApp got access to mid-sized customers and the chance to piggyback on Lenovo’s enterprise customer Rolodex. In 2023, the company expanded its partnership with Nvidia to support Nvidia AI Enterprise — a cloud-based software platform for AI development — on its ThinkSystem SR675 V3 server and ThinkStation PX workstation.