Lenovo’s New ThinkSystem Servers With AMD: 5 Key Features

Lenovo launches its new ThinkSystem SR645 and ThinkSystem SR665 servers. CRN breaks down the five key features and technologies inside the new two-socket server platforms.

Five Key Technologies Inside Lenovo’s New ThinkSystem Servers

Lenovo launched a pair of new two-socket server platforms on Tuesday, touting the ThinkSystem SR645 and ThinkSystem SR665 as “next generation” data center technologies tailored made to handle the explosion of data around critical workloads.

“Our new Lenovo ThinkSystem servers are designed for workloads such as in-memory databases, advanced analytics, virtualization, and artificial intelligence,” said Kamran Amini, vice president and general manager for Server, Storage and Software Defined Infrastructure at Lenovo Data Center Group, in a statement. “With the exceptional power, speed and onboard storage of these new servers, our customers have the ability to handle the increasing data requirements of today’s workloads with the scalability to grow with their business.”

CRN breaks down the key features available on the new ThinkSystem SR645 and ThinkSystem SR665 that channel partners and customer need to know.

Two AMD EPYC 7002 CPUs; Up To 128 Cores

The new ThinkSystem SR645 and ThinkSystem SR665 utilizes up to two AMD EPYC 7002 CPUs with class-leading memory speed, storage and GPU density. The SR645 is a 1U form factor, while the SR665 is a 2U form factor.

“The new Lenovo ThinkSystem two-socket servers tap into the power of our 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors to make a meaningful impact in the areas where performance, space and efficiency are critical to business outcomes,” said Dan McNamara, senior vice president and general manager for AMD’s server business unit in a statement. “With the expansion of its AMD EPYC-based product line, Lenovo customers now have more options for systems that address today’s demanding enterprise workloads.”

Lenovo said the modern data center demands ever-expanding capability, requiring server technology to deliver more performance. With the enterprise-class AMD EPYC 7002 processor -- the world’s first 7nm data center CPU -- the new ThinkSystem servers feature up to 128 cores.

Storage Boost And Up To 32 NVMe Drives

With the new ThinkSystem SR645 and ThinkSystem SR665, Lenovo has increased onboard storage of up to 40 2.5” drives or up to 32 NVMe drives. The boost in storage allows for dense software-defined storage solutions in data centers.

Lenovo’s unique AnyBay backplane technology provides storage flexibility and performance, with support for up to 12x 2.5-inch SAS/SATA HDDs/SSDs. The company says its high-speed, low latency NVMe storage is ideal for caching data utilized in analytics and database deployments to gain better business insights and take control of the growing volume and variety of data.

The ThinkSystem SR645 and SR665 offer 32 DDR4 memory slots and 4TB using 128GB RDIMMs.

PCIe 4.0 Support

Both the ThinkSystem SR645 and ThinkSystem SR665 include peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) 4.0 support which doubles input/output (I/O) bandwidth. Lenovo said the next-generation technology eliminates potential bottlenecks found in previous generation servers while at the same time increasing networking capabilities essential for I/O intensive applications.

Lenovo’s new ThinkSystem SR645 and SR665 provide 128 Gen4 PCIe lanes in a server to maximize server utilization and decrease network bottlenecks in high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. The SR645 has up to 3x PCIe 4.0 slots, while the SR665 contains up to 8x PCIe 4.0 slots.

Management And Security With ThinkShield And XClarity

The new ThinkSystem servers feature Lenovo’s XClarity system management suite, designed to simplify and automate foundation server management tasks. The XClarity controller supports an easy-to-use application with industry standard Redfish-compliant REST APIs that provide streamlined hardware provisioning and maintenance, while also enabling a data-driven, centralized view of data center operations.

On the security front, the SR645 and SR665 servers also include Lenovo’s ThinkShield to protect and defend data center infrastructure from attacks. The company’s security platform provides an end-to-end approach to security that begins with development and continues through supply chain and the full life cycle of the server. Additionally, AMD EPYC processors offer security features embedded with secure boot and full memory encryption capabilities to address various security-threats.

Available Through Lenovo TruScale

The new servers are available through Lenovo TruScale, the company’s flexible consumption-based, pay-for-what-you use data center program. The subscription program allows customers and channel partners to procure, implement and manage infrastructure solutions, such as ThinkSystem servers, in an Opex manner. Lenovo owns the deployment and installation of the assets.

TruScale allows customers to stay ahead of capacity changes with proprietary power and usage monitoring with no minimum commitment from 0 percent to 100 percent. The program offers custom scoping, training, and data and workload migration services. Lenovo and partners handle the deployment, remote monitoring and data center management of the solution for the long-term.