RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—March 24, 2009— Lenovo today announced two new workstations – the ThinkStation S20 and D20 - designed exclusively for specialized professionals in fields such as computer-aided design, digital content creation and oil and gas. Powered by ThinkStation workstations, Lenovo is also debuting its new e-commerce platform, the Lenovo eLounge, to give customers a new, first-of-its-kind interactive way to experience Lenovo computing solutions online anywhere in the world.

“Designers, engineers, developers and scientists require the highest levels in computing performance to help them produce breakthrough innovations,” said, Tom Tobul, executive director, Enterprise, Software and Peripherals, Lenovo. “The new ThinkStation workstations deliver not only the utmost in performance, but also a user-centric design with an emphasis on quiet operation, even during heavy processing."

Turbo-Charged Performance

Turbo-charged for performance, Lenovo’s latest workstations can even be configured for personal supercomputing, helping enable professionals to innovate faster and reduce the time between an idea and a product. Adding the NVIDIA Tesla C1060 GPU platform to the workstations offers 240 additional cores of dedicated math processing power to help speed up calculations dramatically. In addition to this super performance boost and quieter computing experience over previous Lenovo workstations, the new workstations also feature the latest, high performance technologies including:

• Choices of the latest Intel® Xeon processors 5500 and W3500 Series for increased efficiency and performance with optional Intel Turbo Boost technology for extra performance during peak processing
• Choices of the latest NVIDIA Quadro line of professional graphics cards or optional ATI FirePro graphics
• Certifications from leading independent software vendors to help ensure compatibility between workstations and major applications
• Preloaded with Windows Vista with support for RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.2.
• ThinkVantage Technologies to help with tasks such as data recovery, data migration and more

"There has been a revolution in our industry for building information modeling, and we're finding that with large 3D model files it takes a long time to get them open and started,” said Tom Toot, IT manager, Anshen + Allen. “We've found that the Lenovo ThinkStation D10 performed better than workstations from other vendors with equal specs. We look forward to seeing the next generation of workstations from Lenovo."

Powering Green Computing Solutions

Not only are Lenovo’s next generation of workstations higher performing, they are greener. Lenovo is helping to lead the industry in using recycled materials with both workstations using 50 percent recycled content. In the ThinkStation D20 workstation, nearly 30 percent of the recycled content comes from post consumer recycled content, which is equivalent to the weight of approximately 19 plastic drinking water bottles. Lenovo also tested the workstations to be GREENGUARD certified, meaning they meet standards for more than 2,000 chemical tests.

The workstations also meet the Energy Star 5.0 criteria taking effect in July, and select workstation models are rated Gold by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool for their environmental attributes.

Workstations Fuel Virtual e-Commerce Experience

The Lenovo eLounge creates a new e-commerce platform by merging the customer service available at brick-and-mortar stores with the convenience of online shopping. Built on the Unreal Engine from Epic Games and powered by a ThinkStation D Series workstation, Lenovo is giving customers a new, interactive way to learn about and purchase Lenovo computing solutions.

Customers can enter the virtual world from anywhere with an Internet connection anytime, create an avatar and browse the product showcase and speak directly with Lenovo sales representatives. The eLounge also extends the idea of collaborative shopping. For example, a father and son who live in different cities decide to shop for a PC together. In the Lenovo eLounge, they can shop for a PC and receive answers in real-time from Lenovo representatives to help them pick the right technology for them. Customers can visit the eLounge during normal business hours in the U.S.

Advancing Game Developer Innovation

Lenovo is working with Epic Games, maker of the “Unreal” series of games and “Gears of War” franchise, to showcase the latest enhancements in Unreal Engine 3 on the new ThinkStation S20 and D20 workstations at the Epic Games booth (ES#144) at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, March 25 – 27, 2009.

“The ThinkStation workstations are really well built, quiet and fast,” said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. “The service and support from Lenovo has been outstanding as well. We really put our workstations through the ringer when we're building games and engine technology, and the ThinkStation workstations have proven to be valuable and reliable tools.”

Lenovo will be providing several workstations to the Phase 3 winners of the Epic Games $1 Million Make Something Unreal Contest. In the contest, aspiring game developers create modifications for the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3 in several categories, including levels, characters, weapons, game types, tools, vehicles and more.

Pricing and Availability ¹

The ThinkStation S20 and D20 will be available beginning in 1Q with pricing for models starting at approximately $1,070 and $1,550, respectively. The workstations will be available through business partners and www.lenovo.com .