Multinational PC and mobile solution business Lenovo has a ten-year plan that its executive leadership believes will help the company secure first place in the global data centre market.

Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's x86 server business for $2.1 billion last year set a task for Wilfredo Sotolongo, vice president of worldwide sales for Lenovo Enterprise Systems Group and his team to ensure that the 6,500 IBM employees in more than 60 countries are successfully integrated into the IBM x86 server portfolio.

Sotolongo told ITWeb Africa that the process is nearing completion during a recent visit to South Africa to meet local clients and colleagues. "I think generally they are satisfied with the decision as I'm sure you can say, when you are transitioning from one company to the other there is an opportunity for mistakes and we have had a few of those, but generally speaking we worked through them to the satisfaction of our clients and partners."

Sotolongo, who previously worked at IBM, said there have been a number of changes made- and efficiencies added to the data center over the past few months - which was not happening at IBM. He added that Lenovo is pinning a great deal of hope on the data centre business, which is now a vital pillar of their operation - alongside the PC and mobile business.

Lenovo's decision to buy System X, in a bid to penetrate the data centre market, is paying off according to Sotolongo, who added that Lenovo has a ten year plan to secure first place in the market.

"Lenovo was in the top ten data center players in the world before the acquisition and now Lenovo is number three and we have aspirations to become number one within five to seven years. Here in Sub-Saharan Africa, actually to be candid, we have an opportunity to go there faster."

Graham Braum, ‎managing director at Lenovo Africa said Sotolongo's visit means that his team can now begin to look outward as the foundation has now been laid by getting the right distribution partners, making sure that the right services platform is built in the background.

The data centre market has long been dominated by among others IBM, Dell and HP before Lenovo decided to go ahead with the transaction which included a transfer of all attendant intellectual property.

Sotolongo said Africa is where Lenovo can invest and grow quickly. "Lenovo has a huge presence already in the PC space and in the mobile space and we see an opportunity to do the same in the data center space."