Lenovo and IBM announced today that they have successfully closed the transaction in Lenovo Middle East and Africa (MEA) and completed the move of IBM x86 employees and business operations to Lenovo effective January 1st.

Lenovo completed the initial closing for the acquisition of IBM's x86 server business at worldwide level on October 1st. Due to the large number of countries and processes involved in EMEA, the company announced employees and business operations in this region would be transitioned over the next few months in order to ensure a smooth integration.

According to Lenovo the integration of the IBM server business will help to position the company as "a top player in the server market".

"We are glad to formally welcome IBM x86 team now joining Lenovo MEA. Our priorities are to deliver a seamless transition for customers and partners, while we accelerate our server business. We have big plans for the enterprise market and aim to repeat the success we had in PCs", said Oliver Ebel, Vice President and General Manager, Lenovo MEA.

"We have been working closely during the past months to ensure a fast start of the x86 business following the closing of the transaction in MEA, so we are ready to compete vigorously for customers across every sector now that we have become one team", said Guy England, Director EBG, Lenovo MEA.

Lenovo is acquiring IBM's x86 server business intact and is committed to following the IBM x86 product roadmap, including Flex and x86-based PureFlex integrated systems. As previously disclosed, IBM will continue to provide maintenance delivery on Lenovo's behalf for an extended period of time, so customers will experience a seamless transition with no change in their maintenance support.

Lenovo and IBM have also established a strategic alliance where Lenovo will serve as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to IBM and resell selected products from IBM's industry-leading storage and software portfolio. This strategic alliance means Lenovo can now offer these products as part of a more comprehensive enterprise IT solution, allowing it to support a greater range of customer needs in data centres.