Bangalore: IBM, one of the leading tech companies is in talks with Lenovo to sell its x86 server hardware business, in a deal that could be worth up to $6 billion, as reported by ZDNet.

The deal will encompass IBM’s System x line which includes Intel and AMD-based tower, rack and blade servers, as per the reports by technology integrators publication CRN, which cited several sources familiar with the matter.

Requesting anonymity, a high ranked industry executive who tracks the deal spoke to the publication, revealing that IBM is on the lookout for $5 billion to $6 billion for its x86 server business.

Besides, he said, Lenovo was selected as a candidate by IBM as the latter is only interested in selling its x86 server business to companies which doesn’t turn out to be a threat to other parts of the business. As Lenovo doesn’t have in-house storage, networking, or converged infrastructure offerings, it fits the bill and hardly has track records in the data centre space.

IBM has informed employees that in its product engineering (PE) lab, they would be known as Lenovo employees from June 1. The lab is located in IBM’s Building 201 facility at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, United States.

Various sources told CRN that the facility which supports all IBM server lines including the System x, System i, System p and System z is where hardware and software engineers re-create and solve customer problems which cannot be solved by IBM’s Tier 1 to Tier 3 IBM support teams.

The company will continue to provide high-margin server services. Once the System x line is sold, it will aim on configuring, testing, installing, and managing its offerings, but not manufacturing the hardware product components.

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