Cary Business Company Profile: Lenovo

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Innovation is at the heart of technology firm Lenovo, maker of computer products including the ThinkPad.

The company’s U.S. headquarters in Morrisville serves as home to development teams for several Think products, and is one of several Lenovo campuses worldwide. Internationally, the company employs about 23,900 people.

“Lenovo has a strong legacy and continued focus on innovation,” said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president of the Think Product Group. “Since 1992, the ThinkPad laptop line has changed the way business users do mobile computing. Our ThinkPad laptops are recognized for their … leadership in integrating the latest performance technologies and unique productivity features that make computing easier.”

Unique products like the ThinkPad W701ds, with a color calibrator and digitizer built in, are examples of Lenovo designers at work, he says.

“Our people are integral to our success,” Hortensius said. “We have nearly 2,000 designers, engineers and scientists who are committed to stretching the boundaries of what’s imaginable and what’s possible.”

What’s possible today includes 3G- and 4G-enabled ThinkPad laptops, the touchscreen netbook tablet IdeaPad S10-3t and upcoming products designed to address the trend toward all-in-one desktop designs.

Products are designed with “green” in mind and to be energy efficient, Hortensius says, using the highest amounts of post-consumer recycled content in the industry.

Lenovo’s global citizenship plays out in its social investments too, via the global Hope Through Entrepreneurship program, and locally. Here Lenovo’s mission is “to create the next generation of innovators through education and by fostering 21st-century learning skills,” Hortensius said, through partnerships with universities and schools and as a founding sponsor of Kramden Institute, a nonprofit that refurbishes PCs for financially disadvantaged students.

“Lenovo’s future both worldwide and in the local area looks very bright,” Hortensius said. “We have strong product development capabilities at our U.S. headquarters and an excellent pipeline of talent. Lenovo is at its highest worldwide market share since the IBM Personal Computing Division acquisition in 2005, (and) our product lines have expanded tremendously in the past two years.”