In a move that has resellers expressing their doubts, Lenovo will sell IBM-based x86 servers using technology licensed from IBM. This is unlike the outright purchase of IBM’s laptop and PC business in 2005.

IBM denies that there is any ambiguity of strategic direction. According to them, Lenovo’s version of xSeries consists of machines with just one or two processors. Compared with the server-lineup at IBM, they will be at the bottom end of a set of servers that extends up to the legendary zSeries mainframes.

Still, detractors abound. One of them is Nick Christou, director of London-based IT sales and support company Qual-IT.

Excerpt from CNET News.com:

“This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me… I would have thought IBM would either keep the brand or sell it.” Qual-IT provides laptops and servers to small businesses, and has mostly gone to IBM for its servers till now. “We went with IBM because of the price range, the build quality, and the association people have with the IBM name,” Christou said.

Christou further added that he might desert the xSeries if it no longer had an IBM badge.

Would you buy a Lenovo-built xSeries server?