VMware is issuing a policy statement (effective April 1, 2008) about deploying VI licenses on single-processor servers.

Policy content and why is VMware doing this:  It clarifies that customers may split and use 2-CPU VI licenses across two 1-CPU Servers. Previously, they had not explicitly stated one way or another that customers can do this. 

This policy enables VMware to be a really attractive solution into remote/branch office and SMB accounts. 
Read the Q & A below for additional information

Source: Policy Statement, Licensing overview and help

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and GIB-Services today announced a new energy efficient "green" data center at a former military bunker outside of Zurich. The new data center is a highly secure data storage facility where GIB will support its clients in Switzerland, and will offer a first-of-its-kind energy model where a direct heat exchange will take place between the data center and a public swimming pool in the town.

April 2nd, IBM announced that it is unifying its System i and System p servers — a path the vendor has been on for years, but one it had yet to say was certain until today's announcement.

The customers most affected by the creation of the new Power Systems hardware line are System i users, many of whom run core business applications — often custom-built — on the venerable midrange platform.

The past weeks the same question keeps popping up. Where can we find the IBM Director MIB files ?

We'll there are several MIB files (version specific), so choose the one you need.  In version 5.2x these files are already installed on the harddisk.

 

Now that Microsoft has officially launched Windows Server 2008 we all want to know what servers are supported. At this moment not all servers have gone through compliant testing. Those who are, are listed on ServerPROVEN and/or on the Windows Server Catalog listing.
Any additional information can be found in the xAnalisys Forum.

UPDATE 03/29: A short introduction to Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V is made by IBM UK.  Solution Architect Andreas Groth tells us why IBM Systems are most suited for this environment. 

Source: ServerPROVEN & WindowsServerCatalog & IBM UK

To choose the right HBA they have published a cross reference sheet.
This sheet also include information about other server manufacturers and will be updated regularly.

Source:  Emulex Support

Protected mode (PM) is a feature of the IBM® BladeCenter® Advanced Management Module (option 25R5778 or FRU 25R5777) to isolate management of the Cisco Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module (IGESM option 32R1982, FRU 13N2285) from the AMM in the IBM BladeCenter. This feature is targeted at environments that have distinctly separate management teams for servers and networking, or where it is not desirable to permit the AMM to set or otherwise control certain attributes of the IGESM.

NOTE: If you do not have a specific requirement for management separation between the AMM and the IGESM, it is not necessary to implement this feature.

Source: IBM Support TechDOCS  

 

QLogic is a long-standing IBM OEM partner for SAN and HPC Infrastructure solutions. They provide open standard, cost-effective storage internetworking solutions for on-demand business applications. QLogic Fibre Channel, iSCSI and InfiniBand end-to-end solutions enable IBM to deliver increased reliability and superior performance cost-effectively.

Recently a new Solutions Brochure has been released. On the same page also case studies, white papers and presentations can be found.

Source:  QLogic IBM OEM Solutions

Today IBM has announced a System x3850 M2 with VMware ESX Server 3i embedded hypervisor standard. Please do not forget to order a power cord, mouse and keyboard seperately for each model.

Initial announcement of the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 can be found HERE or HERE

Source: IBM iSource

The IBM® Storage Configuration Manager (SCM) is a system management application that enables you to use a Web browser to manage and configure IBM BladeCenter® devices and/or System x systems. 

The changelog of version 1.10.1 contains:

Symantec has announced the next version of the Altiris Deployment Solution. Version 6.9 of this  software helps reduce the cost of deploying and managing servers, desktops, notebooks and thin clients from a centralised location in your environment with an easy-to-use, automated deployment solution that offers OS deployment, configuration, PC “personality” migration and software deployment across hardware platforms and OS types, including Microsoft Windows Vista.

The new release of Altiris Deployment Solution:

• Makes deployment more intuitive and less error prone by expanding commonalities between physical and virtual deployments
• Provides enhanced console protected visibility
• Supports Windows Server 2008, WinPE 2.1 and New VMware ESX

Source: Altiris Deployment Solution and Altiris IBM alliance

The IBM Enhanced Role Based Security snap-in ("ldap snap-in") is a tool used to manage the configuration of role based objects on an Active Directory server. These objects are subsequently used by the BladeCenter Advanced Management Module (AMM) in order to provide authentication and authorization services to users. Role objects essentially determine the various levels of permissions associated with a user that has successfully authenticated to the AMM.

Source:  IBM Support

On march 18th three new Cisco Catalyst Switch Modules for IBM BladeCenter have been introduced. These switches represent the next generation networking solution for blade server environments. Built upon Cisco's market leading hardware and IOS software, these switches seamlessly integrate into existing Cisco management networks.

All three Cisco Catalyst Switch Modules for BladeCenter have the standard switch-bay form-factor. All three switches have fourteen 1Gb connections to the server blades. The 3012 and 3110G have four 1 Gb uplinks, while the 3110X has a single 10Gb uplink. The 3110G and 3110X switches feature advanced Layer 3 functions (IP Services) and IPv6 functions (Advanced IP Services) via optional software keys. With Cisco Catalyst Switch Modules 3110G and 3110X for IBM BladeCenter, Cisco introduces a technology called the Virtual Blade Switch (VBS).

In the changelog of the SSCT version 1.17.1 two new servers are mentioned.

• Added support for the following components: Added System x (x3100, x3610)

These servers have been announced and are only available in China.
If you are from china you can ask your local IBM representative for additional information.

On March 11th, IBM announced the new System x3450 with Intel 1600MHz Quad-Core Harpertown and Dual-Core Wolfdale processors. This new IBM System x3450 server is specially designed for HPC application workloads. The x3450 attributes its high performance to two key features: its Intel® Xeon® quad-core and dual-core processors with 1600 MHz front-side bus to speed I/O, and 16 Fully Buffered DIMMs for large memory addressability. 

Source:  IBM PLET and IBM.com and x3450 Visual Tour