X4LIVE

 A toolbar has been created specially for System x / BladeCenter related items available for firefox and/or Internet Explorer.

So what does this toolbar do for you:
1. The Best of IBM's web
2. Hand-picked Links -  WE ARE ON THAT LIST !!!!
3. Google-Powered Search Box
4. Alerts to Your Desktop

Source:  System x Toolbar

IBM Lotus Foundations is a family of small business servers that provide the essential software required to run any business with up to 500 users.

Enabling companies to focus on their business instead of IT, the Lotus Foundations Server provides the essential software required to run your business with reliability, security, and simplicity; an ideal server for businesses with limited budgets and IT resources.

IBM announced a bundle which consists of a IBM System x3200 M2 server combined with Lotus Foundations.

Emulex has created a website specially for the relationship between Emulex and IBM. You could be a winner of a fantastic prize when you fill in your your unique registration number.

Datasheets, whitepapers, cheat sheets and an interoperability matrix can be found on the partner site.

Source:  Emulex & IBM Partner Site

An interesting story about IBM server (System x 3950 M2) with 192 cores: 32 sockets with 6 cores with Intel XEON processors and Microsoft Windows 7. (please start watching this presentation / demo from the 30th minute into the presentation, server introduced at 34min).

Also, how did Microsoft change Windows to allow this.... Mark speaks about new kernel constructs in Windows 7 and the dismantling of the Dispatcher Spin Lock and redesign and implementation of its functionality into separate components. Resulting in Windows 7 being able to scale to 256 processors, along with Boot from VHD and other OS enhancements.

Source:  WinHEC, Intel Communities, Microsoft MSDN Mark Russinovich

The unique 2+2 pricing program available on the LS42 and System x3755 lets you start in case of the LS42 with a 30mm, single-wide, 2-processor blade server. When workloads demand more performance, this blade server is ready to scale to four processors with the addition of a multi-processor expansion unit (MPE). Simply snap the MPE onto the original blade and it becomes a 4-processor, 60mm blade server with the additional performance you need.

This is click and scale from two to four processors, pay as you grow without upfront cost.

Ask your local IBM representative for details on this pricing program

Source: Announcement LS42 and x3755, Product details LS42, Product details x3755

VMware Management and Automation products offer enhanced virtual machine management capabilities, helping lower total cost of ownership. The Management and Automation products include Lifecycle Manager, Lab Manager, Stage Manager, and Site Recovery Manager.

Source:  Announcement Letter VMware Management and Automation

Now these products can also be purchased through regular IBM System x channels and are part of the SSCT:

IBM has made available to us an IBM Systems Director 6.1 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document which answers questions like:

• How does IBM Systems Director 6.1 compare to HP Insight Manager? 
• What is the cost of IBM Systems Director 6.1?
• How does IBM Systems Director 6.1 interact with Tivoli?
• Does IBM Systems Director 6.1 work with PowerVM™?
  
• etc etc