Tuesday, July 15, 2008

EOL - IBM System Storage SAN Selected Features

Lots of time and warning for you to plan your role outs moving forward. Please continue to purchase these products if delivery will be before the end of October.

W/D - IBM System Storage SAN selected features Effective October 31, 2008, IBM will withdraw from marketing selected options of the IBM System Storage and TotalStorage SAN product families:

IBM System Storage b-type options (machine type 2005)
IBM TotalStorage SAN Switch options (machine type 2109)

On or after the effective date of withdrawal, you can no longer order these options directly from IBM. You can obtain these features on an as-available basis through IBM Business Partners.

Product number

35 Km Extended Distance LW SFP 17P7405
80 Km Extended Distance LW SFP 17P7407
Remote Switch Activation 19P1677
Extended Fabric Activation 19P1680
2G SW SFP 4 pack 22R0483
2G LW SFP 4 Pack 22R04849
Micron 31 m SC/LC Fibre Cable 22R04879
Micron 2 m SC/LS Fibre Cable 22R0489
H16 Full Fabric Activation 22R0497
H08 Full Fabric Activation 22R0552

Call your IBM Team @ Tech Data for any additional information required.
877-925-9987 / ibmsolutions@techdata.ca

NEW - ServicePacs for Storage

Remote Technical Support Options (1,3,4 or 5 year terms)

Migration ServicePac (2TB to 10TB with 10-40 servers)

Data Centre Health Check ServicePac


What does Storage base warranty include?

Storage base warranty covers hardware break-fix only
Storage base warranty does not cover any installation or "how-to" configuration support

Why buy Storage ServicePacs for Remote Technical Support?
If a customer is new to IBM storage:

*Need help with Storage Manager? - Free up your FTSS's time for skills transfer!!!
*Got questions how to update firmware?
*How to configure your DS storage system? How to set up LUNs?

Help customer's IT staff support heterogeneous environment:

*Customer might have multiple vendor storage products on site (ie, IBM, EMC, HP), but are they equally knowledgeable/ comfortable configuring IBM systems?
*Are IT staff equally knowledgeable/ comfortable configuring different types of fibre switches IBM sells? (ie, Brocade, McData)

IBM can help when customer's in-house support team is on vacation or education, away sick, etcIBM can help with new products when customer's in-house support team has not had a chance to build their skills. Eliminate support complexity and provide faster resolution of support issues to help keep customer's businesses running optimally

Buy Storage ServicePacs for Remote Technical Support, and customer gets:Remote assistance via phone or internet.

Assistance with:
*installation, usage (how-to), and configuration questions
*questions regarding IBM Supported Product publications
*code related questions (ie, defect support)
*diagnostic information review to isolate problem cause
*corrective service information and program fixes

Support coverage hours:

*Unlimited calls and callers
*Critical problems (severity 1) -- 24x7 -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including statutory holidays
*Noncritical problems (severity 2,3,4) -- 9x5 -- 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the local time zone where you receive the Service, Monday through Friday (excluding statutory holidays).

Why buy IBM Support?

*Leverage IBM’s knowledge, experience, and insight. Access the deep skills of our team locally and globally.

*Over 350 remote support specialists in 3 Remote Support Centers (RSC) across Canada.
*3 Levels of support
*Level 1 / Level 2 support from RSC in Canada
*Access to global teams for L3 supportSpeed problem resolution vs. clients trying to solve it on their own

Prevent outages from happening by configuring things right the first time and have a Single Point of Contact and accountability.

Migration ServicePac options

46V4994 IBM Migration Svcs-2TB/10 Svrs
46V4995 IBM Migration Svcs-5TB/20 Svrs
46V4996 IBM Migration Svcs-10TB/40 Svrs

Service description: Migration ServicePac offerings are designed to help you plan and migrate your data and applications from various platforms using a Softek data mobility tool. This tool is designed to replicate your data to an IBM TotalStorage product without major interruption of your operations. At the conclusion of the service, you will be provided with a migration control book that describes the activities performed during the service. This ServicePac offering will perform data migration services for:

Up to 2 TB of data from 10 servers
Up to 5 TB of data from 20 servers
Up to 10 TB of data from 40 servers

Data centre health check ServicePac options

46V4997 DC Health Chk Svc (SM)
46V4998 DC Health Chk Svc (LG)
46V4999 Energy Health Chk 5Ksf
46V5000 Energy Health Chk 10Ksf

Service description:

Data centre health check ServicePac offerings are designed to give you an energy efficiency evaluations focusing on the energy usage of your data centre infrastructure as well as reviewing the general health of your facility. Your IT equipment (servers, storage and networking equipment) is viewed as a "block of electrical load" that is supported by the mechanical and electrical infrastructure of the facility. The evaluation determines the required energy and evaluates efficient use by the mechanical, electrical and other building systems that support the IT load. The service includes the ability to:

Review your computer room to establish current status with regard to IBM computer room best practices

Perform an onsite review of your architectural, electrical, mechanical, environmental, fire and ecurity systems

Provide a summary glance chart of findings

Provide supporting documentation identifying findings

Provide recommendations and suggestions for remedial action that may be required

Identify potential next step

Call or Email your IBM TEAM @ Tech Data for more details: 877-925-9983 / ibmsolutions@techdata.ca

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Notice - IBM ROK is in the HOUSE - Sell Microsoft Server & Small Business Server 2003 with your IBM SERVER

If you are selling IBM Servers with Windows Server 2003 or Windows Small Business Server 2003 then you have to look at the IBM ROK program. It only makes sense and it's easy, just talk to your IBM Team @ Tech Data.


IBM ROK in stock @ Tech Data

The Reseller Option Kit (ROK) reduces product acquisition costs and allows you to quickly sell and deploy servers with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition software. An IBM System x ROK lets you provide your customers with significant savings over retail, along with the convenience and ease of use of partner installation.
Benefits for your customers

A great price: Buying the IBM System x server and Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition together with the ROK offers your customers better pricing than buying them separately.

Convenient deployment: The ROK is the fastest and easiest way to deploy server software
Easy ordering: Ordering Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition together with the server offers simple, one-stop shopping convenience.

Ramp up quickly: Get server and operating system installation support and training from IBM.

Benefits for you

Great pricing: Take advantage of a great price to lower your product acquisition costs and increase margins.

Increased profits: Raise your Average Sales Prices.

Lower costs: Cut your inventory costs while enjoying increased flexibility.

Customer Support: Provided by IBM including Value add Server Guide which is a guide for when you set up the server.

Add-on sales: Sell Software Assurance and get more opportunities to sell value added services
Convenience and ease of use: With partner installation option

Why IBM System x - IBM x86 servers for Windows and Linux are designed to deliver exceptional availability, simplified manageability, outstanding performance and revolutionary scalability. Discover IBM System x marketing, selling, technical, training and collaboration benefits and resources to help you quickly produce solutions and speed time to market.

TD Part# 08504K Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition ROK
TD Part# 08503K Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 Premium Edition ROK
TD Part# 08502K Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition ROK

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Learning - 2008 IBM Storage Networking FTSS and Business Partner Technical Training Roadshow

August 11th & 12th @ IBM Toronto - 3600 Steeles Ave. East - Markham

2008 IBM Storage Networking FTSS and Business Partner Technical Training Roadshow
World Wide Event

IBM SAN, SVC, TPC and N SERIES TECHNICAL TRAINING EVENT!

Registration open now - See the schedule for a location near you!

IBM System Storage N series
IBM System Storage SAN
IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller
IBM System Storage TPC


REGISTER NOW FOR THIS IMPORTANT TRAINING EVENT!

Web Links: CLICK on MAIN TITLE above to register for the Toronto Event.

The worldwide Storage Networking Roadshow event is a must attend for all IBM Storage ATS, FTSS, and Business Partner SEs! We have an exciting agenda with lots of interaction planned for you with the Brand experts from IBM and our OEM SAN and NetApp Partners. This is the ONLY IBM sponsored major technical training event for N series, SVC, TPC and SAN FTSS and Business Partner Sales Engineers for 2008.

The 2008 Storage Networking Roadshow has been expanded with the addition of the key IBM networking products SAN Volume Controller and TotalStorage Productivity Center, in addition to SAN and N series. This technical training event is designed to provide you with the most up to date information in these product lines, to address key technical training areas identified by the field (you!), and to provide technical training specifically to support the Sales priorities for 2008 for the IBM Storage Networking Products.

This event is free for IBM and IBM Business Partner attendees. The target audience for this interactive technical training event is Storage Field Technical Sales Support and Business Partner Sales Engineers, however other IBM technical attendees (architects, ITS, etc.) and other Brand technical sales support may also find this training event to be useful for their skills development and are welcome to attend. There is no specific equipment required for these training sessions – i.e. you are not required to bring your laptop.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Learning - IBM System x and BladeCenter Technical Conference

IBM System x and BladeCenter Technical Conference

Great place to hear about the new product announcements and how to optimize every aspect of your x86 server network.

When: July 28-August 1, 2008
Where: San Diego, California, USA


Register: ibm.com/training/us/conf/systemx

Over 100 sessions will cover the next generation of servers based on eX4 and BladeCenter technology and much more:
- The first mission-critical design for the x86 server environment
- Major advancements in virtualization, VMware and IBM Systems Director systems management
- Steps to a seamless virtual enterprise with BladeCenter technology
- Small-office features now available on BladeCenter servers
- Latest IBM high-performance scalable servers
- Leading advancements for green IT initiatives
- Web application design and optimization in a System x world

Withdrawal: Selected IBM System x and BladeCenter options

Overview

Effective July 8, 2008, IBM will withdraw from marketing the following machine types and associated models. After that date you can no longer obtain these products directly from IBM.

Product number

Revenue
number Description
-------- ---------------
798413U x3455
798433U
798443U
798453U
798454U
79846BU
798472U
798474U
798482U
7984AC1
7984MC1

798512U x3655
79851BU
798541U
79854AU
798551U
79855AU
798561U
79856AU
7985AC1
7985EBU
7985ECU
7985EDU
7985MC1

NEW - Emulex and QLogic 8 Gb Fibre Channel HBA

Emulex and QLogic 8 Gb Fibre Channel host bus adapters deliver robustness, ease of management and high performance

Overview

The Emulex and QLogic 8 Gb Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) for IBM System x are part of a family of high-performance 8 Gb HBA solutions. These HBAs deliver exceptional performance, enabling small and medium businesses to experience unsurpassed robustness and reliability for a wide spectrum of server, storage and SANs.

These adapters are based on a design that requires minimum user effort while delivering maximum user satisfaction. The wide adoption of installation or configuration wizards eliminates the complexity and intricacies of Fibre Channel SANs. Emphasis on ease of use at every step ensures a successful, enhanced experience. Default settings and auto-detect configuration (similar to those used with Microsoft Windows XP) eliminate the need to know about every knob and button on the dashboard.

Features include:

2, 4 or 8 Gbps (auto-negotiation)
Persistent binding
LUN masking
2,048 concurrent logins

Planned Availability Date : July 15, 2008

Product number

Part
Description Number
-------------------------------------------------- ----------
QLogic 8Gb FC Single-port HBA for IBM System x 42D0501
QLogic 8Gb FC Dual-port HBA for IBM System x 42D0510
Emulex 8Gb FC Single-port HBA for IBM System x 42D0485
Emulex 8Gb FC Dual-port HBA for IBM System x 42D0494

NEW - IBM VMware Infrastructure 3.5 with VirtualCenter Management Server 2.5

IBM is back in the VMWARE business!

Current product family with pricing to match VMWARE.

IBM VMware Infrastructure 3.5 with VMware VirtualCenter Management Server 2.5 offers major improvements in virtual machine capabilities and helps reduce platform costs.

Overview

Virtualization platform enhancements to IBM VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3.5, which includes ESX Server 3.5 and Virtual Centre 2.5, help deliver new levels of performance, scalability, and compatibility for running the most demanding workloads in virtual machines:

Expanded storage and networking choices such as support for SATA local storage, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Infiniband
Support for TCP Segment Offload and Jumbo frames help reduce the CPU overhead associated with processing network I/O
Support for hardware-nested page tables, such as in processor assists for memory virtualization
Support for paravirtualized Linux guest operating systems enables higher levels of performance through virtualization-aware operating systems
Support for virtual machines with 64 GB of RAM and physical machines with up to 256 GB of memory

VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is an end-to-end solution for server-based virtual desktop computing that helps improve control and manageability while providing end users with a familiar desktop experience.

VMware VDI gives you the power of VMware Infrastructure 3, along with VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM), an enterprise-class connection broker that manages user access to centralized virtual desktop environments:

Control and manageability in a single product: Administrators can more easily provision, manage and maintain desktops because they are running in the data centre.
Familiar end-user experience: End users get flexible access to a personalized virtual desktop that behaves like their normal PC.
VMware Infrastructure 3 integration: VMware VDI lets you extend virtual infrastructure capabilities to the desktop to leverage backup, failover and disaster recovery capabilities.
Help lower TCO: VMware VDI can help you lower the cost of operating corporate desktops by streamlining administration, reducing energy costs and extending the useful life of PCs.

Planned availability date: July 18, 2008

Ask your IBM team @ TD to assist with putting VMWARE solutions together.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Express SERVERS in STOCK @ Tech Data

Tech Data has stepped up and we will be stocking IBM Express Servers. This will allow you to quote and close your sales quickly with product priced right to WIN business.

You will find the following servers available at Tech Data:

8886E1U 30688F EXPRESS BLADECENTER S
8853G5U 30898F BC HS21 QC X/2.83-12MB
8853EHU 30894F BC HS21 QC X/2X3.00-24MB
88524YU 44310I BC H CD 2900W P/S
86773RU 20807C IBM BLADCENTRE CHASSIS
8028E3U 08370K EXPRESS BLADECENTER
7995G5U 30892F BC HS21 QC X/2.83-12MB
7995EHU 30888F BC HS21 QC X/2X3.00-24MB
7979EJU 44126I X3650 EXPRESS RM X/2.66
7979BDU 74484H SYSTEM X3650 RACK 2.66GH
7979B4U 74478H SYSTEM X3650 RACK 2.66GH
7978EJU 44115I X3550 EXPRESS RM X/2.66
7978BDU 30939F X3550 RM X/2.66 2GB SAS
7978B4U 74741H IBM SYSTEM X3550
7977J2U 74750H IBM SYSTEM X3500
7977E7U 44121I X3500 EXPRESS TWR X/2.5
7976J2U 74447H IBM SYSTEM X 3400
7976E5U 44118I X3400 EXPRESS TWR X/2.5
4368E2U 44313I X3200 M2 TWR X/2.66 2GB
436854U 44140I X3200 M2 TWR X/2.66 1GB
4193E1U 44408I X3350 EXPRESS X/2.83 RM
419362U 44317I X3350 RM X/2.5 2GB SAS