Promotions - IBM Q2 Bundles

IBM System x & Storage

2Q 2009 promotion

(expires June 30, 2009)

Announcement Letter Number 509-464

Take a look at the NEW BUNDLES for Q2 from IBM

Great solutions and easy to sell - Just get your SMB pricing from Tech Data and you are ready to quote your clients. Editable PDF files coming from IBM where you can add your Company name and modify the end user pricing if you want.

Bundle#1 - BladeCenter® HS21 with DS3200 - Promotional price: $22,611

Bundle#2 - System x3650 with DS3400 - Promotional price: $14,865

Bundle#3 - BladeCenter H Chassis Promotional price: $7,157

Bundle#4 - BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager Promotional price: $1,970

Bundle#5 - HS22 Blade Promotional price: $4,652

Bundle#6 - LS42 Blade Promotional price: $4,050

Bundle#7 - DS3200 Storage Promotional price: $10,122

Bundle#8 - DS3300 Storage Promotional price: $10,774

Bundle#9 - DS3400 Storage Promotional price: $11,160

Bundle#10 - DS4700 Storage Promotional price: $28,208

Internal TD : sales\ibm\promo ibm\Q2 promo..\

LEARNING: N series Technical Training Call - Improved TSM support with N series Snap functions

CALL: April N series RDS Technical Training Call - Improved TSM support with N series Snap functions - April 3 at 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT

ABSTRACT: Join Toby Marek, IBM Software Developer , and Roland Tretau, EMEA N series ATS, in this interactive technical training session designed for N series FTSS Specialists, but open for all IBM and Business Partners to attend.
This in-depth IBM System Storage N series session provides detailed information for backing up the IBM System Storage N series using the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager 6.1. We include descriptions and instructions for using the latest enhancements made to IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, specifically for the IBM System Storage N series and Network Appliance storage systems. We address the following topics:

• Backup scenarios using the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager software
• Backup-Archive Client with CIFS/NFS Access
• NDMP overview
• NDMP backup and restore operations using TSM
• Full TSM storage hierarchy integration
• TSM 6.1 updates
• Incremental Backups With Snapshot Comparisons
• Snapmirror to Tape integration
  

You will have the opportunity to ask questions of the subject matter expert panel when the presentation completes.

DATE: April 3, 2009
TIME: 11:00 a.m. New York(US & Canada), 4:00 p.m. London, 5:00 p.m. Paris, 16:00:00 GMT
DURATION: 90 minutes

TO ATTEND: IBMers and IBM Business Partners

Confirmation Code:		2559749
America
Tie Line		650-1381
Direct Dial		719-325-2271
Toll free		888-298-3490

Question of the WEEK - Storage - DS3000 Family

DS3000 Battery Life

Question of the week:

Before the DS3000 Storage Subsystem Firmware release 7.35, the life of the battery was based on an age counter. H, with the 7.35.x code, it is based on learn cycle. I need to explain to my customers (hopefully with a screenshot) that after the upgrade we will just need to reset the age counter by few screenshot which I could not get on the latest demo. Could you please send me a screenshot for the advance learn cycle after the upgrade which shows the battery is healthy, and also one that shows how to configure the learn cycle.
On top of this, I was told that some of the initial batch of DS3000 systems were not delivered with SMART batteries. Is this true? After I upgrade the Firmware to 7.35, will the Storage Manager tell me if the system does not have a smart battery? If not, how could I tell from the StorageManager whether the battery is smart or not?

Answer of the week:

First of all, a little background on batteries. There are “dumb” batteries like you put in flashlights, and there are “smart” batteries like the ones that go in laptops. The big difference is that the smart batteries can communicate and provide intelligence to the system like State of Charge and State of Health information. With dumb batteries, you don’t. So, smart batteries tell you when they need to be replaced, but with dumb batteries, you can either wait until the light grows dim (flashlight example) or the “average lifespan” time is up to replace the batteries.

The upside of smart batteries is that customers are not changing out perfectly good batteries. The downside to the smart batteries is complexity, cost, and the need to run periodic health checks (called the learn cycle). As with all “system maintenance” functions, it is best to run the learn cycle during a non-disruptive time (weekends, nights, etc) as it may have an impact on system performance (especially lower end systems

With the newer systems (DS3000’s, DS4000’s and DS5000’s), we’ve always utilized smart batteries (batteries with the smart circuitry). So, it is not necessary to try to determine if your system has smart or dumb batteries (DS4300 batteries are dumb, and DS3400 batteries are smart). With the older versions of firmware (pre-7.x), we didn’t implement the intelligence for taking advantage of the smart batteries. Instead, we just utilized the old method of checking their age (for various reasons). With the new version of firmware, the systems now take advantage of the smartness of the batteries. This does bring about changes to the StorageManager, and as pointed out above, those changes do not show up in the simulator (a simulator bug that will be resolved). So, below you will see a screenshot of the “Change Battery Settings” window (under Tools tab in the DS3000 StorageManager interface).

You will notice that you now can reset the age (which does very little), and also select when the learn cycle is run. I’ll also note that the learn cycle is run every 13 weeks, and the StorageManager displays when the next learn cycle will be executed.

NOTICE - URGENT Servers & Options with NO MORE SUPPLY @ IBM

The following products have moved to NO SUPPLY with EOL dates in the future. The issue is around supply of key parts for the Servers and no supply of 160G drives left.


No further supply on 3850/3950 M2 - 7141xxx - moving to 3850/3950 M2 - 7233xxx


No further supply on 160GB SATA drives, transition to 250GB SATA
39M4504 - 160G moved to 39M4508 - 250GB
43W7590 - 160G Express moved to 43W7594 - 250GB
39M4522 - 160G moving to 39M4526 - 250G
41Y8208 - 160G HS moving to 43W7598 - 250G HS

Question of the week : Storage DS On/Off Command

Question of the week:

I’ve Can you verify there is no way to power down the SAN controllers? I have a customer looking to script shutdown sequences in case the UPS runs low on power, is it possible to do anything beyond powering off the hosts and flushing caches?

Answer of the week:

Yes, I will verify that there is no “power down” command for the DS3000/DS4000/DS5000 series storage arrays except for the physical switch on the power supply.

The engineering team has argued both for and against this feature for a long time. I, in fact, argued for a long time for the inclusion of a power-down command, but generally tend to agree with the engineering stance against it (which means they’ll probably add the capability someday)

The “downside” of having this seems to outweigh the convenience of having the feature. Downside being the unwanted result of someone accidently, or maliciously, executing a command which remotely turns off the SAN storage.

For the power-down situation mentioned above, the system is well prepared. Unlike our competitors, our system will automatically flush the write cache to disk after 10 seconds of inactivity (adjustable on a LUN-by-LUN basis). This means there are no worries from the storage side. As long as the servers are shut down in an orderly manner; applications are exited and the servers are shut down. The memory will be flushed to the storage array, and the storage array will push everything to disk. This is exactly the desired sequence and state of the machines for a controlled power-down. All data is consistent, and a smooth startup will occur.

Question of the WEEK - DS Storage Simulator

This simulator that IBM and LSI have put together is a great selling tool. You can prove to your clients just how easy it is to configure and make changes to your SAN product without damaging the real thing. This can also be used to train your staff how to get the IBM DS3000/4000/5000 products up and running before going to your clients. This is also a great tool for you clients to learn how to manager their new storage products, again without damaging the real install.

Question of the week:

I’ve been looking on PartnerWorld for the latest simulators, but have had no luck finding them. The latest I have are Pre-7.x code, so there is no RAID6. I also don’t have any that show the DS5100 or the DS5300. Is there a newer version available, and if so, where?

Answer of the week:

I’m not exactly sure where the simulators are on PartnerWorld also. There are two newer versions of the simulator available.

One version has simulators for the DS3200/DS3300/DS3400/DS4700/DS5000(?).

The second version has just the DS4000’s and DS5000 systems.

I’ve posted both versions on my website, so I know exactly where you can get them.

Simulators DS3000 & DS4000

As always, I am available to host a webex to cover the simulators if so desired, just let me know. I also highly suggest that you play with the simulators for a while before performing a demo, or giving them to customers (so you can answer questions that will arise).

A message from:

James Latham

DS3000/DS4000 Product Specialist

Storage Solutions Engenio Storage Group

LSI Logic Corporation

PROMO - IBM STORAGE - HUGE SPIFF - DS4700 Mod72

Till March 31st - LSI is giving you the RESELLER a huge SPIFF for selling the DS4700 Model 72.

Promotion runs from January 26th to March 31, 2009

Have you already sold units, but didn't know about the Spiff? Take a look!

- 181472H System x part number
- 181472A Midrange Feature code

Call your Tech Data IBM team for further details and how to obtain that Spiff.

ibmsolutions@techdata.ca or 877-925-9983

NEWS - IBM unleashes updates for DS8000, XIV, reduplication and cloud

Some interesting news from IBM. Tech Data cannot sell all of the product listed, it does show IBM investing and expanding their market reach around Storage.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

SearchStorage.com:

IBM UNLEASHES UPDATES FOR DS8000, XIV, DEDUPLICATION AND CLOUD

http://go.techtarget.com/r/5820982/5343096

Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

IBM Corp. has floated a raft of product updates to coincide with its Pulse 2009 conference held this week in Las Vegas, where it also unveiled a new cloud computing strategy.

Storage product updates include adding support for SATA, solid-state drives (SSDs) and drive encryption on the DS8000 disk array; new ProtecTier data deduplication appliances; a 27 TB entry-level configuration for the XIV Storage System; and a preview of a new online backup option for Tivoli.

Read full story

http://go.techtarget.com/r/5820983/5343096

WEBCAST: Exceeding Service Levels with DS4000/DS5000, VMware and Site Recovery Manager

IBM System Storage™
The Power to Break Through
IBM DS series University Program:

DS4000 / DS5000 with VMware and Site Recovery Manager

VMware is one of the top IT priorities, even in consideration of our current economy.. This webcast will include presenters from VMware and IBM on why to sell VMware and storage. New sales tools including a brief on Site Recovery Manager channel and a general materials refresh. Gain a greater understating of how the DS4000 and DS5000 Series of storage systems interact with VMware solutions and SRM The webcast will also include information on upcoming PoC / ESG white paper – Real-World Disaster Recovery solution using SRM and ERM.

After watching this webcast, you should be able to: · Understand why to sell VMware and SRM · Understand the value propositions for DS Series of storage systems and VMware · Backup and Recovery for virtual machines and files · Disaster Recovery – Affordable, Automatic Failover Solution · Understand the sales tools available for these solutions The VALUE comes in helping your customers solve their data and business issues with the RIGHT choice!

Target Audience for this series: IBM Business Partners- Sales and Technical, Brand Sales Specialists, S&D (SMB and LE) Client Reps, BPO, Channel Reps, and CTSS.

IBM DS3000 series Webcast:
Trainers: Mark Dayan, Solutions Marketing Manager, LSI Engenio Storage Group.

Audio Portion (by phone):

Dial In # 1-800-375-2612– passcode 426373000

International: 1-719-955-1670

Follow the URL below to watch this webcast:

URL: http://mt202.centra.com/main/Customers/Engenio/fasttu/User/GuestAttend.jhtml?s_guid=000001ed13da0000011f024b3878348b

February 17^th, 2009 - Webcast will be presented at the time listed below:

8:00 am Pacific

9:00 am Mountain

10:00 am Central

11:00 am Eastern

If you receive an error when joining the webcast, follow the steps (Windows XP) below to reinstall the Centra Client Software:

1. Go to START > control panels > add and remove programs > remove Centra client
2. Using your web browser, go to http://cs1.saba.com/main/Install/win32/setup.jhtml
3. Download the Setup.exe to your computer, and then run it locally.
4. Rejoin the webcast.

Technical Information

• First time users please run a system check: http://sym6.centra.com/SiteRoots/main/SystemCheck/LaunchSystemCheck.jhtml?sessionid=1153854116937148099&locale=en_US

• Upon login you may need to hold the control key while the webcast client downloads or disconnect VPN.

• Audio is also available Voice over IP through the webcast provider.

• Webcasts are recorded for future playback.

==========================================================================================================
Please forward to IBM sales specialists, systems engineers and Business Partners. To be added or removed from the mailing list for IBM DS4000 University trainings brought to you jointly by IBM and LSI, please send an e-mail to: training@ds4000series.com

LEARNING - Question of the WEEK - IBM Storage - DS4000 & ERM

Question of the week:

I was having a look through our Redbook and chapter 2.4.3 seems to indicate two connections are required (one from each controller on the primary storage subsystem to each controller on the secondary storage subsystem):

DS4000 Best Practices and Performance Tuning Guide

Is this a requirement that will set off alarms if not met or simply best practice?

If there is only a single FC connection between sites, will only LUNs with controller A as primary get mirrored?

Would there be any error indicators with only a single connection?

Answer of the week:

The way that ERM works, the A controller will mirror to the remote systems A controller via it’s high-end port, and the B controller will communicate with the remote systems B controller through its high-end port. If a local lun that’s being mirrored is moved to the secondary controller, the remote volume will also be failed over. So, the requirement to remotely connect both controllers in an ERM configuration is required, not just best practice. As far as only having one connection between sites, that is probably very common. Another requirement of ERM is the use of switches in the environment (do direct cross-over cable connection between controllers). With the switch (and/or multi-protocol routers) in the environment, both controllers can share the single inter-switch link (ISL) between sites. This is how almost all ERM environments are configured.

I do believe error messages would be generated if you tried to configure ERM with just a single controller having connectivity, but I’m not sure how successful configuring the environment would be (i.e. if it would make you correct the problem before continuing). Either way, this would probably fall under the “worst practices” category.

INFORMATION - IBM NMSO & Tech Data

Need pre-sales support for your NMSO orders - let the IBM team @ Tech Data HELP!

Make IBM your choice for CAT1 (x3550) and CAT2 (3650) Servers

We can assist you with

Server and Blades

SAN 1 & SAN 2 Categories

Archival Storage Equipment

Need more information just email the IBM TEAM @ Tech Data - ibmsolutions@techdata.ca

KEY LINKS:

Computer Acquisition Guide (CAG)
IBM CAG Home Page
IBM e-Catalog

See all the IBM NMSO posts

LEARNING : IBM Laying the Ground Work for Success in 2009

IBM SYSTEM x & EXPRESS SELLER - Laying the Ground Work for Success in 2009

* Join the Call to Learn the Facts (2/10 @ 11am ET)

On Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 11am ET, IBM will share via conference call the earnings and profit potential available in the Mid Market with System x and Express Seller. The call will be hosted by Gary Isaacs, Director of Mid Market Channels Sales. The Vice President of Americas System x Sales, Wilfredo Sotolongo, will review Project x - IBM's strategic plan for capturing greater market share in the WinTel space. Finally, the creative and lucrative marketing and sales plays/offerings will be reviewed to ensure you have the tools to be successful in 1Q,'09.

Invest the time to join us for this call in "Laying the Ground Work for Success in 2009"

Date & Time: Tuesday, 2/10/09 @ 11am ET
Dial In Number: 888-510-1786
Passcode: 4847286
Log On: Go to the URL – http://www.webdialogs.com/
Click “Join a Meeting” button on the top right corner of the page
Enter Conference ID 3494067
Enter your name and email address
Click the “Log In” button

LEARNING: NEW Storage Competitive Tool

Is IBM Storage Competitive ?

• Below is a link to a great IBM Storage Tool.
• The tool gives competitive information for SAN solutions at the Entry, Mid and Enterprise classes and is a great way to get an immediate high level grasp of how we effectively compete against, EMC, HP, Dell, HDS, etc

Are you selling storage from other vendors or losing deals to others with IBM, then this is the tool to use. It will allow you to talk to your clients intelligently about the differences between manufactures and get them buying IBM Storage.

Before going to the link below - please make sure you are signed into PartnerWorld.

THE LINK

LEARNING - N series Release 15 Technical Training Call - Feb. 13 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST

N series Release 15 Technical Training

CALL: N series R15 Technical Training Call – Feb. 13

ABSTRACT: N series Release 15 includes the new IBM System Storage N6060 storage controller in single and dual node, configurable as a filer or a gateway. This technical training call will cover the new N6060 models and other features and functions associated with the R15 release. You will have the opportunity to ask questions of the subject matter expert panel when the presentation completes.

DATE: February 13, 2009

TIME: 11:00 a.m. New York(US & Canada

DURATION: 1 hour

TO ATTEND: IBM Business Partners

Call-in information if buttons do not work:

IBM Business Partners

Confirmation code: 1374540

Tie Line:650-1376

Direct 719-325-2201

US Toll free: 888-542-1136

Storage - Question of the WEEK

Question of the week:

In the last few months, I’ve been involved with a couple of Proof-of-Concepts. Two of these had the element of doing a bake-off between the competition (one was EMC, the other was NetApp). In both cases, the IBM system was the DS4700. Because both of these competitors have lots of features and impressive marketing, I was expecting a very competitive fight. What I wasn’t expecting, was that in both instances, the customer wanted me to explain exactly why our system, and their applications, ran so much faster than the competitions. In the case of the EMC bakeoff, during degraded mode testing, the application actually failed when the Clariion was put into a degraded mode (when cache was disabled). The only noticeable difference when the same condition was experienced on the DS4700 was a slight increase in host CPU utilization.

With the NetApp bake-off, I’ll just insert a quote from the account team;

The NetApp box is a FAS2050. In the DS4700, the LUN used for testing is striped (RAID5) across 30 physical drives; on the FAS2050, it is distributed across 26 physical drives (RAID5 or RAID6, I’m not sure). The NetApp SE spent two days configuring the 2050 in accordance with NetApp best practices. Our SE set up the DS4700 in 4 hours. The test workload the customer is using is not very big, and consists almost entirely of database reads. The customer reports 40% better performance when the test is run on the DS4700.

Answer of the week:

The quick answer is that the DS4000 line was built for speed. Our engineers maintain that as a top priority in the design process because performance is what provides the customer the best ROI day-in and day-out for the life of the system. This is also why we run SPC-1 benchmarks on every system we make. If you look at www.storageperformance.org, you’ll realize that our competition will only report certain systems, if they report any at all.

One thing that you should keep in mind is that many companies had different groups, with different goals. Typically, the storage group does not put performance at the top of their list, but concentrates on “ease of use”. While our systems are very easy to use, others remove the raid set definition from the required configuration steps as an ease-of-use feature (HP’s EVA, Equallogic, etc). This step may ease the storage administrators’ tasks by one step, but it does not help performance at all, which is why HP hasn’t published SPC-1 benchmarks on the EVA in over 6 years (Equallogic never published them). So, bake-off’s turn out to be a fantastic venue for us to showcase our products. Even storage groups can recognize the value of high performance, but it’s hard to capture that benefit from comparing PowerPoint presentations.

With respect to EMC, there are several factors that come into play. First and foremost is that they generate RAID parity on general purpose processors with their firmware. We have dedicated specialized hardware that offloads the process. The DS4000 has a full switch-based architecture that enables both controllers to have dual paths to each drives. We also have a compact firmware load that is designed around cache management with independent front-end and back-end DMA IO processing. On top of this, we have imbedded various cache optimization techniques like dynamic read-ahead and dynamic write-through. The FLAIR OS running on the EMC systems typically is a memory hog that utilizes a lot of DLL’s to expand their capability. This has some plusses, but the downside is that we usually see a performance difference in the neighborhood of 100 IOPS/drive in comparable configurations (that is huge in case you’re wondering).

With respect to NetApp, the key is that they implement Block-Level IO on top of their WAFL (write anywhere file layout) system. This means that they have a very difficult time with sequential read IOs (nothing is sequential, it’s always random). Since most “real world” applications are 80% read, the apparent write advantage of WAFL when writing data becomes a liability when reading data. To counter this effect, they employ a “reallocation scheme” process that will rearrange data on the drives to be more sequential friendly. Of course, all this effort is quickly negated when the customer starts using the storage system, so it must be run often (using many storage subsystem processing cycles).

So, as the customer base is looking for more efficient storage and more productivity out of their system, don’t be afraid to enter into a bake-off with the DS4000 product line.

Coming from the desk of:

James Latham
DS3000/DS4000 Product Specialist

Storage Solutions Engenio Storage Group

LSI Logic Corporation

jim.latham@lsi.com
www.lsi.com/engenio

QLogic and IBM Announce Industry-First 8Gb Fibre Channel-Enabled BladeCenter

If you have trouble viewing the images in this email, please view the online version here.

QLogic and IBM Announce Industry-First 8Gb Fibre Channel-Enabled BladeCenter QLogic and IBM started 2009 in dramatic fashion. We announced the availability of an innovative, cost-effective suite of end-to-end 8Gb Fibre Channel networking solutions for IBM BladeCenter that includes the QLogic 8Gb Fibre Channel/1GbE Combo expansion card (CFFh), QLogic 20 Port 8Gb Fibre Channel SAN Switch Module and the QLogic 8Gb Fibre Channel Intelligent Pass-thru Module. With support for up to 128 virtual servers per port using N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV), the QLogic modules allow IBM BladeCenter customers to better leverage VMware capabilities by deploying more server applications and virtual machines in their existing chassis. With this release, IBM BladeCenter now provides industry-leading network connectivity and is the only 8Gb Blade solution available today. So let it be known that 8Gb is a reality for Blade solutions, and that QLogic and IBM are leading the way with this cutting-edge technology. QLogic 8Gb Fibre Channel collateral for IBM BladeCenter is available online, including a multimedia video, data sheets, battle cards, and solution sheets. Download all the following information at Qlogic 8Gb HBA LINK IBM 8Gb CFFh Combo Expansion Card data sheet IBM 8Gb CFFh Combo Expansion Card solution sheet IBM 8Gb CFFh Combo Expansion Card battle card IBM 8Gb FC SAN switch Module (&8Gb IPM) for IBM BladeCenter IBM 8Gb FC SAN switch Module (&8Gb IPM) for IBM BladeCenter IBM 8Gb FC SAN switch Module (&8Gb IPM) for IBM BladeCenter IBM 8Gb FC SAN switch Module (&8Gb IPM) for IBM BladeCenter IBM 8Gb FC SAN switch Module (&8Gb IPM) for IBM BladeCenter Animation (.m4v format) IBM 8Gb FC SAN switch Module (&8Gb IPM) for IBM BladeCenter (Download the .zip file to your computer, then extract & run the .exe.file) IBM Trifold Brochure IBM BladeCenter linecard

QLogic Corporation 26650 Aliso Viejo ParkwayAliso Viejo, CA 92656

NEW - Brocade 8Gb Fibre HBA

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

Announcement Date: Tue., Jan 20, 2009
General Availability Date: February 17, 2009

Brocade 8Gb FC Single-port HBA for IBM System x 46M6049
Brocade 8Gb FC Dual-port HBA for IBM System x 46M6050

The Brocade 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 servers, storage, and SANs. Brocade as an end-to-end solution provides a single tool simplifying HBA installation, configuration, and management, coupled with the simplicity of single-vendor server-to-SAN support that is tested and qualified for interoperability with Brocade HBAs and fabrics.

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 alleviates the complexity and intricacies of Fibre Channel SANs. Emphasis on ease of use at every step enables 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.

The HBA solution includes an easy-to-use software installation wizard that steps you through the complete HBA installation for Windows with just a few mouse clicks.

In addition, the HBA includes a software utility for Windows and Linux® SAN management for these adapters that is tailored specifically for small and medium business users. You can easily monitor and perform any necessary maintenance, including updating firmware.

These adapters broaden the IBM 8 Gb HBA portfolio for System x servers. These additions to the portfolio are offered in both single- and dual-port PCI Express HBAs.

Features include:

• 2, 4, or 8 Gbps (auto-negotiation)
• Persistent binding
• 2,048 concurrent logins
• Up to 500,000 IOPS per port at 8 Gbit/sec

With rigorous testing by IBM through the ServerProven® program, you can maintain a high degree of confidence that your System x server storage subsystem is compatible with and will function reliably using these 8 Gb HBAs.

Learning - Monthly Disclosure Call - Feb. 3rd

February Disclosure Call


On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, the North America Brand team for
System x-BladeCenter-iDataPlex will be conducting a monthly Disclosure
& Product Update Call.

The call will provide new product information to support Customer Transition Planning (CTP) calls
and BP firms with inventory planning. The call will also cover current products' hot issues and news.

This call is for IBM and Premier and Advanced Business Partner sales personnel.

Agenda:

New Product Disclosures
Current Product Updates

Call Details:

Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Audience: IBM & Premier and Advanced BP sales personnel
TIme: 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET
Call in number: 888-347-5689, 719-325-2373, TL-650-2007
Passcode: 3389341
Replay: A mp3 replay file will be posted a few days after the call
at the sites shown below.

Charts & mp3 Replay files:

BPs:

http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/ContentHandler/xdisclosure.skit

LEARNING - NSeries RELEASE 15 Sales Training - NEW N6000 Series

IBM System Storage N series

Join the Release 15 Sales Training call on February 9

ABSTRACT: The N series Release 15 Sales Training will cover the new N6000 series offering, SnapLock support in DOT 7.3.1, 8 Gbps FC PCIe target adapter, SnapManager for SAP 3.0 and the new 42U rack/cabinet.

DATE: February 9, 2009

TIME: 11:30 a.m. New York(US & Canada),

DURATION: 30 minutes

TO ATTEND: IBM Business Partners

Call-in information if buttons do not work:

Confirmation code: 9401051

Tie Line:650-0800

Direct 719-325-2134

US Toll free: 888-297-8911

LEARNING - Announcing the new NetApp OEM Learning Center

Where IBM Business Partners can now access online NetApp University course schedules and register for TUITION FREE courses!

IBM and Business Partners now have direct access to the NetApp University OEM Learning Center online schedule and course catalog! You will be able to browse the current schedule and register for a wide range of TUITION FREE NetApp web-based and instructor led courses in worldwide NetApp University locations. You will be able to launch and complete web courses from this site, and the system will retain the history of courses you have completed and tests you have taken in your NetApp University profile. A NetApp NOW account is NOT required to access this new resource. Note that most of the courses accessed via this resource are NetApp branded.

The NetApp OEM Learning Center is accessible via a link on the IBM Video Portal (must access the learning portal via this link as domain referral is used for security purposes). Use the following links to get to the IBM vPortal - and look for the News Item on the NETAPP OEM LEARNING CENTER at the top center of the page. This news item will link you to resources that will describe how to register for and use the Learning Center, and also provide a direct link to the site itself. Check it out!

Partnerworld: NETApp OEM Learning Center