IBM wants its mainframe servers to be more than just high-end hardware.

With that in mind, IBM launched its Destination z program June 21, which looks to give the company’s mainframe customers, ISVs and partners a new Web portal to discuss and debate different aspects of mainframe technology.

Unlike its Blade.org initiative, which involves more of a technical discussion, Destination z will allow mainframe customers to exchange ideas as well as look for partners with mainframe skills, said Jim Stallings, general manager of IBM’s System z.

Many freelancers, smaller firms, and even medium-sized companies would like to enjoy the advantages of a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, but do not have the resources to operate it themselves. As a solution to this, Cortado now offers a hosted solution enabling fast and easy access to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server can be activated for use with BlackBerry smartphones. In addition to the renowned BlackBerry push services for messages, applications, address book, calendar, tasks and memos, this new hosted BlackBerry Enterprise Server offering from Cortado also includes the Cortado Business Plus Exchange Email package with a 2GB mailbox, comprehensive virus protection and professional spam filter. Users are also able to continue using their existing email address, as with all Cortado mailbox packages.

IBM has been promising to unleash the potential of IBM Global Services in the channel beginning with a program that started four years ago when IGS signed its first partnership with Ingram Micro.

Unfortunately, the success of that effort has been a bit spotty due largely to the cultural hurdles that exist within IGS and the solution provider community.

As IBM pulls its services and software offerings together into a set of software-as-a-service offerings designed around specific functions such as security, desktop management and server provisioning, it’s become pretty clear to even the most ardent IGS sales fanatic that the company needs a different approach to sales if it hopes to scale these services out to the broader small to midsize business market, which IBM CEO Sam Palmisano has said will be the company’s largest customer segment within the next five years.

Four years ago, Benoit Dubuc did a review of Ytria’s developer tools. Since then, the nice folks at Ytria have been after Senior Technical Editor Mick Moignard to take another look. Benoit liked what he saw back in 2003, but four years is a long time in the tech world. Will Ytria’s toolset stand up to the test of time? You’ll have to read Mick’s review to find out.

Read this DominoPower article.

We’re still digging through a couple of hundred pages of congressional testimony released earlier this week, so we’re postponing our next installment of our White House email controversy series until next week. Stay tuned next week for more bizarre happenings in the world of government email happenings. Ih the meantime, we’ve got a great in-depth product review for you, bringing back some real Notes-centric coverage for the week.

IBM has released to the public a beta version of DB2 Viper 2, the newest incarnation of its data server.

Less than a year after releasing Viper, IBM is promising Viper 2 will expand on its predecessor by simplifying the development and administration of XML in DB2 with features such as a built-in SQL function that allows users to transform XML documents using an XML style sheet.

PrivacyView Software announced the release of its Anonymous Proxy Server, Private Proxy. With the release of Private Proxy, users get the best of both worlds from PrivacyView Software, an anonymous proxy that protects their IP address and Internet communication’s along with an anonymous surfing tool that enables them to keep all local browser traces and personal files safe and secure from others who have access to their computer.

damaka, a fast-growing communications and collaboration software company, has launched an array of collaborative features that complements its existing feature-rich suite. damaka raises the bar of collaborative communications by enabling industry’s first SIP based P2P Application Sharing, File Sharing and Album Sharing besides Ad hoc Conferencing, Video Profiles and Calendar. This positions damaka’s Personal Softswitch product as an enterprise class feature-rich collaboration suite maintaining its lead in the marketplace.

Unlike a costly traditional client server based offering in the market for Application Sharing, damaka provides corporate users a very cost effective alternative solution with all its sharing and collaborative features that are based on direct peering technology with complete encryption. Now, corporate users can share any of their documents like Powerpoint presentation, Excel spreadsheet, etc. with their colleagues at no extra cost.

Shunra, provider of network simulation solutions, announced version 3.0 of its Shunra VE Desktop client/server network simulation software. Designed primarily for developers, Shunra VE Desktop simulates a Wide Area Network link, enabling users to test applications or code under a variety of current and potential network conditions–directly from their desktops or laptops–early in the development process. The new version includes a silent installation process, enabling quick and automatic enterprise-wide deployments of Shunra VE Desktop via any software distribution system. In addition, Shunra VE Desktop now supports the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. Shunra VE Desktop is now offered in two versions: "Standard" for individual users and "Professional" for multi-user enterprise development teams.

The "greediest," "stealthiest," and "most malicious" may not be the superlatives you want to read about in your child’s yearbook, but they do make the grade in Kaspersky’s recent Malware Miscellany.

As school is out and the first official day of summer will be upon us shortly, Kaspersky Labs wanted to take a minute to reflect on what has happened in the malware world prior to summer’s beginning. You can see that the second "malware miscellany"–a sort of "Malware Oscar," contains some really curious nominees. Ranging from the biggest, smallest, stealthiest, and greediest, they are the most notable programs and Trojans that threatened the Web for May 2007.