Re: Can anyone tell me where/how to get hold of ESXi 5.5 I want to take a look in my lab environment.

ESXI 5.5 is announced but its not released to the public yet , to find out more about what new in this version please check this link .

A Summary of What’s New in vSphere 5.5 | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs

And hopefully they will soon announce the GA release .

Best regards

Yours,
Mar Vista