Yes, horizontal drops on the Transam. The 11 speed alfine are not yet out Tim. Might be out by end of september/october
Wiggle have listed them, with a stock date of late september
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360051007/ note, this is without fittings, or cogs etc... so you would need to buy other stuff to mount it to your bike.
This is the specific shifter that goes with it
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360051009/
For a rim I would lace it up to whatever you usually would like to run. Personally I would lace it up to a DT 5.1 or Stans Flow or a UST Mavic 823 as I would definitely want to run it tubeless with wide tyres.