Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM introduced the z10 Business Class (BC) mainframe as an update to the z9 Business Class in October 2008. It is 40% faster and offers 50% more capacity, making it a "great big consolidation server," the judges reported.

The z10 BC includes up to 10 3.5 GHz processors, compared with seven on the z9 BC, and double the memory capacity with 128 GB. In June, IBM plans to double that capacity per machine to 256 GB, the company reported.

The z10 BC also includes up to 30 logical partitions (LPARs); the same amount as the z9 but half the 60 LPARs maximum of the z10 Enterprise Class.

The system starts at just under $100,000, which will get you a lightly loaded machine running 26 million instructions per section, or MIPS, IBM reported.

The panel of judges said this system proves that IBM is listening to its customers.

"They stripped out all of the additional costs for z/OS, CICS [Customer Information Control System], etc., and made this an excellent Linux server at a midrange price," the judges said. Also, IBM "added in IFLs [Integrated Facility for Linux] at reduced cost to further lower the acquisition price, worked with application vendors to lower software acquisition costs and created a real midrange, competitively priced mainframe."

With that, the z10 BC mainframe should open new doors for IBM -- especially in emerging economies that need reliability as well as scalability and power savings, the judges reported.

Bridget Botelho