"In IBM's latest move, announced Tuesday, the company is releasing a new mainframe bundle called the Enterprise Linux Server, which starts at a little more than $200,000. The least expensive version includes two IFL processors, plus memory, I/O connectivity, licenses for the z/VM mainframe virtualization software, and three years worth of maintenance. The business class version can scale up to 10 IFLs, while the enterprise class machine can scale up to 64.
"Savings per processor improve the more a customer buys, and can cost as much as 80% less than previous mainframe offerings, according to IBM.
"The basic $200,000 machine with two IFL processors can run about 50 Linux-based virtual machines..."
