Is it easy for professors to get academic versions of software from IBM?
This is a question to ask on the SIGCSE mailing list. A member there was primarily an educator and now works as a sort of liaison to the SIGCSE community. She will probably respond to such a question. 

I suspect that they still have grants available that, with some work on your part, might solve your needs. You might need to write up a research proposal, of course. Easy? Maybe no. Possible? Maybe yes.