Budget Big-Endian Server

I am the lead Database Engineer for the Computer Science department at the university I am currently attending.

I have been attempting to construct a server that could replace my universities current Oracle server which is quite out of date (can only run a version of Solaris from 2006). The server is being used for the Networking class's.

Unfortunately Oracle is only offering us a discount on Solaris and not on a Spark system. 

My current idea has to do with virtualizing a Spark (Oracle) system so I can run Solaris 11.2 in Big-Endian mode using some of Windrivers available virtualization software that can be hosted on a Windows machine.

 

I just have a few questions in regards to this:

Would virtualization even work?

Is there an easier solution that isn't over $5000?

Are there other operating systems that can do all of the things that Solaris 11.2 can do for a college level Networking class and are Big-Endian? Ex. Net/Free/OpenBSD.