Last year's position : 16

Sure there are question marks about Palmisano. Will he forever be in the shadow of turnaround merchant Lou Gerstner (though Gerstner never made it above number 17)? In short, is he the visionary IBM deserves?

Our panel was impressed by what IBM Global Services has done for the company's bottom line and called the Linux gamble - much of it down to Palmisano - "extremely bold".

And then there's perhaps the ultimate compliment - it's easy being boss of the world's biggest tech company but would he be able to cut it elsewhere? They thought so.