International Business Machines (IBM)  

is an American multinational technology and consulting firm headquartered in Armonk, New York. IBM manufactures and sells computerhardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

The company was founded in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, following a merger of the Computer Scale Company of America and the International Time Recording Company with the Tabulating Machine Company. CTR adopted the name International Business Machines in 1924, using a name previously designated to CTR's subsidiary in Canada and later South America. Its distinctive culture and product branding has given it the nickname Big Blue.

In 2010, IBM was ranked the 20th largest firm in the U.S. by Fortune and the 33rd largest globally by Forbes. Other rankings that year include #1 company for leaders (Fortune), #2 best global brand (Interbrand), #3 green company (Newsweek), #15 most admired company (Fortune), and #18 most innovative company (Fast Company). IBM employs almost 400,000 employees (sometimes referred to as "IBMers") in over 200 countries, with occupations including scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals.

IBM holds more patents than any other U.S.-based technology company and has nine research laboratories worldwide. Its employees have garnered five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nineNational Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science The company has undergone several organizational changes since its inception, acquiring companies like SPSS (2009) andPwC consulting (2002) and spinning off companies like Lexmark (1991).

 

 

1880-1929

Starting in the 1880s, various technologies came into existence that would form part of IBM's predecessor company. Julius E. Pitrap patented the computing scale in 1885,^[9] Alexander Deyinvented the dial recorder in 1888, and a year later Herman Hollerith patented the Electric Tabulating Machine, and Willard Bundy invented a time clock to record a worker's arrival and departure time on a paper tape. On June 16, 1911, these technologies and their respective companies were merged by Charles Ranlett Flint to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R). The New York City-based company had 1,300 employees and offices and plants in Endicott and Binghamton, New York; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto, Ontario. It manufactured and sold machinery ranging from commercial scales and industrial time recorders to meat and cheese slicers, along with tabulators and punched cards.

Flint recruited Thomas J. Watson, Sr., from the National Cash Register Company to help lead the company in 1914. Watson implemented "generous sales incentives, a focus on customer service, an insistence on well-groomed, dark-suited salesmen and an evangelical fervor for instilling company pride and loyalty in every worker". His favorite slogan, "THINK," became a mantra for C-T-R's employees, and within 11 months of joining C-T-R, Watson became its president. The company focused on providing large-scale, custom-built tabulating solutions for businesses, leaving the market for small office products to others. During Watson's first four years, revenues more than doubled to $9 million and the company's operations expanded to Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia. On February 14, 1924, C-T-R was renamed the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), citing the need to align its name with the "growth and extension of [its] activities".

1930-1979

In 1937, the U.S. Government deployed IBM tabulating equipment to maintain the employment records for 26 million people pursuant to the Social Security Act. In 1938, the IBM World Headquarters Building, located at 590 Madison Avenue in New York, New York, was dedicated.

In 1952, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., became president of the company, ending almost 40 years of leadership by his father. In 1956, Arthur L. Samuel of IBM's Poughkeepsie, New York, laboratory programs an IBM 704 to play checkers using a method in which the machine can "learn" from its own experience. It is believed to be the first "self-learning" program, a demonstration of the concept of artificial intelligence. In 1957, IBM developed the FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) scientific programming language. In 1961, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., was elected chairman of the board and Albert L. Williams became president of the company. IBM develops the SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business-Related Environment) reservation system for American Airlines.

In 1963, IBM employees and computers helped NASA track the orbital flight of the Mercury astronauts, and a year later, the company moved its corporate headquarters from New York City to Armonk, New York. The later half of that decade saw IBM continue its support of space exploration, with IBM participating in the 1965 Gemini flights, the 1966 Saturn flights, and the 1969 mission to land a man on the moon.

1980-present

IBM has engaged in several M&A activities as well as several divestitures in the past few decades. In 1991, IBM sold Lexmark, and in 2002, it acquired PwC consulting. In 2003, IBM initiated a project to rewrite its company values. Using its Jam technology, the company hosted Internet-based online discussions on key business issues with 50,000 employees over 3 days. The discussions were analyzed by sophisticated text analysis software (eClassifier) to mine online comments for themes. As a result of the 2003 Jam, the company values were updated to reflect three modern business, marketplace and employee views: "Dedication to every client's success", "Innovation that matters - for our company and for the world", "Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships". In 2004, another Jam was conducted during which 52,000 employees exchanged best practices for 72 hours. They focused on finding actionable ideas to support implementation of the values previously identified.

In 2005 the company sold its personal computer business to Lenovo, and in 2009, it acquired SPSS. Later in 2009, IBM's Blue Gene supercomputing program was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by U.S. President Barack Obama.

In 2011, IBM gained worldwide attention for its artificial intelligence program Watson, which was exhibited on Jeopardy! against game show champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

Corporate recognition and brand

In 2010, IBM was ranked the 20th largest firm in the U.S. by Fortune and the 33rd largest globally by Forbes. Other rankings for 2010 include the following:

§  #1 company for leaders (Fortune)

§  #2 best global brand (Interbrand)

§  #3 green company (Newsweek)

§  #15 most admired company (Fortune)

§  #18 most innovative company (Fast Company)

For 2010, IBM's brand was valued at $64.7 billion.