IBM
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| Type: | Public |
| Industry: | Information Technology and Services |
| Founded: | 1911 |
| Headquarters: | New Orchard Road Armonk New York, NY 10504 |
| Country: | USA |
| Employees: | 399, 409 worldwide |
| Revenue: | $ 99.870 billion as of 2010 [1] |
| Website: | http://www.ibm.com |
| Key People | |
| Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman, President and CEO | |
International Business Machines(IBM) also referred to as the Big Blue is a multinational technology and consulting company. It is highly recognized as the leading computer and systems integrator worldwide. Samuel J Palmisano is the Chairman, President and CEO of the company which is based in Armonk, New York.[2]
IBM offers a wide range of infrastructure, hosting services; a broad portfolio of middleware for collaboration, predictive analytics, provides the world's most advanced servers and develops computer hardware & software, systems management and consulting services in different technology such as the nanotechnology.[3] IBM employs hundreds of thousands of employees in more than 170 countries and it operates under the principle of building a smarter planet. [4]
Early Years of the Company (the merger of three companies to form CTR)
Charles Ranlett Flint engineered the merger the International Time Recording Company,the Computing Scale Company and the Tabulating Machine Company to form Computing Tabulating Recording (CTR) Company. CTR was incorporated as a holding company on June 16, 1911. George Fairchild became the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Flint remained member of the board of C-T-R until his retirement in 1930.[5]C-T-R is the predecessor of IBM.
The newly formed CTR has over 1,300 employees and its plants are located in Endicott New York manufacturing time-recording equipment, Dayton, Ohio produces scales and Washington, D.C. makes keypunch cards.[6] CTR started selling a wide range of products from meat slicers, clocks, commercial scales, punched-card tabulators and many other machineries. [7] The punched-card tabulating machine paved the way to the development of computers. Herman Hollerith, founder the Tabulating Machines Company that merged with CTR invented the punched-card tabulator.
Because of the diversity of CTR's product line, it was difficult for Flint to manage the business. He hired Thomas J. Watson Sr. in 1914 as General Manager to help him revitalize the business. Watson aggressively introduced Hollerith's punched card tabulators to the United States government during World War I. [8] During his management the use of accounting machines begin to spread and the company's product line include mechanical key punch,hand-operated gang punch,the vertical sorter and tabulator. Customers increases from rail road, chemical, utilities and insurance companies.[9]
Watson was elected President and General Manager of CTR in 1915. He served the company for more than two decades and responsible in transforming CTR as a growing leader in innovations and technology and an emerging multinational company.[10]
Renaming CTR to IBM
In 1924, Watson changed the name of the company from CTR to International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation due to the companies global and functionality expansion. During that time IBM's gross income was already $11 million and it has already established three manufacturing companies in Europe. The Electric Accounting Machine and the Carrol Rotary Card Press were also introduced in the market. Note that prior to renaming CTR's name, the company operated its business in Canada as IBM since 1917.[11]
Year after year IBM continue to introduce different product lines, expanded its operation in different countries worldwide and the recorded an continuous increase in earnings. After World War II, the company is already the largest supplier of office equipments in the United States.[12]