In 1911, a company by the name of Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTR) was formed via the merger of three separate companies: Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, and Computing Scale Company. The company was renamed
International Business Machines in 1924 and subsequently given the nickname IBM Big Blue, due mainly in part to their widespread use of blue in all their products as well as their logo. Today, IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation that specializes in manufacturing, designing, and marketing computer software and hardware products. In addition, they provide infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in mainframe computers, nanotechnology, and other areas. IBM acquired Kenexa in 2012, SPSS in 2009, and PwC’s consulting business in 2002. Since their inception, they have also spun off Lexmark in 1991 and sold of their extremely popular product lines such as ThinkPad and Lenovo in 2005. They now currently have 12 research laboratories which have allowed them to generate the most patents of any company for 20 straight years. IBM employees have been awarded the following prizes:
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5 Nobel Prizes
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6 Turing Awards
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10 National Medals of Technology
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5 National Medals of Science
As a whole, IBM has gained international recognition from numerous different platforms with the following achievements:
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#1 company for leaders (Fortune)
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$1 green company worldwide (Newsweek)
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#2 best global brand (Interbrand)
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#2 most respected company (Barron’s)
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#5 most admired company (Fortune)
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#18 most innovative company (Fast Company)
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#1 in tech consulting for cyber security (Vault)
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#2 in outsourcing (Vault)
IBM is accredited with several very notable inventions, which include the automated teller machine (ATM),
hard disk drive, floppy disk, magnetic stripe card, relational database, the financial swap, the Universal Product Code (UPC), the RDBMS and SQL, DRAM, and the SABRE airline reservation system. However, arguably their most groundbreaking and most recent invention would have to the Watson artificial intelligence. Watson, the first of its kind, is an artificially intelligent computer system that has the capacity to answer questions that are posed in natural human language. Prior to this, as you know, computers can only communicate in binary code, or computer language. Perhaps what is most impressive about this invention is that it was able to compete in Jeopardy! Against former winners and receive first prize. We are already seeing the early emergence of this kind of technology with Siri on the iPhone, which responds to voice commands. It is estimated that several decades from now, this Watson technology will be advanced enough to fit into a device in the palm of our hands, thus revolutionizing our access to information and knowledge in the world.