IBM

International Business Machines is familiarly known as IBM (which is its NYSE symbol) or the nickname “Big Blue.” Arguably it is the world’s oldest information tech-nology company, with its roots in card tabulation and other business machines in the late 19th century (see Hollerith, Hermann and punched cards and paper tape). Under president Thomas J. Watson Sr., IBM devel-oped what would become known as the “IBM card” and machinery to manage the huge amounts of data required by the U.S. Social Security system starting in the mid-1930s. However, IBM would later be criticized for provid-ing the same technology to Nazi Germany, where it would be used to help round up Jews for the Holocaust. On the other hand, IBM calculating machines were a very neces-sary part of the Allied war effort, including the develop-ment of the atomic bomb.

In the 1950s, cold war–related defense work gave IBM access to new technologies, including the multiuser, real-time architecture needed for the SAGE air defense computer (see government funding of computer research.)

Despite UNIVAC’s head start, IBM dominated the com-mercial computer industry from the mid-1950s at least until the 1970s (see mainframe). The keystone product was the IBM/360 and later IBM/370 mainframe systems. IBM did not sell just hardware: It provided complete solutions in the form of hardware, operating systems, other software, and peripherals. Because of its dominance, it was hard for small innovators to gain traction, and many people in the university hacker culture felt about IBM as many of their descendants feel about Microsoft today. (IBM’s dress code

Retrenchment

IBM went on to set the standard for the most common type of personal computer in the 1980s (see ibm pc). However, the decade would also bring a gradual decline of IBM’s dominant role. On the desktop, IBM quickly outpaced Apple (despite the latter’s innovation—see Macintosh). However, it became legally possible and profitable to build “clone” PCs that could run the same software as the IBM PC, and often faster and at lower cost. In the 1990s the growing use of networks of increasingly powerful desktop machines would erode the mainframe market. Finally, in 2004 IBM sold its PC business (including the well-regarded Thinkpad series of laptops) to Lenovo, a Chinese company.

Today IBM remains a major seller of computer serv-ers particularly targeted to Internet businesses. The com-pany has also achieved success through designing chips for videogame units (see game consoles). However, the company’s overall focus is mainly on business con-sulting, software (including database and collaborative products), management services, and the exploitation of its vast trove of patents. IBM has also enthusiastically embraced open software and contributed a considerable amount of code to the programming community, such as the Eclipse program development system (see Linux and open source). IBM remains the largest computer-related company (after HP). In 2007 the company earned $7 billion on rev-enue of $98.8 billion.