In 1924 The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. is renamed to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
In 1944 IBM revealed its first large-scale calculating computer, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), to Harvard University. The ASCC is the first machine to execute long calculations automatically. More than 50 feet long, eight feet high, and weighing almost five tons, the ASCC uses electromechanical relays to perform additional, multiplication, and division.
By the year 1960, IBM’s computers progressed and provided data for launching and tracking Project code named Project Echo. This was claimed to be test for “A pioneering United States experiment in Space Communications.
By 1964 the Laser was born by scientists at IBM. This was just the foundation of what was to come.
1969 was the year of the first moon landing. IBM computers helped NASA land the first men on the moon.
In 1971 IBM introduced floppy disk magnetic storage, so named because of its flexibility. The new storage medium sets a new standard for small systems by allowing information to be easily transferred from computer to computer.
In 1981 IBM announces the IBM Personal Computer, the smallest ever built. An immediate success. This also launched IBM compatible Clones, Software and Accessory equipment.
IBM also created the first notebook computer (Laptop) in 1992 named the ThinkPad. The ThinkPad was an immediate hit and collected more that 300 awards for design and quality.
In 1999 IBM is the Number 1 worldwide server vendor with 23% market share. About 70% of the world’s business data and business transactions are managed by IBM servers.
In today’s society the IBM computer is aimed at the business side of the computer market, not the home user market. They offer a wide range of services such as servers and business support also known at E-Business in IBM’s terminology.
Management
Chairman of the Board
On January 29, 2002, IBM announced that its board of directors had elected Samuel J. Palmisano (below left) as chief executive officer of the company effective March 1. As CEO, Mr. Palmisano succeeds Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., (below right) who will remain IBM chairman through the end of 2002.
With this announcement, IBM recognized the role and impending departure of Mr. Gerstner, who led the company's transformation in the 1990s into a consumer-focused global enterprise dedicated to leadership in services and technology. In outlining the transition at the "top of the business," the IBM announcement extended the lineage of leadership that began almost a century ago.
IBM has been guided by eight chairmen of the board since its founding as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R) in 1911. Under their stewardship over the years, IBM has grown from a $4 million business with some 1,200 employees to an $86 billion enterprise employing more than 319,000 men and women around the world. In chronological order, IBM's former and current chairmen are . . .
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., was named chairman and chief executive officer of IBM on April 1, 1993.
Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as chairman and chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco, Inc. This was preceded by an 11-year career at American Express Company, where he was president of the parent company and chairman and CEO of its largest subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company. Prior to that, Mr. Gerstner was a director of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Co., Inc., which he joined in 1965.
A native of Mineola, New York, Mr. Gerstner received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Dartmouth College in 1963 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1965. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of business administration from Boston College and in 1997 honorary doctorate of laws from both Wake Forest University and Brown University.
A lifetime advocate of the importance of quality education, Mr. Gerstner is co-author of Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America's Public Schools (Dutton 1994). He is vice chairman of the New American Schools Development Corporation and co-chairs Achieve, an organization created by U.S. Governors and business leaders to drive high academic standards for public schools in the United States. At IBM he has established Reinventing Education as the company's program in support of systemic school reform. Through Reinventing Education, IBM has initiated strategic partnerships with 22 states and school districts, which are utilizing IBM technology and technical assistance to eliminate key barriers to school reform and improve student performance. Mr. Gerstner is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.
He has received numerous awards for his work in education, among them the Cleveland E. Dodge Medal for Distinguished Service to Education - Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Distinguished Service to Science and Education award from the American Museum of Natural History.
Mr. Gerstner will be succeeded as chief executive officer by Samuel J. Palmisano on March 1, 2002, and will serve as chairman of IBM through the end of 2002.
Samuel J. Palmisano
Sam Palmisano was named chief executive officer of the IBM Corporation effective March 1, 2002.
Appointed president and chief operating officer in September 2000, Mr. Palmisano has been responsible for managing day-to-day operations for IBM. Prior to that appointment, Mr. Palmisano was senior vice president and group executive for IBM's Enterprise Systems Group, with responsibility for IBM's server family and the Storage Subsystems Division. In January 1998, Mr. Palmisano was named senior vice president and group executive for IBM Global Services. Managing some 1 35,000 employees, he was responsible for the worldwide operations of IBM Global Services, the world's largest IT services provider. Before that, Mr. Palmisano was senior vice president and group executive for IBM's Personal Systems Group, which included IBM's personal computer and network computing businesses.
Mr. Palmisano assumed responsibility for IBM's strategic outsourcing business in January 1995. In January 1993, Mr. Palmisano was appointed president of Integrated Systems Solutions Corp. (ISSC), an IBM wholly owned subsidiary, and now part of IBM Global Services. ISSC was responsible for providing a variety of information technology services solutions and advanced network services. He became chief executive officer of ISSC in October 1993. Before joining ISSC, Mr. Palmisano was IBM Japan's senior managing director of operations.
A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, Mr. Palmisano joined IBM in 1973 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Financial Information
The following information is financial information I have gathered from a number of sources.
Revenue (2001): $85.9 Billion
Net Income (2001): $7.7 Billion
Total Assets (2001): $88.3 Billion
Number of Employees (2001): 319,876
Stockholders of Record (2001): 673,967
Summary/Conclusion
I feel that IBM is a company which has achieved a lot because it is a large commercial company which has revolutionised the world and what it is today, they have been around for over a Century. IBM where the first to invent and offer the products to the public, such as Laser Disks and Floppy Disk invented in 1968 onwards. These are now one of the more commonly used computer components since they where invented. They also helped land the first man on the Moon. Without the skills and experience IBM had, this would not have been possible. This has led to us learning a lot more about space than we ever knew before.
Not only have we benefited from the technology that IBM has provided us but IBM has gained a lot too. They have gained revenue of over $88.3 Billion which is a huge amount of money. Some of this money has gone to funding research. The have also help the economy by providing more than Three Hundred Thousand people across the world with work.
