International Business Machines

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International Business Machines (usually shortened to IBM) is a company which has played a decisive role in the history of computing.

Its roots go back to the early days of mechanical devices used for business purposes in the early punched card era. It was formed by the merger in June, 1911, of several smaller companies, including Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company, and several time-card companies. Initially named the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, it was renamed IBM in February, 1924.

Some notable contributions by IBM to the world of computing:

Lore

The old IBM had a song book, of various anthems for products and crushing their competition which at the time would have been NCR.

IBM also made famous DASD and other acronyms.

Perhaps the most famous of all IBM'ism is the "This page is intentionally left blank" pages scattered throughout their manuals.

See also

Further reading

  • Robert Sobel, I. B. M.: Colossus in Transition, Times Books, New York, 1981
  • Emerson W. Pugh, Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, 1995
  • Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh, IBM's Early Computers, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986
  • C. J. Bashe, W. Buchholz, G. V. Hawkins, J. J. Ingram, N. Rochester, The Architecture of IBM’s Early Computers, Journal of Research and Development, Vol. 25, No. 5, September 1981 - good thumbnail sketches of all IBM's pre-360 machines

External links