IBM

IBM

IBM is one of the World 's most successful enterprises that operate in computer industry . The company is a major supplier of information-processing products and systems , software , communications systems , workstations , and related supplies and services in the United States and around the world . Its products are used in a wide variety of industries , including business , government , science , defense , education medicine , and space exploration . The company was incorporated in 1911 as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in a merger of three smaller companies . After further acquisitions , it absorbed the International Business Machines Corporation

in 1924 and assumed that company 's name Thomas Watson arrived that same year and began to build the floundering company into an industrial giant . IBM soon became the country 's largest manufacturer of time clocks and developed and marketed the first electric typewriter . In 1951 the company entered the computer field . The development of IBM 's technology was largely funded by contracts with the U .S . government 's Atomic Energy Commission close parallels existed between products made for government use and those introduced by IBM into the public marketplace

On August 12 , 1981 , IBM executives held a press conference in New York to introduce a momentous new computer- the IBM Personal Computer , or the PC , as it became known . This was the culmination of many events at IBM over the previous few years . The PC business required something different . This new market was moving quite fast , and a new entrant would have to move quickly . Apple , Tandy and Commodore had all produced ground-breaking machines during the previous two years . Any computer from IBM would need to target individuals as well as businesses , even if the ultimate aim was to continue to sell business computers . During the 1980s and early 1990s , IBM was thrown into turmoil by back-to-back revolutions . The PC revolution placed computers directly in the hands of millions of people . Businesses ' purchasing decisions were put in the hands of individuals and departments - not the places where IBM had long-standing customer relationships . Piece-part technologies took precedence over integrated solutions . The focus was on the desktop and personal productivity , not on business applications across the enterprise . As a result IBM started to lose money for the first time ever

In 1993 , IBM 's annual loss hit 8 billion . One insider , now a top executive at another tech company , says that in its darkest hour IBM had to borrow money to make the payroll . With the resignation of CEO John Akers , IBM brought in Lou Gerstner as CEO . Gerstner had been the CEO of RJR Nabisco , and was a newcomer to the information technology field . A single product design , ridged cost cutting and improved customer relations initiated the rebirth of IBM 's brand image as contemporary innovative and approachable . Soon , IBM started selling a product that defied convention , created excitement across the computer industry and was a resounding business success : the ThinkPad 700C notebook computer Suddenly , a company embroiled in financial and brand image problems was being labeled with characteristics such...