You probably don't think about it or even consider that IBM (International Business Machines) have been a technological part in our daily digital lives for the past 100 years. The company is the mastermind towards numerous technological advances in the 20th and 21st centuries. IBM recently, this past week, celebrated its 100th birthday. The company started back in June 16th 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company. The company was headed by Thomas J. Watson who was a former exec of the National Cash Register Company.
The company is known for building the Mark 1, an early version of a computer created in 1944 in with assistance Harvard University. They later went on to build the IBM 701 in 1953. It was the first large computer based on vacuum tube technology. The system was mainly used in government and research facilities. They made quite a bit of money renting the machines out at a rate of $11,000 a month. The machine executed 17,000 instructions per second.
IBM also dabbled in the production of typewriters. During the 1950s they sold their Model B Standard and Model B Executive typewriters which became the office norm appliance for companies all across America. They assisted airline companies in developing much more efficient computerized systems that handled flight schedules and transactions with customers. They even developed systems for NASA to help with their efforts to reach the moon.
IBM's imprint is everywhere these days. Their systems are used in police departments, government agencies, hospitals, and all over corporate America. They even have a super computer named Watson that played in Jeopardy and won. They are a really huge brand name. You might even say they've had something to do with the gaming industry.
Without a lot of their technological pioneering the gaming industry might not see the light of day. So for that I guess we have pay homage and thank them for making their technologies possible and allowing the game industry to ride on its coat tails. Makes you wonder how many IBM branded dedicated servers are out there hosting online console matches everyday for various games.
With so many innovations and so little time to tell their story I'll let YouTube do the rest. 100 years is a lot to summarize in a blog post. Happy Birthday IBM! Here's to another innovative 100 years. Check out these videos of IBM history here.
No comments:
Post a Comment