IBM is a large corporation today engaged in the development and supply of computers, software and other high-tech products. Over its 100-year history, it has brought many new products to the market. Thanks to IBM, computers appeared in almost every home.
Start
IBM appeared at a time when a personal computer was even hard to imagine. In 1896, it was founded by
Herman Hollerith. The company then received the name TMC and was engaged in the production of computer-analytical machines, which were sold mainly to government organizations.
At the beginning of its history, the company received a huge order from the Ministry of Statistics, and thanks to this, it immediately took a significant position in the market. However, the founder and owner, due to health problems, still had to sell the company to the famous financial genius Charles Flint. The millionaire paid a huge sum of $ 2.3 billion for the company at that time.
The advent of IBM
Having gained control of TMC, Charles Flint immediately began its merger with other assets, such as ITRC and CSC. As a result, the prototype of the modern "blue giant" was created - the CTR corporation.
An educated company was engaged in the production of a wide variety of equipment corresponding to that time. Among it were scales, time tracking systems and, most importantly, punch card equipment. It was the latter that played a large role in the company's transition to the production of computers.
The IBM brand first appeared in 1917 on the Canadian market. That is how the company decided to show that it has become an international corporation. After the success of the new name, the American division also changed its name to IBM in 1924.
Over the next few years, the company actively continues to improve its own technologies by creating a new type of punch card called the IBM Card. Also, the corporation again gets access to large government orders, which allows it to practically not carry out reductions even during the Great Depression.
IBM and World War II
IBM has been quite active in collaborating with the fascist regime in Germany. In 1933, after Hitler came to power in Germany, the corporation even launched its own factory. However, the company, like most other American firms, claims only to sell cars and does not consider this a regime support.
In the United States during the war years, the corporation was mainly engaged in supplying the front on a state order. She took up the production of sights for throwing bombs, rifles, engine parts and other necessary military supplies. At the same time, the head of the corporation then set the nominal profit margin to 1%, which was sent not to shareholders, but to the needs of aid funds.
The beginning of the era of computers
The first IBM computer was released in 1941-1943 and received the name "Mark-I". The machine weighed an impressive 4.5 tons. After testing, its official launch took place only in 1944, after being transferred to Harvard University.
In fact, "Mark-I" was a very highly advanced arithmometer, but due to automation and programming capabilities, it is the first electronic computer.
The collaboration of the international corporation and the main developer Howard Aiken was extremely unsuccessful. IBM computers continued to develop already without it. As a result, in 1952, the company released the first tube computer.
At the end of 1950, the first IBM transistor-based computers were created. Thanks to this improvement, it was possible to increase the reliability of computers and create on their basis the first defense system against missile attack. At the same time, the first IBM serial computer with a hard drive appears. True, the drive, shown to the Soviet leader in 1958, occupied two large cabinets and was 5 MB in size. IBM set prices for it, too, rather big. The first prototype of the hard drive cost about 50,000 US dollars at the prices of that time. But that was only the beginning.
First appearance of IBM System
In 1964, new IBM computers were introduced. They have changed significantly and set standards for many years to come. The family is called the IBM System / 360. These were the first machines that allowed to gradually increase computing power by changing the model and at the same time not changing the software. It was in these mainframes that microcode technology first came into use.
The computers created by IBM received a very successful architecture, which has become the de facto standard for many years. And today, the System Z series, which is a logical continuation of the System / 360 line, is used very actively.
First pc
At IBM, personal computers were not seen as a promising market. However, in 1976, the first IBM 5100 series desktop computer was introduced. It was intended more for engineers and was little suitable for office work or personal use.
The first mass personal computer "blue giant" introduced only in 1981. In fact, the company did not particularly hope for its success. That is why most of its components were purchased from other companies. The new computer was included in the IBM 5150 family and was named PC.
The popularity of IBM PC
A new processor from Intel also required a modern operating system, which was very successfully proposed by a young company founded by Bill Gates.
The most important factor that brought PC popularity was the openness of the architecture. The corporation for the first time abandoned many years of principles and did not begin to license the used components or BIOS. This allowed many third-party companies to quickly build “clones” based on published specifications.
Open architecture provided other advantages, such as the possibility of repair and self-modernization of computers. In the future, this gave rise to personal computers.
However, IBM itself almost did not hit the home computer market. The original IBM PC model was quite expensive. Plus, this basic kit required the purchase of a floppy disk controller and the drives themselves. Competitors against this background looked more promising.
Nevertheless, the company tried to launch a number of models for home users. One of them, called IBM PCjr, was among the 25 worst computer devices. But the production of this model was quickly discontinued.
In the business segment, IBM traditionally felt excellent, including in the personal computer market. This was achieved by high brand recognition, thoughtful marketing. The result of success was the advent of the IBM PC / XT and IBM PC / AT machines.
First laptop
Despite the rather poor initial attitude towards personal computers, the giant was forced to think. First of all, it was influenced by the stunning success of the IBM PC. By the way, the semi-annual sales plan of the first personal computer was completed in less than 30 days.
As a result, the company decided to continue to create small computers. As a result, a model 68 of the 5155 series appeared, which was produced for about two years, from the beginning of 1984. A little later, the world saw a laptop from IBM. They became the model Convertible.
The first IBM Convertible laptop went on sale in early 1986 and, despite fairly modest specs, was made until 1991. Of the innovations, this device was the first PC from a giant corporation to be equipped with a 3.5 ”drive.
90s
By the 90s, the giant corporation was rapidly losing ground in the personal computer market, but for a long time continued to produce new models of stationary and mobile computers.
First, in 1990, IBM introduced a new computer to the market that has a completely new architecture and is not compatible in hardware and software with previous generations.
The new computer received a modern data bus, and many components were changed in such a way that it was almost impossible to reproduce them by small companies from Asia for technological and licensing reasons. But the architecture was a failure. Although some of the innovations applied in these PCs have existed for quite some time, for example, PS / 2 mouse and keyboard connectors are sometimes used even in modern machines.
At the same time, the company produced a series of computers compatible with the previous generation under the name PS / 1, and later - Aptiva.
These were the last personal computers produced by the "blue giant." By 1996-1997, the production of machines for this market segment was curtailed.
2000s and final departure from the PC market
IBM, despite the cessation of the development and production of desktop PCs, continued to produce and successfully sell laptops on the market. Some users even continued to regard IBM computers as standards.
In 2004, the corporation made a difficult decision, as a result, the entire business for the production of personal computers and laptops was sold to the Chinese company Lenovo. The company itself focused on a much more interesting server and support market for the giant. Somewhat later, IBM sold other units that linked it to PC manufacturing, for example, the hard drive department came under the control of HITACHI.
The long history of IBM has allowed the company to accumulate vast experience in the creation of computer hardware and software. Today, even despite leaving the PC market, the company has a rather strong influence on the development of the entire industry.