The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an

American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with headquarters in Armonk, New
York, United States. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware and software, and
offersinfrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe
computers to nanotechnology.[3]
The company was founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR)
through a merger of the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company,
and the Computing Scale Company.[4][5] CTR was changed to "International Business Machines" in
1924, using a name which had originated with CTR's Canadian subsidiary. The
initialism IBMfollowed. Securities analysts nicknamed the company Big Blue for its size and
common use of the color in products, packaging, and logo.[6]
In 2012, Fortune ranked IBM the No. 2 largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees (435,000
worldwide),[7] the No. 4 largest in terms of market capitalization,[8] the No. 9 most profitable,[9] and the
No. 19 largest firm in terms of revenue.[10] Globally, the company was ranked the No. 31 largest in
terms of revenue by Forbes for 2011.[11][12] Other rankings for 2011/2012 include No. 1 company for
leaders (Fortune), No. 1 green company in the U.S. (Newsweek), No. 2 best global brand
(Interbrand), No. 2 most respected company (Barron's), No. 5 most admired company (Fortune), and
No. 18 most innovative company (Fast Company).[13]
IBM has 12 research laboratories worldwide, bundled into IBM Research. As of 2013 the company
held the record for most patentsgenerated by a business for 22 consecutive years. [14] Its employees
have garnered five Nobel Prizes, six Turing Awards, tenNational Medals of Technology, and
five National Medals of Science.[15] Notable company inventions include the automated teller machine
(ATM), the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, the magnetic stripe card, the relational database,
the Universal Product Code (UPC), the financial swap, the Fortran programming language, SABRE
airline reservation system, DRAM, copper wiring insemiconductors, the silicon-on-insulator
(SOI) semiconductor manufacturing process, and Watson artificial intelligence.
IBM has constantly evolved since its inception. Over the past decade, it has steadily shifted its
business mix by exiting commoditizing businesses such as PCs, hard disk drives and DRAMs and
focusing on higher-value, more profitable businesses such as business intelligence, data
analytics, business continuity, security, cloud computing, virtualization and green solutions,[16][17]
[18]

resulting in a higher quality revenue stream and higher profit margins. IBM's operating margin

expanded from 16.8% in 2004 to 24.3% in 2013, and net profit margins expanded from 9.0% in 2004
to 16.5% in 2013.[19]
It acquired Kenexa (2012) and SPSS (2009) and PwC's consulting business (2002), spinning
off companies like printer manufacturerLexmark (1991), and selling off product lines like its personal
computer and x86 server businesses to Lenovo (2005, 2014). In 2014 IBM announced that it would

go "fabless" by offloading IBM Micro Electronics semiconductor manufacturing to GlobalFoundries, a

leader in advanced technology manufacturing, citing that semiconductor manufacturing is a capital
intensive business which is challenging to operate without scale.[20] This transition is in progress as of
early 2015.
Contents
[hide]

1 History
o

1.1 19301979

1.2 1980Present

2 Rank

3 Corporate affairs

4 Facilities

5 Work environment

6 Research and inventions

7 Selected current projects

8 Environmental record

9 Company logo and nickname

10 See also

11 References

12 Further reading

13 External links

History[edit]
Main article: History of IBM

"THINK"

MENU
0:00

Thomas J.
Watson, who
led IBM from
1914 to 1956,
discussing the
company's
motto "THINK"

Problems playing this file? See media

help.

In the 1880s, three technologies emerged that would form the core of what would become
International Business Machines (IBM). Julius E. Pitrat patented the computing scale in 1885;
[21]

Alexander Dey invented the dial recorder (1888);[22] and Herman Hollerith patented the Electric

Tabulating Machine[23] and Willard Bundy invented a time clock to record a worker's arrival and
departure time on a paper tape in 1889.[24]
On June 16, 1911, these technologies and their respective companies were merged by Charles
Ranlett Flint to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R).[25] The New York Citybased company had 1,300 employees and offices and plants in Endicott and Binghamton, New York;
Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto, Ontario. It manufactured and sold
machinery ranging from commercial scales and industrial time recorders to meat and cheese slicers,
along with tabulators and punched cards.
Flint recruited Thomas J. Watson, Sr., formerly of the National Cash Register Company, to help lead
the company in 1914.[25] Watson implemented "generous sales incentives, a focus on customer
service, an insistence on well-groomed, dark-suited salesmen and an evangelical fervor for instilling
company pride and loyalty in every worker".[26] His favorite slogan, "THINK", became a mantra for CT-R's employees, and within 11 months of joining C-T-R, Watson became its president. [26] The
company focused on providing large-scale, custom-built tabulating solutions for businesses, leaving
the market for small office products to others. During Watson's first four years, revenues more than
doubled to $9 million and the company's operations expanded to Europe, South America, Asia, and
Australia.[26] On February 14, 1924, C-T-R was renamed the International Business Machines

Corporation (IBM),[13][not in citation given] citing the need to align its name with the "growth and extension of [its]
activities".[27]

19301979[edit]

NACA researchers using an IBM type 704 electronic data processing machine in 1957

In 1937, IBM's tabulating equipment enabled organizations to process unprecedented amounts of

data, its clients including the U.S. Government, during its first effort to maintain the employment
records for 26 million people pursuant to the Social Security Act,[28] and the Third Reich,[29] largely
through the German subsidiary Dehomag. During the Second World War the company produced
small arms for the American war effort (M1 Carbine, and Browning Automatic Rifle). IBM provided
translation services for the Nuremberg Trials. In 1947, IBM opened its first office in Bahrain,[30] as well
as an office in Saudi Arabia to service the needs of the Arabian-American Oil Company that would
grow to become Saudi Business Machines (SBM).[31]
In 1952, Thomas Watson, Sr., stepped down after almost 40 years at the company helm; his
son, Thomas Watson, Jr., was named president. In 1956, the company demonstrated the first
practical example of artificial intelligence when Arthur L. Samuel of IBM's Poughkeepsie, New York,
laboratory programmed an IBM 704 not merely to play checkers but "learn" from its own experience.
In 1957, the FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) scientific programming language was developed. In
1961, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., was elected chairman of the board and Albert L. Williams became
company president. The same year IBM developed the SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business-Related
Environment) reservation system for American Airlines and introduced the highly successful Selectric
typewriter.
In 1963, IBM employees and computers helped NASA track the orbital flight of the Mercury
astronauts. A year later it moved its corporate headquarters from New York City toArmonk, New
York. The latter half of the 1960s saw IBM continue its support of space exploration, participating in
the 1965 Gemini flights, 1966 Saturn flights, and 1969 lunar mission.
On April 7, 1964 IBM announced the first computer system family, the revolutionary IBM System/360.
Sold between 1964 and 1978, it spanned the complete range of commercial and scientific

applications from large to small, allowing companies for the first time to upgrade to models with
greater computing capability without having to rewrite their application.
In 1974, IBM engineer George J. Laurer developed the Universal Product Code.[32] On October 11,
1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3666, a laser-scanning point-of-sale barcode reader which would
become the backbone of retail checkouts. On June 26, 1974, at Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio,
a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum was the first-ever product scanned. It is now on display
at the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
In the late 1970s, IBM underwent a wave of internal convulsions between a management faction
wanting to concentrate on its bread-and-butter mainframe business and one desiring to expand into
the emerging personal computer industry.

1980Present[edit]

IBM's Blue Gene supercomputers were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by U.S.
President Barack Obama on September 18, 2009.

IBM and the World Bank first introduced financial swaps to the public in 1981 when they entered into
a swap agreement.[33] The IBM PC, originally designated IBM 5150, was introduced in 1981, and it
soon became an industry standard. In 1991, IBM sold printer manufacturer Lexmark. In 1993, IBM
posted a US$8 billion loss - at the time the biggest in American corporate history.[34]
In 2002 IBM acquired PwC consulting. In 2003 it initiated a project to redefine company values.
Using its Jam technology, it hosted a three-day Internet-based online discussion of
key business issues with 50,000 employeess. Results were data mined by sophisticated text
analysis software (eClassifier) for common themes. Three emerged, expressed as: "Dedication to
every client's success", "Innovation that mattersfor our company and for the world", and "Trust and
personal responsibility in all relationships".[35] Another three-day Jam took place in 2004, with 52,000
employees discussing ways to implement company values in practice.[36]

IBM showing their various innovations at CeBIT 2010 in Hanover, Germany

In 2005, the company sold its personal computer business to Lenovo, and in the same year it agreed
to acquire Micromuse.[37] A year later IBM launched Secure Blue, a low-cost hardware design for data
encryption that can be built into a microprocessor.[38] In 2009 it acquired software company SPSS
Inc. Later in 2009, IBM's Blue Gene supercomputing program was awarded the National Medal of
Technology and Innovation by U.S. President Barack Obama. In 2011, IBM gained worldwide
attention for its artificial intelligence program Watson, which was exhibited on Jeopardy! where it won
against game-show champions Ken Jenningsand Brad Rutter. As of 2012, IBM had been the top
annual recipient of U.S. patents for 20 consecutive years.[39]
IBM's closing value of $214 billion on September 29, 2011 surpassed Microsoft's $213.2 billion
valuation. It was the first time since 1996 that IBM's closing price exceeded that of its software rival.
On August 16, 2012, IBM announced that it had entered an agreement to buyTexas Memory
Systems.[40] Later that month, IBM announced it has agreed to buy Kenexa.
In June 2013 IBM acquired SoftLayer Technologies, a web hosting service, in a deal worth around
$2 billion;[41] and in July 2014 the company announced a partnership with Apple Inc. in mobile
enterprise.[42][43]
On August 11, 2014, IBM announced it had acquired the business operations of Lighthouse Security
Group, LLC, a premier cloud-security services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed. [44]
In September 2014 it was announced that IBM would sell its x86 server division to Lenovo for a fee
of $2.1 billion.[45] That same year, Reuters referred to IBM as "largely a computer services supplier". [46]
In November 2014, IBM and Twitter announced a global landmark partnership which they claim will
change how institutions and businesses understand their customers, markets and trends. With
Twitter's data on people and IBM's cloud-based analytics and customer-engagement platforms they
plan to help enterprises make better, more informed decisions. The partnership will give enterprises
and institutions a way to make sense of Twitter's mountain of data using IBM's Watson
supercomputer.[47]

Rank[edit]

In 2012, Fortune ranked IBM the No. 2 largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees, [7] the No. 4
largest in terms of market capitalization,[8] the No. 9 most profitable,[9] and the No. 19 largest firm in
terms of revenue.[10] Globally, the company was ranked the No. 31 largest firm in terms of revenue
by Forbes for 2011.[11] Other rankings for 2011/2012 include the following: [13]

No. 1 company for leaders (Fortune)

No. 1 green company in the U.S. (Newsweek)[48]

No. 2 best global brand (Interbrand)

No. 2 most respected company (Barron's)[49]

No. 5 most admired company (Fortune)

No. 18 most innovative company (Fast Company)

For 2012, IBM's brand was valued by Interbrand at $75.5 billion.[50]

For 2012, Vault ranked IBM Global Technology Services No. 1 in tech consulting for cyber security,
operations and implementation, and public sector; and No. 2 inoutsourcing.[51]

Corporate affairs[edit]
IBM is headquartered in Armonk, New York.[52] The 283,000-square-foot (26,300 m2) glass and stone
building sits on a 25-acre (10 ha) parcel amid a 432 acre former apple orchard the company
purchased in the mid-1950s.[53]
The company's 14 member Board of Directors is responsible for overall corporate management. As
of Cathie Black's resignation in November 2010 its membership (by affiliation and year of joining)
included: Alain J. P. Belda '08 (Alcoa), William R. Brody '07 (Salk Institute / Johns Hopkins
University), Kenneth Chenault '98 (American Express), Michael L. Eskew '05 (UPS), Shirley Ann
Jackson '05 (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Andrew N. Liveris '10 (Dow Chemical), W. James
McNerney, Jr. '09 (Boeing), James W. Owens '06 (Caterpillar), Samuel J. Palmisano '00 (IBM), Joan
Spero '04 (Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), Sidney Taurel '01 (Eli Lilly), and Lorenzo
Zambrano '03 (Cemex).[54]
On January 21, 2014 IBM announced that company executives would forgo bonuses for fiscal year
2013. The move came as the firm reported a 5% drop in sales and 1% decline in net profit over
2012. It also committed to a $1.2bn plus expansion of its data center and cloud-storage business,
including the development of 15 new data centers.[55] After ten successive quarters of flat or sliding

sales under Chief Executive Virginia Rometty IBM is being forced to look at new approaches. Said
Rometty, Weve got to reinvent ourselves like weve done in prior generations. [56]

Facilities[edit]
The company has twelve research labs worldwide, bundled under IBM Research and headquartered
at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York. Others include theAlmaden lab in
California, Austin lab in Texas, Australia lab in Melbourne, Brazil lab in So Paulo and Rio de
Janeiro, China lab in Beijing and Shanghai, Ireland lab in Dublin,Haifa lab, in Israel, India
lab in Delhi and Bangalore, Tokyo lab, Zurich lab and Africa lab in Nairobi.
Other major campus installations include towers in Montreal, Paris, and Atlanta; software labs
in Raleigh-Durham, Rome, Cracow and Toronto; Johannesburg, Seattle; and facilities
in Hakozaki and Yamato. The company also operates the IBM Scientific Center, Hursley House,
the Canada Head Office Building, IBM Rochester, and the Somers Office Complex. The company's
contributions to architecture and design, which include works by Eero Saarinen, Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe, and I.M. Pei, have been recognized. Van der Rohe's 330 North Wabash building in
Chicago, the original center of the company's research division post-World War II, was recognized
with the 1990 Honor Award from theNational Building Museum.[57]

IBM Building in WestBoca Raton, Florida The Boca Corporate Center and Campus was originally one of
IBM's research labs where the PC was created.

IBM Rochester (Minnesota), nicknamed the "Big Blue Zoo"

IBM Avenida de Amrica Building in Madrid, Spain

Thomas J. Watson Research Center inYorktown Heights, New York, designed by Eero Saarinen

Somers (New York) Office Complex, designed by I.M. Pei

IBM Japan Makuhari Technical Center, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi

IBM Haifa Research Lab, Israel

Work environment[edit]

IBM's employee management practices can be traced back to its roots. In 1914, CEO Thomas J.
Watson boosted company spirit by creating employee sports teams, hosting family outings, and
furnishing a company band. In 1924 the Quarter Century Club, which recognizes employees with 25
years of service, was organized and the first issue ofBusiness Machines, IBM's internal publication,
was published. In 1925, the first meeting of the Hundred Percent Club, composed of IBM salesmen
who meet their quotas, convened in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
IBM was among the first corporations to provide group life insurance (1934), survivor benefits (1935)
and paid vacations (1937). In 1932 IBM created an Education Department to oversee training for
employees, which oversaw the completion of the IBM Schoolhouse at Endicott in 1933. In 1935, the
employee magazine Think was created. Also that year, IBM held its first training class for female
systems service professionals. In 1942, IBM launched a program to train and employ disabled
people in Topeka, Kansas. The next year classes begin in New York City, and soon the company
was asked to join the President's Committee for Employment of the Handicapped. In 1946, the
company hired its first black salesman, 18 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1947, IBM
announced a Total and Permanent Disability Income Plan for employees. A vested rights pension
was added to the IBM retirement plan.
In 1952, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., published the company's first written equal opportunity policy letter,
one year before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education and 11 years
before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1961, IBM's nondiscrimination policy was expanded to include
sex, national origin, and age. The following year, IBM hosted its first Invention Award Dinner
honoring 34 outstanding IBM inventors; and in 1963, the company named the first eight IBM Fellows
in a new Fellowship Program that recognizes senior IBM scientists, engineers and other
professionals for outstanding technical achievements.

An IBM delivery tricycle in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1965

On September 21, 1953, Thomas Watson, Jr., the company's president at the time, sent out a
controversial letter to all IBM employees stating that IBM needed to hire the best people, regardless
of their race, ethnic origin, or gender. He also publicized the policy so that in his negotiations to build
new manufacturing plants with the governors of two states in the U.S. South, he could be clear that
IBM would not build "separate-but-equal" workplaces.[58] In 1984, IBM added sexual orientation to its
nondiscrimination policy. The company stated that this would give IBM a competitive advantage
because IBM would then be able to hire talented people its competitors would turn down. [59]
IBM was the only technology company ranked in Working Mother magazine's Top 10 for 2004, and
one of two technology companies in 2005.[60][61] On October 10, 2005, IBM became the first major
company in the world to commit formally to not use genetic information in employment decisions.
The announcement was made shortly after IBM began working with the National Geographic
Society on its Genographic Project.
IBM provides same-sex partners of its employees with health benefits and provides an antidiscrimination clause. The Human Rights Campaign has consistently rated IBM 100% on its index of
gay-friendliness since 2003 (in 2002, the year it began compiling its report on major companies, IBM
scored 86%).[62] In 2007 and again in 2010, IBM UK was ranked first in Stonewall's annual Workplace
Equality Index for UK employers.[63]
The company has traditionally resisted labor union organizing, [64] although unions represent some
IBM workers outside the United States.[65] In 2009, the Unite union stated that several hundred
employees joined following the announcement in the UK of pension cuts that left many employees
facing a shortfall in projected pensions.[66]
A dark (or gray) suit, white shirt, and a "sincere" tie[67] was the public uniform for IBM employees for
most of the 20th century. During IBM's management transformation in the 1990s, CEO Louis V.
Gerstner, Jr. relaxed these codes, normalizing the dress and behavior of IBM employees to
resemble their counterparts in other large technology companies. Since then IBM's dress code
is business casual although employees often wear business suits during client meetings.[68]
On June 16, 2011, as part of its centenary celebrations[69] the company announced IBM100, a yearlong grants program to fund employee participation in volunteer projects.

Research and inventions[edit]

An anechoic chamber inside IBM's Yamato research facility

In 1945, The Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory was founded at Columbia University in New
York, New York. The renovated fraternity house on Manhattan's West Side was used as IBM's first
laboratory devoted to pure science. It was the forerunner of IBM Research, the largest industrial
research organization in the world, with twelve labs on six continents. [70]
In 1966, IBM researcher Robert H. Dennard invented Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)
cells, one-transistor memory cells that store each single bit of information as an electrical charge in
an electronic circuit. The technology permits major increases in memory density and is widely
adopted throughout the industry where it remains in widespread use today.
IBM has been a leading proponent of the Open Source Initiative, and began supporting Linux in
1998.[71] The company invests billions of dollars in services and software based on Linux through the
IBM Linux Technology Center, which includes over 300 Linux kerneldevelopers.[72] IBM has also
released code under different open source licenses, such as the platform-independent software
frameworkEclipse (worth approximately US$40 million at the time of the donation),[73] the threesentence International Components for Unicode(ICU) license, and the Java-based relational
database management system (RDBMS) Apache Derby. IBM's open source involvement has not
been trouble-free, however (see SCO v. IBM).
In 2013, Booz and Company placed IBM sixteenth among the 20 most innovative companies in the
world. The company spends 6% of its revenue ($6.3 billion) in research and development. [74]
Famous inventions by IBM include the following:

Automated teller machine (ATM)

Floppy disk

Hard disk drive

Electronic keypunch

Magnetic stripe card

Virtual machine

Scanning tunneling microscope

Reduced instruction set computing

Relational database

Universal Product Code (UPC)

Financial swap

SABRE airline reservation system

Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)

Watson artificial intelligence

Selected current projects[edit]

DeveloperWorks is a website run by IBM for software developers and IT professionals. It contains
how-to articles and tutorials, as well as software downloads and code samples, discussion forums,
podcasts, blogs, wikis, and other resources for developers and technical professionals. Subjects
range from open, industry-standard technologies like Java,Linux, SOA and web services, web
development, Ajax, PHP, and XML to IBM's products
(WebSphere, Rational, Lotus, Tivoli and Information Management). In 2007, developerWorks was
inducted into the Jolt Hall of Fame.[75]
alphaWorks is IBM's source for emerging software technologies. These technologies include:

Flexible Internet Evaluation Report Architecture A highly flexible architecture for the design,
display, and reporting of Internet surveys.

IBM History Flow Visualization Application A tool for visualizing dynamic, evolving
documents and the interactions of multiple collaborating authors.

IBM Linux on POWER Performance Simulator A tool that provides users of Linux on
Power a set of performance models for IBM's POWER processors.

Database File Archive And Restoration Management An application for archiving and
restoring hard disk drive files using file references stored in a database.

Policy Management for Autonomic Computing A policy-based autonomic management

infrastructure that simplifies the automation of IT and business processes.

FairUCE A spam filter that verifies sender identity instead of filtering content.

Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) SDK A Java SDK that supports
the implementation, composition, and deployment of applications working withunstructured data.

Accessibility Browser A web-browser specifically designed to assist people with visual

impairments, to be released as open source software. Also known as the "A-Browser," the
technology will aim to eliminate the need for a mouse, relying instead completely on voicecontrols, buttons and predefined shortcut keys.

Watson, an IBM artificial intelligencecomputer, is capable of "learning" as it operates.

Virtually all console gaming systems of the previous generation used microprocessors developed by
IBM. The Xbox 360 contains aPowerPC tri-core processor, which was designed and produced by
IBM in less than 24 months.[76] Sony's PlayStation 3 features theCell BE microprocessor designed
jointly by IBM, Toshiba, and Sony. IBM also provided the microprocessor that serves as the heart
ofNintendo's new Wii U system, which debuted in 2012.[77] The new Power Architecture-based
microprocessor includes IBM's latest technology in an energy-saving silicon package.
[78]

Nintendo's seventh-generation console, Wii, features an IBM chip codenamedBroadway. The

older Nintendo GameCube utilizes the Gekko processor, also designed by IBM.
In May 2002, IBM and Butterfly.net, Inc. announced the Butterfly Grid, a commercial grid for the
online video gaming market.[79] In March 2006, IBM announced separate agreements with Hoplon
Infotainment, Online Game Services Incorporated (OGSI), and RenderRocket to provide ondemand content management and blade server computing resources.[80]
IBM announced it will launch its new software, called "Open Client Offering" which is to run
on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Apple'sMac OS X. The company states that its new product allows
businesses to offer employees a choice of using the same software on Windows and its alternatives.
This means that "Open Client Offering" is to cut costs of managing whether to use Linux or Apple
relative to Windows. There will be no necessity for companies to pay Microsoft for its licenses for

operating systems since the operating systems will no longer rely on software which is Windowsbased. One alternative to Microsoft's office document formats is the Open Document
Format software, whose development IBM supports. It is going to be used for several tasks
like: word processing, presentations, along with collaboration with Lotus Notes, instant
messaging and blog tools as well as an Internet Explorer competitor the Mozilla Firefox web
browser. IBM plans to install Open Client on 5% of its desktop PCs. The Linux offering has been
made available as the IBM Client for Smart Work product on the Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise
Linux platforms.[81]
The UC2 (Unified Communications and Collaboration) Client Platform is an IBM and Cisco
Systems joint project based on Eclipse and OSGi. It will offer the numerous Eclipse application
developers a unified platform for an easier work environment. The software based on UC2 platform
will provide major enterprises with easy-to-use communication solutions, such as the Lotus
based Sametime. In the future the Sametime users will benefit from such additional functions
as click-to-call and voice mailing.[82]
Redbooks are publicly available online books about best practices with IBM products. They describe
the products features, field experience and dos and don'ts, while leaving aside marketing buzz.
Available formats are Redbooks, Redpapers and Redpieces.
Extreme Blue is a company initiative that uses experienced IBM engineers, talented interns, and
business managers to develop high-value technology. The project is designed to analyze emerging
business needs and the technologies that can solve them. These projects mostly involve rapidprototyping of high-profile software and hardware projects.[83]
In 2006, IBM launched Secure Blue, encryption hardware that can be built into microprocessors. A
year later, IBM unveiled Project Big Green, a re-direction of $1 billion per year across its businesses
to increase energy efficiency. On November 2008, IBMs CEO, Sam Palmisano, during a speech at
the Council on Foreign Relations, outlined a new agenda for building a Smarter Planet.[84] On March
1, 2011, IBM announced the Smarter Computing framework to support Smarter Planet.[85] On Aug 18,
2011, as part of its effort in cognitive computing, IBM has produced chips that imitate neurons and
synapses. These microprocessors do not use von Neumann architecture, and they consume less
memory and power.[86]
IBM also holds the SmartCamp program globally. The program searches for fresh start-up
companies that IBM can partner with to solve world problems. IBM holds 17 SmartCamp events
around the world.[87] Since July 2011, IBM has partnered with Pennies, the electronic charity box, and
produced a software solution for IBM retail customers that provides an easy way to donate money
when paying in-store by credit or debit card. Customers donate just a few pence (1p-99p) a time and
every donation goes to UK charities.

In January 2014, IBM announced plans to invest more than $1.2bn (735m) into its data centers and
cloud storage business. It plans to build 15 new centers around the world, bringing the total number
up to 40 during 2014.[88]
In July 2014, the company revealed it was investing $3 billion over the following five years to create
computer functionality to resemble how the human brain thinks. A spokesman said that basic
computer architecture had not altered since the 1940s. IBM says its goal is to design a neural chip
that mimics the human brain, with 10 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses, but that uses just 1
kilowatt of power.[89]

Environmental record[edit]
IBM was recognized as one of the "Top 20 Best Workplaces for Commuters" by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2005. The award was to recognizeFortune
500 companies which provided employees with excellent commuter benefits to help reduce traffic
and air pollution.[90]
The birthplace of IBM, Endicott, suffered pollution for decades, however. IBM used liquid cleaning
agents in circuit board assembly operation for more than two decades, and six spills and leaks were
recorded, including one leak in 1979 of 4,100 gallons from an underground tank. These left
behind volatile organic compounds in the town's soil and aquifer. Traces of volatile organic
compounds have been identified in Endicotts drinking water, but the levels are within regulatory
limits. Also, from 1980, IBM has pumped out 78,000 gallons of chemicals,
including trichloroethane, freon, benzene and perchloroethene to the air and allegedly caused
several cancer cases among the townspeople. IBM Endicott has been identified by the Department
of Environmental Conservation as the major source of pollution, though traces of contaminants from
a local dry cleaner and other polluters were also found. Remediation and testing are ongoing,
[91]

however according to city officials, tests show that the water is safe to drink. [92]

Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (TOK) and IBM are collaborating to establish new, low-cost methods for
bringing the next generation of solar energy products, called CIGS (Copper-Indium-GalliumSelenide) solar cell modules, to market. Use of thin film technology, such as CIGS, has great
promise in reducing the overall cost of solar cells and further enabling their widespread adoption. [93][94]
IBM is exploring four main areas of photovoltaic research: using current technologies to develop
cheaper and more efficient silicon solar cells, developing new solution-processed thin film
photovoltaic devices, concentrator photovoltaics, and future generation photovoltaic architectures
based upon nanostructures such as semiconductor quantum dots andnanowires.[95]

Company logo and nickname[edit]

The company used the "globe" logo until 1947, when it began using an acronym-based logo.

IBM's current "8-bar" logo was designed in 1972 by graphic designer Paul Rand.[96] It was a general
replacement for a 13-bar logo that first appeared in public on the 1966 release of the TSS/360.
Logos designed in the 1970s tended to reflect the inability of period photocopiers to render large
areas well, hence discrete horizontal bars.
Early dot matrix printers also had difficulty rendering either large solids or narrow bars in resolutions
as low as 240 dots per inch. In 1990 company scientists used a scanning tunneling microscope to
arrange 35 individual xenon atoms to spell out the company acronym. It was the first structure
assembled one atom at a time.[97]

"IBM" spelled out using 35 xenon atoms

Big Blue is a nickname for IBM derived in the 1960s from the company's blue logo and color
scheme, originally adopted in 1947. True Blue referred to a loyal IBM customer, and business writers
later picked up the term.[98][99] IBM once had a de facto dress code that saw many IBM employees
wear white shirts with blue suits.[98][10

The mission of the IBM corporation is really three Values that were created with the help
of 319,000 IBM employees. (See the IBM corporate mission, vision, and purpose
below.)
IBM Founders Facts and Trivia:
IBM was first incorporated in New York state in 1911 as the Computing- Tabulating- recording
Company (C-T-R) by Charles R. Flint as the merger of four companies - the Tabulating Machine
Company, the International Time Recording Company, the Bundy Manufacturing Company, and
the Computing Scale company. The C- T- R company initially sold a wide variety of machines

including coffee grinders, and meat slicers, and it provided business services like census
tabulation with punched card equipment.
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The company changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924 to
better describe the companys present and future business activities. Today the company refers
to itself as IBM and provides a wide variety of technology, products, and services to business
customers throughout the world.
IBM Corporation International Headquarters:
The IBM international corporate headquarters are located in Armonk, NY.
IBM Corporation Mission Statement and Values:
The mission, vision, and values of the IBM corporation has been the same since the company

was incorporated in 1911. In 2003, more than 319,000 global IBM employees (IBMers)
participated in a 72-hour Values Jam, which redefined the values which guide IBM in the
development and delivery of its technology and business products and services. The Values
that were designed from the consensus of the IBMers are:

"Dedication to every client's success

Innovation that matters, for our company and for the world

Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships"

How these IBM values are used by the IBM leadership team is described this way by IBM CEO
Samuel J. Palmisano:
Clearly, leading by values is very different from some kinds of leadership demonstrated in the
past by business. It is empowering, and I think that's much healthier. Rather than burden our
people with excessive controls, we are trusting them to make decisions and to act based on
values - values they themselves shaped." More About the Values and Values Jam of IBM >>