Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012
THEN
On Jan. 8, 1889, American inventor Herman Hollerith receives a U.S. patent for his innovative tabulation machine. After receiving a patent for the tabulation machine in 1889, Hollerith’s machines are leased by the United States Census Bureau in order to tabulate the 63 million people of the 1890 census. With Hollerith’s machines, the census takes only about two years compared to the estimated 10 to 13 years it would have taken count by hand. Hollerith’s device is credited by historians with being the predecessor to the modern computer. In 1911, Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine Company merges with two other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company—the direct predecessor of IBM.
NOW
Last year, IBM celebrated its centennial. Although the company stopped making PCs six years ago, it has continued operations by changing its focus to consulting, cloud computing, servers, analytics and financing. Today, 83 percent of IBM’s business is software and service. Under its new model, the company has IBM Innovative Centers in over 30 countries around the world. On Jan. 1, Virginia M. Rometty—credited with engineering the shift in direction—was appointed IBM’s new Chief Executive Officer, taking over for Samuel J. Palmisano who stayed on as chairman.
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