IBM was established in 1911 under the name Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, changing its name to International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924. Born from the merger of four New York State companies, IBM employed over 1,000 people from its inception. Today, the company is one of the world’s largest employers, with almost 300,000 staff across 170 countries.
Over the years, IBM has been behind many notable firsts in the technology industry, including the ATM, floppy disk, hard disk drive, magnetic stripe card, SQL programming language and the UPC barcode. The company also pioneered the use of multipurpose computers, which led the way for home PCs, and is responsible for significant progress in advanced computer chips, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and data infrastructure.
Behind such incredible advancements are 19 research facilities across 12 countries, making IBM the largest industrial research organisation in the world. Such is its success in this regard that its employees and alumni have been recognised with numerous accolades for inventions and scientific research, including six Nobel Prizes and six Turing Awards. The company also holds the record for the most patents held by a single business.
In recent years, IBM has led the way with pioneering cybersecurity solutions, having invested USD 4bn into this area. Today, its IBM Security Services division delivers advisory, integration and managed security solutions to customers across a wide range of industries, offering an advanced and integrated portfolio of enterprise security products and services infused with AI. Its global team of experts and market-leading technology combine to transform security into a business enabler.
In all, across its computing, software, cloud infrastructure and security businesses, IBM posted revenues of USD 60.5bn in 2022.
