Digital News Report – IBM (NYSE: IBM) is celebrating their 100th anniversary since the company was founded on June 16, 2011. They got to ring the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange as well as debut a new film called ‘Wild Ducks.’ The company has also released a new book called ‘Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company.’
IBM managed to remain competitive over the years as technology changed. During the Great Depression, the company invested in a research lab that led to the first hard disk drive storage system. The company also had developed the System/360 mainframe which was a new idea. IBM was involved in the invention of the UPC barcode. Most will remember IBM for developing the Personal Computer, which helped bring computers into homes. IBM hasn’t stopped with innovative ideas. In February 2011, IBM had their Artificial Intelligence computer named ‘Watson’ compete with real people on the TV game show Jeopardy; Watson won.
The oldest living IBM former employee is Luis A. Lamassonne, who is 105 years old, and lives in Miami, Florida. He started to work with IBM way back in 1933 and spent 38 years with the company. Lamassonne said in a statement, “IBM has always been one of the best companies. The company is special because of the people. I have faith that IBM will survive for many more years, for another century.”
With IBM reaching its 100 years in business milestone, they decided to release a book called, ‘Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company.’ The authors of the book are Steve Hamm, Kevin Maney and Jeffrey M. O’Brien who are award-winning journalists. The book discusses how IBM has played a part in how the world uses technology today, and how the company continually changed throughout the years to keep up with the times.
IBM will be releasing a series of short films in celebration of their 100 years in business. The first short film is ‘Wild Ducks,’ which documents how IBM clients tried new unproven approaches in growing their business. The next in the series is called ‘100 x 100’ which is a quick history lesson on IBM accomplishments. The third short film is titled, ‘They Were There,’ which will have key innovators first-person narratives of meaningful historical moments at IBM.
IBM has set up a special website at IBM100.com to show off their accomplishments over the last century. This is also the website were you will find the short films.
By: Tim Edwards