IBM at 100: Happy birthday!

A humble beginning in 1911 for the company that would later become IBM is formed as the Computing Tabulating Recording Co.

The CTR logo

In 1911, financier Charles R. Flint directed the merger of the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Company and the Tabulating Machine Company to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company . This was the logo chosen to represent the merged company.

Thomas Watson's arrival

In 1914 Thomas J. Watson, Sr., a former executive at National Cash Register Co., was named general manager of CTR. Watson emphasized research and engineering, and introduced his famous motto "THINK." He became the company's guiding force over the next four decades.

IBM meets the world

In 1924, the company is renamed as International Business Machines

The early IBM in 1924.

1937: Social Security

IBM was selected by the U.S. Government to lend its talents on the project which resulted in making Social Security possible. The job of organizing files of 26 million Americans represented the largest accounting project of its time.

In 1944, IBM presents the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, the first machine able to execute long computation automatically, to Harvard. Eight feet high and 50 feet long, the electromechanical switches of "Mark I" could perform a multiplication problem in six seconds and division in about twice that time.

New logo for IBM

This new logo appeared on the masthead of the January 1, 1947 issue of Business Machines. The familiar "globe" was replaced with the simple letters "IBM" in a typeface called Beton Bold.

IBM 701

IBM unveils the IBM 701, an early large computer based on vacuum tubes, in 1953. The vacuum tubes were faster than electromechanical switches, but could become very hot and were eventually replaced by transistors

Changing of the guard

Watson's son, Thomas Watson Jr., becomes president of the company in 1955. The elder Watson remains CEO until May 1956, a month before his death.

New boss, new logo

Tom Watson, Jr.'s first notable move was to make a subtle change in the company's logotype. The idea was, in part, to send the message that any changes would come within an overall continuity. The letters "IBM" took on a more solid and and balanced appearance in the new logotype, which replaced the former Beton Bold typography with City Medium.

A magnetic hard disk for storage

Big Blue creates first magnetic hard disk for data storage, Random Access Method of Accounting and Control, or RAMAC. The system's "random access arm" retrieved data stored on 50 disks.

FORTRAN

In 1957, IBM created the computer language FORTRAN. Designed to translate formulas into code (the name is short for FORmula TRANslation). The language became a widely used program for technical computing.

The Selectric typewriter

In 1961, IBM introduced the Selectric Typewriter, in which characters that strike the paper are arranged on a single metal ball rather than a row of individual keys. That kept the keys from jamming.

System/360,

1964 marked the debut of IBM's System/360, a family of mainframe computers of different sizes. Because they were compatible with one another, growing businesses could upgrade more easily. That brought peace of mind to prospective customers, who knew they could buy a smaller system knowing they still would always be able to upgrade if their computing demands increased, without needing to reprogram or use different application software.

1971: IBM creates the floppy disk, a way to store data that would become a feature of early PCs.

Another logo tweak

In 1972, IBM introduced a new version of the logotype. Designed by Paul Rand, horizontal stripes now replaced the solid letters to suggest "speed and dynamism."

UPC bar codes

1973: IBM helps usher in a retailing revolution as supermarkets begin scanning UPC bar codes, invented by IBM.

The PC

In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer with a chip made by Intel and a Disk Operating System made by a little-known company called Microsoft. It was one of the most significant technology debuts ever. Not only did it help bring the PC - until then largely dismissed as a hobbyist affectation - into the business world, it also cemented the futures of Intel and Microsoft, which profited mightily from their partnerships with Big Blue.

Meet the new boss

By 1993, IBM had lost its way. Beset by competition from so-called clone makers, the company was slow to respond to the fast-changing demands of the PC era. The then-CEO, John Akers, even considered a plan to break IBM up into several smaller companies. That's when the board decided it was time for an executive change. Reaching outside the company, it appointed Louis Gerstner as its top executive in 1993. The first outsider to head the company, Gerstner brought IBM back from the brink, engineering its successful transformation into a provider of software and services.

How about a nice game of chess?

The era of the thinking machine came that much closer when IBM's Deep Blue computer became the first to defeat a world chess champion, winning a six-game match against Garry Kasparov in 1997.

"Watson" wins all on Jeopardy!

IBM's Watson supercomputer system defeats two of Jeopardy's greatest champions, (l-R) contestants Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, in 2011