IBM is 100
2011 is IBM’s centenary year and it has compiled a fabulous little film to highlight some of the company’s achievements and many more to come. Do we all have IBM stories to tell? Jeff Peel (not quite 100 yet) ponders…
I have worked in the technology industry for pretty much my entire adult life. I have never been employed by IBM but I suppose I consider myself something of an IBMer. I’ve undertaken countless research and thought leadership projects for the company. IBM has been good to me.
But here are a few of my own IBM landmarks.
- The first programming language I was ever taught was FORTRAN (launched by IBM in 1957 – well before I was born) – I was terrible FORTRAN programmer
- The first laptop I ever used was a ThinkPad – and I later conducted several user and channel related research projects for IBM RTP on this segment defining product
- I once sat in CEO Lou Gerstner’s office chair (when strolling past his office on a trip to IBM’s Armonk HQ) – Gerstner was appointed CEO in 1993
- I conducted user research on the RS/6000 products in the late 1990s (RS/6000s were powered by IBM’s RISC chips, first announced in 1980)
- I started my career in market research and once worked for one of America’s oldest and most respected research firms, Roper Starch. But the fact is that large sample survey research was only made possible because of IBM – with the arrival of punch-cards in 1931.
Anyone who works in technology – or in business – has a personal IBM story to tell. But all I wanted to say was, “Congratulations IBM”.
