IBM celebrates 100 years of progress

By Sai Krishna D.
June 18, 2011

We look at the major achievements of the Big Blue, marking its 100th anniversary today:
IBM, which was founded as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTR) in 1911, aims to build a smarter planet today with its series of innovations and growth.

Over the past several years, IBM has been making significant investments in emerging markets including India, Africa and Brazil. As IBM remains focused on developing smart, citizen-centric solutions for specific industries, including government, these investments will supposedly reap benefits for the company in the near future.

So far, IBM has reportedly invested $14 billion in 25 analytics acquisitions. It has been actively involved in offering innovative solutions to its clients in different segments such as traffic management, smart grids, water systems, healthcare, and currency risk management.

Let’s consider the potential of IBM’s Spoken Web. It is a voice-based equivalent of the World Wide Web, primarily designed for semi-literate populations of developing countries. People can create voice sites using a simple telephone, mobile or landline. The user gets a unique phone number, which is analogous to a URL and when other users access this voice site they get to hear the content uploaded there. Interestingly, all these voice sites can be interlinked creating a massive network, which can work like the World Wide Web.

IBM has teamed up with Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation (KVTSDC) to help citizens find work using their mobile devices by leveraging the power of cloud computing, the mobile Web and the Spoken Web.

Another achievement is the implementation of a biometrics-enabled crew management system for Indian Railways, which generates alerts in case of a crew shortage, causing supervisor to interfere and take necessary steps.