Building IBM

Hollerith - inventor and entrepreneur - getting started, addressing the census problem, the first practical test, obtaining patent protection, entrepreneurial setbacks, winning the census business, commercial applications, entering foreign markets; origins of IBM - business stress, battling the Census Bureau, the proposed merger, reaping the rewards; Watson - a man with a mission - a gifted salesman, a lesson in antitrust law, the man; building an engineering organization - competition emerges, hiring creative engineers, obtaining crucial patents, a drop in revenue, managing engineers, internal competition, the IBM card; responding to the Great Depression - coupling engineering to manufacturing, emphasis on education, research for current needs, quality and production control, methods research, hiring good people; support for academic research - educational testing studies, an innovative science teacher, automatic computation, the Mark I computer; research for patents and devices - a prodigious inventor, pioneering in electronics, building electronic calculators, contacting outside researchers; World War II activities - organizing for war, mobile machine record units, teleprocessing with punched cards, the radiotype, deciphering enemy codes, a trip to remember, lusting for electronics, the navy's task, a commercial venture; future demands - lessons from NCR, forming a committee, a department and its demise, new leadership, the chief engineer; preparing for peace - planning for product improvements, printer research, emphasis on electronics, the SSEC - a supercomputer, the Watson laboratory; government-funded competition - sounding the alarm, the ENIAC, stored-programme computers, promoting the concept, commercial ventures, provocative terminology; IBM's initial response - grooming two sons, assignments in electronics, getting started in Poughkeepsie, a commercial electronic computer, the UNIVAC threat, applied science representatives, supercomputer strategies; Watson, Jr., takes charge - choosing team members, the defense calculator, measures of success, the 700 series, the most popular computer; programming computers - some early efforts, sharing information and programmes, customer support, toward high level languages, the birth of FORTRAN, COBOL arrives; an air defense system - the whirlwind computer, the new mission, a better memory, selecting IBM, working together, the SAGE system, programming, and assessment; chasing new technologies - a new laboratory, inventing disk storage, the solid-state challenge, competition in supercomputers, project stretch, reorganizing research; legacy - naming the industry, some early business practices, patent policies, dominating the industry, settling the antitrust suit, domestic competition, the World Trade Corporation, competition abroad. (Part contents).