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I do really like IBM's design principles. I think they really embraced Paul Rand's aesthetic. Unrelated - what does IBM do nowadays?

jonfw 3y ago
They print money on hardware (Z), consulting, and red hat. They’re trying to grow in cloud and AI. They’re huge in IP as well
BetaPictoris 3y ago
Yeah, IBM's design is fantastic. > Unrelated - what does IBM do nowadays? Cloud, AI (Watson), and quantum computing.
- dralley 3y ago
  The visual design of their mainframes and supercomputers is amazing
7thaccount 3y ago
IBM seems to mainly grow by buying companies and milking support dollars, while keeping a skeleton crew for the product. There's also all the AI hype after Watson. They don't have much hardware left outside of the Z-Machine mainframes which are pretty cool.
- dclowd9901 3y ago
  Don’t they dabble in quantum computing too?
  - PumpkinSpice 3y ago
    They were also on the forefront of the "blockchain revolution" several years back. There's worthwhile research coming out of IBM once in a blue moon, but by and large, they seem to be chasing PR trends.
    - joshish 3y ago
      i remember reading about how IBM was consistently granted the most patents by the USPTO for over 25 years; this thread made me take a look and turns out Samsung bested them last year. and, of course, IBM spun it as a shift to "focusing" and that they did it "on purpose". feels like a sign of the times
      - kitd 3y ago
        They also stopped paying bonuses for patent work. Not surprising it dropped off thereafter.
  - 7thaccount 3y ago
    Yeah, but that's probably far less profitable than even their AI business
- icedchai 3y ago
  The POWER systems are pretty neat. IBM is one of the last standing commercial Unix vendors w/AIX.
User23 3y ago
Government contracting. Those Z series mainframes are pretty much ideal for tasks like running government payroll and pensions. Including in the face of the inevitable congressional brinksmanship.
- ReactiveJelly 3y ago
  I'm surprised that running payroll and pensions for the whole country would take more than one roomful of computing power but what do I know
russh 3y ago
Mainly offshore outsourcing.
- sofixa 3y ago
  They spun that part off as Kyndryl in 2020.
  - rcbdev 3y ago
    Not entirely - Consulting is also doing more and more near-/off-shoring to cut costs
epilys 3y ago
Check out his design manual for IBM. https://standardsmanual.com/products/ibm-graphic-design-guide https://standardsmanual.com/products/ibm-graphic-design-guid... It's an incredibly beautiful book, not so for the corporate stuff, but for the elegance in Rand's designs. There's even a section in how all sorts of stationary is supposed to look.
solardev 3y ago
Look wistfully back at its glory days?
63 3y ago
Lots, but very little of it faces the direct public and what little does isn't advertised as from IBM. The company is largely divided into a consulting, research, product development, and mainframes with that last one on its way out (though in all fairness it's been "on its way out" for 30+ years). As other commenters noted, a big portion of the consulting work is for governments because IBM is a trusted brand in the US and frankly is already large enough to have lots of salespeople to work on RFPs and developers who are already used to working slow. They also do a lot of B2B work though. The consulting work IBM does obviously varies per client but it's more modern than the sibling comment insinuates. Their strategy was focused on hybrid multicloud for a few years (the Redhat acquisition was a major part of this so they could push Openshift on customers) but very recently they're trying to make a hard shift to generative AI. IBM's research is even less public than their consulting projects but they love to advertise their work in quantum computing and I've heard they work on patents for chip manufacturing to sell to TSMC and others (don't quote me on this one, it's definitely not my area of expertise). Product development is responsible for maintaining all the proprietary IBM software that they promised to upkeep for god knows how long even though nobody in their right mind actually uses it anymore. At least that's my understanding. They probably do other more relevant things too. IBM does truthfully do interesting work, but they don't really sell to the public anymore so the public only knows them as "that big company that made computers in the 80s and somehow still exists." They also have a big multinational presence I've heard. Lots of expansion in India.
- raverbashing 3y ago
  Didn't consulting spin-off to Kyndril?
  - DebtDeflation 3y ago
    No, that was infrastructure services. IBM Consulting is something like 30%+ of IBM's total revenue.
gustavus 3y ago
They spend their time navigating the bureaucracy of DoD contracts. IBM is still around because they have contracts with the pentagon. Bidding upon these contracts is a route very rarely taken because it is the kind of process that takes years and knowledge that usually can only be recovered using a pentagram. As a result IBM will continue to exist as long as they continue to hold those Defense contracts that are 1. Extremely lucrative, 2. Long term and 3. Very difficult for anyone else to get involved in. But rest assured the entire nuclear arsenal of democracy is currently probably running on an old ASM/400 sitting in the broom closet in some Air Force base somewhere.

jonfw 3y ago

They print money on hardware (Z), consulting, and red hat. They’re trying to grow in cloud and AI. They’re huge in IP as well

BetaPictoris 3y ago

Yeah, IBM's design is fantastic. > Unrelated - what does IBM do nowadays? Cloud, AI (Watson), and quantum computing.

dralley 3y ago
The visual design of their mainframes and supercomputers is amazing

7thaccount 3y ago

IBM seems to mainly grow by buying companies and milking support dollars, while keeping a skeleton crew for the product. There's also all the AI hype after Watson. They don't have much hardware left outside of the Z-Machine mainframes which are pretty cool.

dclowd9901 3y ago
Don’t they dabble in quantum computing too?
- PumpkinSpice 3y ago
  They were also on the forefront of the "blockchain revolution" several years back. There's worthwhile research coming out of IBM once in a blue moon, but by and large, they seem to be chasing PR trends.
  - joshish 3y ago
    i remember reading about how IBM was consistently granted the most patents by the USPTO for over 25 years; this thread made me take a look and turns out Samsung bested them last year. and, of course, IBM spun it as a shift to "focusing" and that they did it "on purpose". feels like a sign of the times
    - kitd 3y ago
      They also stopped paying bonuses for patent work. Not surprising it dropped off thereafter.
- 7thaccount 3y ago
  Yeah, but that's probably far less profitable than even their AI business
icedchai 3y ago
The POWER systems are pretty neat. IBM is one of the last standing commercial Unix vendors w/AIX.

User23 3y ago

Government contracting. Those Z series mainframes are pretty much ideal for tasks like running government payroll and pensions. Including in the face of the inevitable congressional brinksmanship.

ReactiveJelly 3y ago
I'm surprised that running payroll and pensions for the whole country would take more than one roomful of computing power but what do I know

russh 3y ago

Mainly offshore outsourcing.

sofixa 3y ago
They spun that part off as Kyndryl in 2020.
- rcbdev 3y ago
  Not entirely - Consulting is also doing more and more near-/off-shoring to cut costs

epilys 3y ago

Check out his design manual for IBM. https://standardsmanual.com/products/ibm-graphic-design-guide https://standardsmanual.com/products/ibm-graphic-design-guid... It's an incredibly beautiful book, not so for the corporate stuff, but for the elegance in Rand's designs. There's even a section in how all sorts of stationary is supposed to look.

solardev 3y ago

Look wistfully back at its glory days?

63 3y ago

Lots, but very little of it faces the direct public and what little does isn't advertised as from IBM. The company is largely divided into a consulting, research, product development, and mainframes with that last one on its way out (though in all fairness it's been "on its way out" for 30+ years). As other commenters noted, a big portion of the consulting work is for governments because IBM is a trusted brand in the US and frankly is already large enough to have lots of salespeople to work on RFPs and developers who are already used to working slow. They also do a lot of B2B work though. The consulting work IBM does obviously varies per client but it's more modern than the sibling comment insinuates. Their strategy was focused on hybrid multicloud for a few years (the Redhat acquisition was a major part of this so they could push Openshift on customers) but very recently they're trying to make a hard shift to generative AI. IBM's research is even less public than their consulting projects but they love to advertise their work in quantum computing and I've heard they work on patents for chip manufacturing to sell to TSMC and others (don't quote me on this one, it's definitely not my area of expertise). Product development is responsible for maintaining all the proprietary IBM software that they promised to upkeep for god knows how long even though nobody in their right mind actually uses it anymore. At least that's my understanding. They probably do other more relevant things too. IBM does truthfully do interesting work, but they don't really sell to the public anymore so the public only knows them as "that big company that made computers in the 80s and somehow still exists." They also have a big multinational presence I've heard. Lots of expansion in India.

raverbashing 3y ago
Didn't consulting spin-off to Kyndril?
- DebtDeflation 3y ago
  No, that was infrastructure services. IBM Consulting is something like 30%+ of IBM's total revenue.

gustavus 3y ago

They spend their time navigating the bureaucracy of DoD contracts. IBM is still around because they have contracts with the pentagon. Bidding upon these contracts is a route very rarely taken because it is the kind of process that takes years and knowledge that usually can only be recovered using a pentagram. As a result IBM will continue to exist as long as they continue to hold those Defense contracts that are 1. Extremely lucrative, 2. Long term and 3. Very difficult for anyone else to get involved in. But rest assured the entire nuclear arsenal of democracy is currently probably running on an old ASM/400 sitting in the broom closet in some Air Force base somewhere.