3 ms·

What happened to IBM?

by zkmon 2mo ago

smolder 2mo ago
They became NSC, no such company.
Nursie 2mo ago
Sometime in the 90s they decided that becoming a services and consultancy provider was more important than being involved in large-scale commodity hardware or really anything else. Over three decades they've exited commodity hardware (x-series and thinkpads), retreated from a lot of software stuff and generally gone as hard as they can for large-scale business contracts. They seem to keep a decent amount of cutting-edge hardware research going, Power is still broadly competitive with x86 AFAICT, but the volumes have got to be pretty low these days and I half suspect that some of it is just a "Hey look at us we're still here" play rather than actually feeding into products, because services are the profit-centre. They're still huge and have a lot of money, and they own Redhat. But IMHO it's in a long, slow decline, and it has stepped back from the public eye and most public-facing markets. Context - I've worked for them in a few places. Obvs my opinons are my own, especially as I've been 'out' for over a decade at this point.
BenoitP 2mo ago
They had vertical integration and made bank. Then each layer got more complex as computing became mainstream, and IBM got out-competed on everyone of them by specialized companies. And then they sold them off. The only layer that remains is the most strategic: the customer relationship. IBM is now just a consultancy.
- chinathrow 2mo ago
  They still produce the mainframe hardware ranges though.
- noir_lord 2mo ago
  I think that's a little simplistic/reductive. In some areas IBM still holds if not a technological advantage at least the first among equals position, they just aren't areas that are flashy or generally known outside of folks like us - Mainframes and related technologies for example, the IBM Z series is still a huge player there. They are also a consultancy though.
- anonymous_sorry 2mo ago
  > IBM is now just a consultancy. Except that they own Red Hat
- INTPenis 2mo ago
  Not much is left of the great IBM, but their Z architecture is still superior when it comes to reliability at scale. In fact, "what happened to IBM?", they were in the news recently: https://wccftech.com/ibm-worlds-first-dual-architecture-processor-dual-isa-core-natively-executes-z-arm-software/ https://wccftech.com/ibm-worlds-first-dual-architecture-proc... Creating the world's first dual instruction set CPU.
  - guenthert 1mo ago
    > Creating the world's first dual instruction set CPU. World's first? What about the VIA C3 (or earlier NEC V20)? I'm sure there are more / earlier ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Instruction_Set https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Instruction_Set
    - INTPenis 1mo ago
      That's not the same thing, it's more like a hidden feature than the ISA of an entirely different CPU.
    - Angostura 1mo ago
      There was also the semi-mythical PowerPC 615 that was meant to have both PowerPC and x86 instruction sets. W
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
TacticalCoder 1mo ago
They royally screwed up by signing an exclusive deal with the back-then no-name Microsoft company. IBM created the 3 trillion behemoth that Microsoft is while killing themselves in the process. It's really sad but also infuriating: had IBM not fucked up and not signed Microsoft, that mediocre company that Microsoft is would have gone nowhere and we wouldn't have to suffer their turds since decades. P.S: in their dying breath (and I know IBM still exists), they did commit one billion dollar to Linux early on (which back then was a big deal). When we see the tens of billions of devices that now run Linux, IBM at least partially participated in Linux taking over the world. So there's that.

What happened to IBM?

by zkmon 2mo ago

What happened to IBM?

smolder 2mo ago

They became NSC, no such company.

Nursie 2mo ago

Sometime in the 90s they decided that becoming a services and consultancy provider was more important than being involved in large-scale commodity hardware or really anything else. Over three decades they've exited commodity hardware (x-series and thinkpads), retreated from a lot of software stuff and generally gone as hard as they can for large-scale business contracts. They seem to keep a decent amount of cutting-edge hardware research going, Power is still broadly competitive with x86 AFAICT, but the volumes have got to be pretty low these days and I half suspect that some of it is just a "Hey look at us we're still here" play rather than actually feeding into products, because services are the profit-centre. They're still huge and have a lot of money, and they own Redhat. But IMHO it's in a long, slow decline, and it has stepped back from the public eye and most public-facing markets. Context - I've worked for them in a few places. Obvs my opinons are my own, especially as I've been 'out' for over a decade at this point.

BenoitP 2mo ago

They had vertical integration and made bank. Then each layer got more complex as computing became mainstream, and IBM got out-competed on everyone of them by specialized companies. And then they sold them off. The only layer that remains is the most strategic: the customer relationship. IBM is now just a consultancy.

chinathrow 2mo ago
They still produce the mainframe hardware ranges though.
noir_lord 2mo ago
I think that's a little simplistic/reductive. In some areas IBM still holds if not a technological advantage at least the first among equals position, they just aren't areas that are flashy or generally known outside of folks like us - Mainframes and related technologies for example, the IBM Z series is still a huge player there. They are also a consultancy though.
anonymous_sorry 2mo ago
> IBM is now just a consultancy. Except that they own Red Hat
INTPenis 2mo ago
Not much is left of the great IBM, but their Z architecture is still superior when it comes to reliability at scale. In fact, "what happened to IBM?", they were in the news recently: https://wccftech.com/ibm-worlds-first-dual-architecture-processor-dual-isa-core-natively-executes-z-arm-software/ https://wccftech.com/ibm-worlds-first-dual-architecture-proc... Creating the world's first dual instruction set CPU.
- guenthert 1mo ago
  > Creating the world's first dual instruction set CPU. World's first? What about the VIA C3 (or earlier NEC V20)? I'm sure there are more / earlier ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Instruction_Set https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Instruction_Set
  - INTPenis 1mo ago
    That's not the same thing, it's more like a hidden feature than the ISA of an entirely different CPU.
  - Angostura 1mo ago
    There was also the semi-mythical PowerPC 615 that was meant to have both PowerPC and x86 instruction sets. W

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

TacticalCoder 1mo ago

They royally screwed up by signing an exclusive deal with the back-then no-name Microsoft company. IBM created the 3 trillion behemoth that Microsoft is while killing themselves in the process. It's really sad but also infuriating: had IBM not fucked up and not signed Microsoft, that mediocre company that Microsoft is would have gone nowhere and we wouldn't have to suffer their turds since decades. P.S: in their dying breath (and I know IBM still exists), they did commit one billion dollar to Linux early on (which back then was a big deal). When we see the tens of billions of devices that now run Linux, IBM at least partially participated in Linux taking over the world. So there's that.