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IBM turns 100

To highlight its achievements in the 100 years of its existence, IBM has released a full-page ad in some Indian newspapers & a dedicated site for IBM's 100 Icons of Progress. A few interesting facts & trivia from that list of accomplishments -
  • IBM programmer John Backus and his team produced the first high-level language, FORTRAN (for FORmula TRANslating System) in 1957.
  • Contributed to the rise of the Internet by designing with its partners a new high-speed National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) to connect US universities and 6 US-based supercomputer centers.
  • Developed storage devices like Magnetic tape & Floppy disk
  • Invented the UPC barcode system in 1973
  • The first IBM Personal Computer (IBM 5150) had a price tag of $1,565 & earned Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” award. The brand name PC has got so popular that it is now used as a synonym for a micro-computer.
  • IBM engineer Forrest Parry's wife contributed to the development of Magnetic Stripe Technology by suggesting to her husband that he use the iron to melt the magnetized tape strip onto a piece of plastic when he was struggling to combine the two components.  Now you know who is behind the magnetic stripe on credit cards.