Although IBM holds many patents in computer-related technology, it did not invent the computer. IBM did, however, play a significant role in the development of commercial applications for emerging computer technology.

Ibm's Beginnings

The history of the IBM Corporation can be traced to the year 1890, when a new process to record census information was developed by German immigrant Herman Hollerith (1860–1929). He developed a code that could be punched into holes in cardboard cards to represent data. These holes could then be sensed electrically by his punched card tabulating machine to sort or total the data represented by the punched cards. Hollerith's code was adopted by the U.S. Census Bureau and was still widely used into the 1960s. In 1896 Hollerith created the Tabulating Machine Company to market his product.

Hollerith's company merged with the Computing Scale Company of America and the International Time Recording...