International Business Machines Corporation is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with headquarters in Armonk, New York. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware, middleware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. The company originated in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company through a merger of the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Computing Scale Company.
Super Micro Computer, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and sells servers based on the x86 architecture. The company's offerings include rackmount, tower and blade server systems, high-end workstations, storage server systems, motherboards, chassis, and server components branded under the Server Building Block Solutions product line. Supermicro was founded in 1993 by engineer and current CEO Charles Liang. The company was incorporated in Delaware in August 2006 and had its IPO in March 2007. As of June 30, 2012, Supermicro employed 1,472 full-time employees and 31 consultants at its operations in the United States, Europe, and Asia with customers in over 89 countries. The company offers its products through value-added resellers, system integrators, and original equipment manufacturers, as well as through its direct sales force.
