During the last 100 years, information technology has moved from a specialized tool to a pervasive influence on nearly every aspect of life. From tabulating machines that simply counted with mechanical switches or vacuum tubes to the first programmable computers, IBM® has been a part of this growth, while always helping customers to solve problems.

IT is a constant part of business and of our lives. IBM expertise in delivering IT solutions has helped the planet become smarter. As organizational leaders seek to extract more real value from their data, business processes, and other key investments, IT is moving to the strategic center of business.

To meet those business demands, IBM is introducing a new category of systems--systems that combine the flexibility of general-purpose systems, the elasticity of cloud computing, and the simplicity of an appliance that is tuned to the workload. Expert integrated systems are essentially the building blocks of capability. This new category of systems represents the collective knowledge of thousands of deployments, established best practices, innovative thinking, IT leadership, and distilled expertise.

Changes in the September 20 update:

* Updated the section on IBM PureData System for Hadoop