The biggest Layoffs in history: Chart of the day

IBM , Citigroup and Sears are among the companies that have sacked the highest number of people in corporate history

The Biggest Layoffs in History: Who were the companies and how much was the number of layoff

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IBM announces the first 7 nanometer chips,

IBM has just annouched a major breakthrough in terms of " miniaturisation" with the creation of the first 7-nanometer chips. This means that the miniaturized electronics are so small that transistors on the chips are only 7 billionth of a meter in length. That’s 1,400 times smaller than a human hair.


This latest IBM research breakthrough milestone is the fruit of a $3 billion, five-year investment in chip research and development that the company announced last year.  Chips are the engine of the hardware industry ranging from the smartphones to robotic and rocket technology. Globally chips are becoming smaller every year ( summarized as Moore’s Law (after a prediction made in 1965 by Intel chairman emeritus Gordon Moore that the number of components on a chip would double every couple of years)

Much of todays consumer electronic industry is powered by the the best chips, such as microprocessors that power our desktops and laptops, use 22-nanometer and 14-nanometer technology. The next manufacturing technology to arrive will be 10-nanometer production,  followed by  the  7-nanometer chips 

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The End of Traffic Jams : % IBM's path breaking Innovation

IBM Unveils Groundbreaking Technology to Reduce Traffic Jams on the Road: Drivers may soon spend less time stuck in a traffic jam thanks to groundbreaking technology developed by IBM.
Researchers at the tech giant teamed up with Lyon, France to build a system that helps traffic operators at the city’s transportation management center reduce congestion on the road, and restore traffic flow.

IBM 's  comprehensive survey of 8,042 drivers in 20 cities were included in the research. Drivers were asked a total of 27 questions, such as the duration of their longest commute, their best and worst roadways and how gas prices affect their choices

Using real-time traffic data, they can evaluate an incident with “predictive traffic management technology” to determine how to keep vehicles moving, according to a release. Called “Decision Support System Optimizer” or DSSO, it can detect incidents, predict the impact of these incidents, predict traffic and suggest the best course of action to take to solve a problem.

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Women Power in Technology : 2012 Forbes Top 10 List

The latest list from Forbes of the 100 most powerful women on the planet suggests that the technology industry is leading the way in promoting sexual equality, contributing 15 per cent of the spots overall and a quarter of the top 20 positions.

The technology industry contributed more names to the list (see below) than any other business sector, and includes the heads of some of the biggest firms in the hardware, software, and services sectors. Google was the only company to have two women on the list

The top tech position at number four goes to Melinda Gates, Co-chair of the charitable foundation that bears her and Bill's name. 

The corporate world is well represented overall, with Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg (10), Virginia Rometty, CEO of IBM (15), Xerox's boss Ursula Burns (17), and Meg Whitman, failed political candidate and HP's latest CEO (18). Yahoo's new leader Marissa Meyer (21) just missed the top 20, while Oracle co-president Safra Catz got a very poor position (48), possibly reflecting Larry's tight grip on his outfit

"The 100 Women Who Run The World" include, in Forbes's view:

4 Melinda Gates from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

10 Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook

15 Virginia Rometty, IBM President and CEO

17 Ursula Burns, Xerox Chair and CEO

18 Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard CEO

21 Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO

25 Susan Wojcicki, Google senior vice president

48 Safra Catz, Oracle chief financial officer

56 Cher Wang, Co-founder and chairwoman of HTC

58 Padmasree Warrior, Cisco chief technology officer

70 Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation

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3 Decades of PC Shipments:Top 5 Vendors by duration

The above chart published by  Horace Dediu of Asymco shows global PC shipments and the Vendors that were in the top 5 for the longest duration

Apart from Apple, IBM remained in the business the longest (24 years). Compaq was second with 20 years before being bought by HP. HP and Dell are still operating after 15 years, having tied Atari and Commodore. After these ancients, the upstarts Nokia and RIM are struggling to remain relevant after 10 to 12 years.

The Data from asymco shows  some of the transient Vendors  like Packard-Bell/NEC, Toshiba, Radio Shack and Fujitsu which lasted less than 10 years. The newest PC companies are all from China or Taiwan: Acer, Asus and Lenovo. Their longevity cannot be called yet though Acer seems to be in decline. Lenovo, which took over IBM’s brands continues to grow. However, as yesterday’s post showed, without diversification into devices, pure PC makers are likely to fade.

 Horace Dediu  data showed that most companies were not able to sustain presence in the top five ranking for long. Some  of the vendors were acquired, some sold their operations.

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