Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Cincom Systems
Cincom Systems, Inc., is a privately held multinational computer technology corporation founded in 1968 by Tom Nies, Tom Richley, and Claude Bogardus. The company’s first product, Total, was the first commercial database management system that was not bundled with manufacturer hardware and proprietary software. In June 2024, Cincom Systems Inc. was acquired by PartnerOne, a Canada-based enterprise software company. At the time of the sale, Cincom had 400 employees both in the US and internationally.
Cincom Systems was founded in 1968, when the product focus in the computer industry was far more on hardware than software, and mass merchandising in the industry was nonexistent. Cincom was quoted by IBM as being "the original database company" in 2017.
By the late 1960s, Tom Nies, a salesman and project manager at IBM, had noticed that software was becoming a more important component of computer systems and decided to work for a business that sold software. The only software businesses in existence at that time were a small number of service bureaus, none of which was located in Cincinnati, where Nies resided. Convinced that software was a potential profit center, rather than a drain on profits, as was then viewed by IBM management, Thomas M. Nies, left IBM late 1968 and brought along Tom Richley and Claude Bogardus. This executive trio functioned as sales and marketing (Nies), product development (Richley), and research and development (Bogardus). In 1968 Nies joined Claude Bogardus and Tom Richley to found Cincom Systems. The name Cincom comes from the portmanteau of "Cincinnati" and "computer". This is due to the company being founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now its headquarter in Riverside, California, United States. The company initially only wrote programs for individual companies. By March 1969, the company became a full-service organization by adding principals Judy Foegle Carlson (administration), George Fanady (custom systems), Doug Hughes (systems engineering), and Jan Litton (product installation).
Within its first year, the company realized that it was solving the same data management problems for its various clients. Nies proposed the solution of developing a core database management system that could be sold to multiple customers. Total was the result of this development effort. As the company’s first product, Total, was the first commercial database management system that was not bundled with manufacturer hardware and proprietary software. At a time when each application program "owned" the data it used, a company often had multiple copies of similar information:
The problem was known, and CODASYL's Database Task Group Report wrote about it, as did General Electric and IBM. Cincom's TOTAL "segregated out the programming logic from the application of the database."
Despite IBM being "where the money was," there was still the problem of compatibility between large systems running OS/360 or small systems running DOS/360, so they "implemented 70 to 80 percent of the application programming logic in such a way that it insulated the user from" whichever they used; some used both.
Starting in 1971, Cincom opened offices in Canada, England, Belgium, France, Italy, Australia, Japan, Brazil and Hong Kong.
By 1980, TOTAL product sales reached $250 million.[citation needed]On August 20, 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan called Cincom and Tom Nies "the epitome of entrepreneurial spirit of American business." Cincom Systems was described in 2001 as "a venerable software firm, included in the Smithsonian national museum along with Microsoft as a software pioneer." In 2007, Cincom generated over $100 million in revenue for the 21st straight year, a feat unmatched by any private software publisher in the world. Microsoft (a public company) is the only other software publisher in the world to reach this milestone.
Hub AI
Cincom Systems AI simulator
(@Cincom Systems_simulator)
Cincom Systems
Cincom Systems, Inc., is a privately held multinational computer technology corporation founded in 1968 by Tom Nies, Tom Richley, and Claude Bogardus. The company’s first product, Total, was the first commercial database management system that was not bundled with manufacturer hardware and proprietary software. In June 2024, Cincom Systems Inc. was acquired by PartnerOne, a Canada-based enterprise software company. At the time of the sale, Cincom had 400 employees both in the US and internationally.
Cincom Systems was founded in 1968, when the product focus in the computer industry was far more on hardware than software, and mass merchandising in the industry was nonexistent. Cincom was quoted by IBM as being "the original database company" in 2017.
By the late 1960s, Tom Nies, a salesman and project manager at IBM, had noticed that software was becoming a more important component of computer systems and decided to work for a business that sold software. The only software businesses in existence at that time were a small number of service bureaus, none of which was located in Cincinnati, where Nies resided. Convinced that software was a potential profit center, rather than a drain on profits, as was then viewed by IBM management, Thomas M. Nies, left IBM late 1968 and brought along Tom Richley and Claude Bogardus. This executive trio functioned as sales and marketing (Nies), product development (Richley), and research and development (Bogardus). In 1968 Nies joined Claude Bogardus and Tom Richley to found Cincom Systems. The name Cincom comes from the portmanteau of "Cincinnati" and "computer". This is due to the company being founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now its headquarter in Riverside, California, United States. The company initially only wrote programs for individual companies. By March 1969, the company became a full-service organization by adding principals Judy Foegle Carlson (administration), George Fanady (custom systems), Doug Hughes (systems engineering), and Jan Litton (product installation).
Within its first year, the company realized that it was solving the same data management problems for its various clients. Nies proposed the solution of developing a core database management system that could be sold to multiple customers. Total was the result of this development effort. As the company’s first product, Total, was the first commercial database management system that was not bundled with manufacturer hardware and proprietary software. At a time when each application program "owned" the data it used, a company often had multiple copies of similar information:
The problem was known, and CODASYL's Database Task Group Report wrote about it, as did General Electric and IBM. Cincom's TOTAL "segregated out the programming logic from the application of the database."
Despite IBM being "where the money was," there was still the problem of compatibility between large systems running OS/360 or small systems running DOS/360, so they "implemented 70 to 80 percent of the application programming logic in such a way that it insulated the user from" whichever they used; some used both.
Starting in 1971, Cincom opened offices in Canada, England, Belgium, France, Italy, Australia, Japan, Brazil and Hong Kong.
By 1980, TOTAL product sales reached $250 million.[citation needed]On August 20, 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan called Cincom and Tom Nies "the epitome of entrepreneurial spirit of American business." Cincom Systems was described in 2001 as "a venerable software firm, included in the Smithsonian national museum along with Microsoft as a software pioneer." In 2007, Cincom generated over $100 million in revenue for the 21st straight year, a feat unmatched by any private software publisher in the world. Microsoft (a public company) is the only other software publisher in the world to reach this milestone.