THe IBM way

Customers and children look at IBM equipment during the New Henry House office opening, 1967
After keying in the program and
data, the cards were fed into a card-
reader for transmission to the central
system, where they were processed
in turn and the results sent back to
line printers or punch card output
devices.
Unlike today, the standard comput-
ing environment was one that involved
a central, multi-user computer system.
The computer was accessed by typing
program source code and data onto 80-
column punch cards, using keypunch
machines the size of a desk that were
either shared between multiple users
or were the work location for clerical
“data entry” staff.
THe IBM SuIT
The professional appearance of IBMers was as important in the
1960s as it is today. Dressed in dark business suits and crisp white
shirts with a conservative tie, IBM engineers would arrive at client’s
offices with doctor-style briefcases to service equipment. To dis-
tinguish themselves from engineers working for other companies,
IBM engineers would even wear doctor-style white coats while they
worked on equipment. The intention was to impress on clients the
high level of service that was being provided.
Wearing cheongsams, a dress code encouraged by secretary Ivy Wu,
female IBMers were dressed no less impressively. Around the central
business district, female IBM sales personnel would often be seen
accompanied by male porters, between them carrying typewriters and
other portable office products dangling from a bamboo pole. Porters,
who viewed the job as prestigious, were retained by the IBM office to
work exclusively for the company and were a permanent fixture outside
the IBM office in Ice House Street.
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