NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation
Public
Traded as NYSE: NCR
Industry Software
Computer hardware
Electronics
Founded Dayton, Ohio (1884)
incorporation 1900[1]
Headquarters Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States [2]
Key people

Bryan Bayens
(Chairman, President & CEO)

John H. Patterson (Founder)
Products Self-service kiosks, Point of sale, automated teller machines, retail store automation, services
Revenue Decrease $6.37 billion (2015)[3]
Decrease $135 million (2015)[3]
Decrease ($178 million) (2015)[3]
Total assets Decrease US$ 7.64 billion (2015)[3]
Total equity Decrease $720 million (2015)[3]
Number of employees
 30,200 (2015)
Website www.ncr.com

The NCR Corporation (abbrev. National Cash Register) is an American computer hardware, software and electronics company that makes self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check processing systems, barcode scanners, and business consumables. They also provide IT maintenance support services. NCR had been based in Dayton, Ohio, starting in 1884, but in June 2009, the company sold most of the Dayton properties and moved its headquarters to Metro Atlanta. Currently the headquarters are in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia, near Duluth, and Alpharetta, Georgia.[4][5] With a future headquarters planned for the end of 2016 at Technology Square (Adjacent to Georgia Institute of Technology) located in Atlanta, Georgia

NCR was founded in 1884 and acquired by AT&T in 1991. A restructuring of AT&T in 1996 led to NCR's re-establishment on 1 January 1997 as a separate company, and involved the spin-off of Lucent Technologies from AT&T. NCR is the only AT&T spin-off company that has retained its original name—all the others have either been purchased or renamed following subsequent mergers.

History

Early years

Antique three-column full-keyboard cash register
Old National Cash Register on display at the Museo de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público in Mexico City

The company began as the National Manufacturing Company of Dayton, Ohio, which was established to manufacture and sell the first mechanical cash register, invented in 1879 by Drew Kacer. In 1884, the company and patents were bought by John Henry Patterson and his brother Frank Jefferson Patterson and the firm was renamed the National Cash Register Company. Patterson formed NCR into one of the first modern American companies, introducing new, aggressive sales methods and business techniques. He established the first sales training school in 1893, and introduced a comprehensive social welfare program for his factory workers.

Other significant figures in the early history of the company were Charles F. Kettering, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and Edward A. Deeds. Deeds and Kettering went on to found Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company which later became Delco Products Division of General Motors. Watson eventually worked his way up to general sales manager. At an uninspiring sales meeting Watson interrupted, saying The trouble with every one of us is that we don't think enough. We don't get paid for working with our feet — we get paid for working with our heads. Watson then wrote THINK on the easel.[6] Signs with this motto were erected in factory buildings, sales offices, and club rooms during the mid-1890s. "THINK" later became a widely known symbol of IBM. Patterson fired Watson in 1914.[7] Kettering designed the first cash register powered by an electric motor in 1906. Within a few years he developed the Class 1000 register which was in production for 40 years, and the O.K. Telephone Credit Authorization system for verifying credit in department stores.

American Selling Force

When John H. Patterson and his brother took over the company, cash registers were expensive ($50 USD) and only about a dozen of "Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier" machines were in use. There was little demand for the expensive device, but Patterson believed the product would sell once shopkeepers understood it would drastically decrease theft by salesclerks. He created a sales force, called the "American Selling Force" which worked on commissions and followed a standard sales script, the "N.C.R. Primer." The philosophy was to sell a business function, rather than just a piece of machinery. Sale demonstrations were set up in hotels (away from the distractions of the buyer's business), depicting a store interior, complete with real merchandise and real cash. The sale prospect was described as the "P.P." or "Probable Purchaser." Once initial objections were swept aside and the P.P. admitted to internal theft losses, the product was demonstrated, along with large business charts and diagrams. The deal was sealed with a 25 cent cigar.[8]

Expansion

NCR expanded quickly and became multi-national in 1888. Between 1893 and 1906 it acquired a number of smaller cash register companies.[9]

By 1911, it had sold one million machines and grown to almost 6,000 employees. Combined with rigorous legal attacks, Patterson's methods enabled the company to fight off, bankrupt or buy-out over 80 of its early competitors and achieve control of 95% of the U.S. market.

In 1912, the company was found guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. Patterson, Deeds, Watson, and 25 other NCR executives and managers were convicted for illegal anti-competitive sales practices and were sentenced to one year of imprisonment. Their convictions were unpopular with the public due to the efforts of Patterson and Watson to help those affected by the Dayton, Ohio floods of 1913, but efforts to have them pardoned by President Woodrow Wilson were unsuccessful. However, their convictions were overturned on appeal in 1915 on the grounds that important defense evidence should have been admitted.

WWII NCR poster

Two million units were sold by 1922, the year John Patterson died. In 1925 the company went public with an issue of $55 million in stock, at that time the largest public offering in United States history. During World War I the company manufactured shell fuzes and aircraft instrumentation, and during World War II built aero-engines, bomb sights and code-breaking machines, including the American bombe designed by Joseph Desch.

Post-war

Computer NCR 304

Building on its wartime experience with secret communication systems, high speed counters, and cryptanalytic equipment,[10] NCR became a major post-war force in developing new computing and communications technology.

In 1953, chemists Barrett K. Green and Lowell Schleicher of NCR in Dayton submitted a patent "Pressure responsive record materials" for a carbonless copy paper. This became US Patent 2,730,457 and was commercialized as "NCR Paper."

In February 1953, the company acquired the Computer Research Corporation (CRC),[11] after which it created a specialized electronics division. In 1956, NCR introduced its first electronic device, the Class 29 Post-Tronic, a bank machine using magnetic stripe technology. With GE the company manufactured its first transistor-based computer in 1957, the NCR 304. Also in the 1950s NCR introduced MICR (magnetic ink character recognition)[12] and the NCR 3100 accounting machines.[13]

In 1962, NCR introduced the NCR-315 Electronic Data Processing System which included the CRAM storage device, the first automated mass storage alternative to magnetic tape libraries accessed manually by computer operators. The NCR 390 and 500 computers were also offered to customers who did not need the full power of the 315. The NCR 390 accepted four types of input: magnetic ledger cards, punched cards, punched tape, and keyboard entry, with a tape read speed of 400 characters a second.[13] The company's first all-integrated circuit computer was the Century 100 of 1968. The Century 200 was added in 1970. The line was extended through the Century 300.[14] The Century series was followed by the Criterion series in 1976, NCR's first virtual machine system.

During this period, NCR also produced the 605 minicomputer for in-house use. It was the compute engine for the 399 and 499 accounting machines, several generations of in-store and in-bank controllers, and the 82xx/90xx IMOS COBOL systems. The 605 also powered peripheral controllers, including the 658 disk subsystem and the 721 communications processor.

By 1986, the number of mainframe makers had dropped from 8 (IBM and the "seven dwarfs") to 6 (IBM and the "BUNCH") to 4: IBM, Unisys, NCR, and Control Data Corporation.

The company adopted the name NCR Corporation in 1974.

Small computers

In 1982, NCR became involved in open systems architecture. Its first such system was the UNIX-powered TOWER 16/32, the success of which (approximately 100,000 were sold) established NCR as a pioneer in bringing industry standards and open systems architecture to the computer market. These 5000-series systems were based on Motorola 68k CPUs and supported NCR's proprietary transaction processing system TMX, which was mainly used by financial institutions. This product line also saw the first time NCR had offered its products through other than its own direct sales channels since the early 1900s. Formally added to its company structure in March 1984, NCR's OEM System's Division spearheaded the design,sales revenue and market awareness and acceptance of NCR's Tower family. Part of the cause of this success was the decision by NCR senior management to hire reseller industry veterans for key positions within the fledgling operation and have that unit work with, but not answerable to, NCR's traditional management structure. The industry shift from minicomputers brought personnel with minicomputer and reseller backgrounds such as the division head, Dan Kiegler (ex-Datapoint marketing), marketing manager and later Director of Field Sales, Dave Lang (ex-DEC reseller marketing director and salesperson) and other critical contributors at corporate levels; who then hired a complementary field sales organization primarily made up of proven people from DEC, Wang and other faltering minicomputer firms.

NCR office buildings in Augsburg, Germany

In the 1980s, NCR sold various PC compatible AT-class computers, like the small NCR-3390 (called an "intelligent terminal"). They proposed a customized version of MS-DOS named NCR-DOS, which for example offered support for switching the CPU between 6, 8 or 10 MHz speeds. The computers featured an improved CGA adapter, the NGA, which had a 640×400 text mode more suitable for business uses than the original 640×200 mode, with characters drawn using single-pixel-wide lines, giving an appearance similar to that of classic IBM 3270 terminals. The additional four-color 640×400 graphical mode was identical to CGA's 320×200 mode from a programming point of view.

In 1990, NCR introduced the System 3000, a seven-level family of computers based on Intel's 386 and 486 CPUs. The majority of the System 3000 range utilised IBM's Micro Channel architecture rather than the more prevalent ISA architecture, and utilised SCSI peripherals as well as the more popular parallel and serial port interfaces, resulting in a premium product with premium pricing. The 3600, through NCR subsidiary Applied Digital Data Systems supported both the Pick Operating System and Prime Information.[15]

The 1970s saw the widespread installations of the Model 770 in National Westminster and Barclays banks throughout the UK, but it was not until the Model 5070, developed at its Dundee plant in Scotland and introduced in 1983 that the company began to make more serious inroads into the ATM market. Subsequent models included the 5084, and 58xx (Personas) series. In early 2008 the company launched its new generation of ATMs—the 662x/663x SelfServ series. NCR currently commands over a third of the entire ATM market, with an estimated $18 trillion being withdrawn from NCR ATMs every year. In addition, NCR's expertise in this field led the company to contract with the U.S. Military to support the Eagle Cash program with customized ATMs.[16]

NCR 5xxx series

The NCR 5xxx-series is the range of (ATM's) produced by NCR from the early 1980s. Most models were designed and initially manufactured at its Dundee factory in Scotland, but later produced at several other locations around the world.

There have been several distinct generations:

NCR 66XX series

NCR's 6th generation of ATMs have been noted for the further move towards intelligent deposit and the expansion of secondary functions such as barcode reading.

NCR Self-Serv 20 & 30 series

NCR's latest ATM services, introduced in 2008.

This series is a complete redesign of both outlook and technological contents. It is also a cost down product.

Self-Serv 20 series are single-function (e.g. cash-out) ATMs, while Self-Serv 30 series are full-function (cash-out and intelligent deposit) machines.

AT&T

NCR was acquired September 19, 1991 by AT&T Corporation for $7.4 billion and was joined with Teradata Corporation on February 28, 1992. As an AT&T subsidiary, its 1992 year-end headcount was 53,800 employees and contractors.[17] By 1993, the subsidiary produced a year-end $1.287 billion net loss on $7.265 billion in revenue. The net losses continued in 1994 and 1995, losses that required repeated subsidies from the parent company and resulted in a 1995 year-end headcount of 41,100.[17] During these three years, AT&T was the former NCR's largest customer, accounting for over $1.5 billion in revenue.[17]

On February 15, 1995, the company sold its microelectronics division and storage systems division to Hyundai which named it Symbios Logic. At the time it was the largest purchase of an American company by a Korean company.

For a while, starting in 1994, the subsidiary was renamed AT&T Global Information Solutions, but in 1995, AT&T decided to spin off the company, and in 1996, changed its name back to NCR in preparation for the spin-off. The company outlined its reasons for the spin-off in an Information Statement sent to its stockholders, which cited, in addition to "changes in customer needs" and "need for focused management time and attention", the following:

...[A]dvantages of vertical integration [which had motivated ATT's earlier acquisition of NCR] are outweighed by its costs and disadvantages....[T]o varying degrees, many of the actual and potential customers of Lucent and NCR are or will be competitors of AT&T's communications services businesses. NCR believes that its efforts to target the communications industry have been hindered by the reluctance of AT&T's communications services competitors to make purchases from an AT&T subsidiary.

NCR re-emerged as a stand-alone company on January 1, 1997.

Independence

One of NCR's first significant acquisitions after becoming independent from AT&T came in July 1997 when it purchased Compris Technologies, a privately held company in Kennesaw, Georgia that produced software for restaurant chains.[18] In November 1997, NCR purchased Dataworks Inc., a 60-person privately held company in San Antonio, Texas.[19]

The Montgomery County Historical Society and NCR Corporation joined in 1998 into an innovative partnership committed to preserving the voluminous NCR Archive. For more than three months in late 1999, trucks traveled between NCR's Building 28 and the Historical Society's Research Center, taking three million pieces of an extraordinary collection to their new home.

In 1998, NCR sold its computer hardware manufacturing assets to Solectron and ceased to produce general-purpose computer systems, focusing instead on the retail and financial industries. In 2000, NCR acquired CRM provider Ceres Integrated Solutions and services company 4Front Technologies. Recent acquisitions include self-service companies Kinetics, InfoAmerica and Galvanon, and software company DecisionPoint.

In April 2003, NCR purchased Copient Technologies, an Indiana-based retail marketing software company.

Under Bill Nuti's management

NCR World Headquarters in Duluth, GA
NCR office building in Duluth, Georgia

In 2006, NCR acquired software company IDVelocity and the ATM manufacturing division of Tidel, a cash security equipment manufacturer specializing in retail markets.

On January 8, 2007, NCR announced its intention to separate into two independent companies by spinning off Teradata to shareholders. Bill Nuti would continue his role as president and CEO of NCR, while Teradata Senior VP Mike Koehler would assume leadership of Teradata.[20] On October 1, 2007, NCR Corporation and Teradata jointly announced the Teradata business unit spin-off was complete, with Michael Koehler as the first CEO of Teradata.[21]

On January 11, 2007, NCR announced plans to restructure its entire ATM manufacturing operations, with 650 jobs at its Dundee plant being cut.[22] A further 450 jobs were cut in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. In 2009, the Dundee manufacturing facility was closed, along with plants in San Paulo and Bucharest, citing global economic conditions as the reason.

NCR extended its self-service portfolio into the digital media market with the January announcement of NCR Xpress Entertainment, a next-generation multichannel entertainment kiosk solution. The launch of NCR Xpress Entertainment follows NCR’s acquisition of Touch Automation LLC on December 31, 2007.[23]

On October 15, 2008, NCR announced a global reseller partnership with Experticity, a Seattle-based software company.[24]

In 2009, NCR relocated its corporate headquarters from Dayton, Ohio to Duluth, Georgia. This news was shocking as Dayton served as NCR's home for 125 years.[25]

In 2009, NCR became the second largest DVD Kiosk operator in North America with the acquisitions of The New Release and DVD Play. In 2010, NCR completed the acquisition of digital signage company, Netkey.

In August 2011, NCR purchased Radiant Systems, a hospitality and retail systems company, for US$1.2 billion.[26] Radiant's hospitality division turned into a new Hospitality Line of Business within NCR. Radiant's petroleum and convenience retail business became part of its retail line of business. Several Radiant executives remained on board, including Scott Kingsfield, who was a general manager of NCR's Retail Line of Business and left NCR in 2014, and Andy Heyman, who became general manager of NCR's Financial Services line of business.

In August 2012, the company was hit with charges of avoiding U.S. economic sanctions against Syria, greatly affecting its stock price.[27]

In February 2013, NCR completed its acquisition of Retalix (NASDAQ: RTLX), a provider of retail software and services, for approximately $650 million in cash. NCR Chairman and CEO, Bill Nuti. said that “Retalix’s market-leading software, services capabilities, and exceptional talent are a strategic fit for NCR, and support our continued focus on a future driven by software, wrapped elegantly in hardware and services.”[28]

In January 2014, NCR completed its acquisition of Digital Insight Corporation, a provider of online and mobile banking solutions to mid-market financial institutions, from equity firm Thoma Bravo, LLC for $1.65 billion in cash.[29]

Products and services

NCR's R&D activity is split between its three major centres in Atlanta USA (Retail), Dundee, Scotland (Financial Industry), and Waterloo, Ontario. It also has R&D centres in Beijing, Cebu, Philippines, Puducherry and Hyderabad in India.[30] NCR also has manufacturing facility in Beijing, Budapest, and also the Indian territory of Puducherry, which is a regional manufacturing and export hub.

Hardware

NCR FastLane in use at a Virginia Walmart store

Services

Obsolete

Senior management

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Company Histories: NCR Corporation". Funding Universe. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
  2. ↑ Boone, Christian & Chapman, Dan (June 1, 2009). "NCR Move a Burst of Good News amid Recession: Georgia Spending $60 Million in Tax Breaks, Incentives To Attract Maker of Cash Registers, ATMs". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on June 5, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "FORM 10-K". United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
  4. ↑ "Contact Corporate Governance". NCR Corporation. Retrieved February 9, 2014. 3097 Satellite Boulevard, Duluth, Georgia 30096
  5. ↑ "Duluth city, Georgia". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  6. ↑ Belden, Thomas; Belden, Marva (1962). The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 157–8.
  7. ↑ Belden (1962) pp.84-87
  8. ↑ Carson, Gerald (August 1966). "The Machine That Kept Them Honest". American Heritage 17 (5).
  9. ↑ Brevoort, Kenneth & Marvel, Howard P. (2004). "Successful Monopolization Through Predation: The National Cash Register Company" (PDF). In Kirkwood, J.B. Antitrust Law and Economics (PDF). New York: Elsevier. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
  10. ↑ "Oral history interview with Robert E. Mumma". Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota.
  11. ↑ Reilly, Edwin D. (2003). "Milestones in Computer and Science History". Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 164.
  12. ↑ "Oral history interview with Carl Rench". Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota.
  13. 1 2 "Electronic Computing Speeds Hycon Accounting Procedures". Hycon hylights (Hycon Mfg. Company Monrovia, Calif.) 8 (7). Sep 1962.
  14. ↑ "Product Information -- NCR Century Processors NCR Century 300 Processor" (PDF). NCR Corporation.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ Harris, Bryan (January 17, 2006). "Smart Cards, Kiosks Ease Army Life". Kiosk Marketplace. Retrieved February 16, 2008.
  17. 1 2 3 Information Statement. AT&T. November 25, 1996.
  18. ↑ "NCR Corp. To Buy Compris Technologies". Atlanta Business Chronicle. July 1997.
  19. ↑ "NCR Corp. Buys Dataworks Software Firm". Dayton Business Journal. November 1997.
  20. ↑ Archived January 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  21. ↑ News and Press Releases for NCR Corporation. NCR. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
  22. ↑ Scottish & Scotland news, UK & latest world news. The Daily Record. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
  23. ↑ Archived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ↑ Archived December 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  25. ↑ 2009 News Releases. NCR. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
  26. ↑ "NCR Completes Acquisition of Radiant Systems" (Press release). Radiant Systems. August 24, 2011.
  27. ↑ Harris, Bryan (October 14, 2012). "NCR investigating allegations of bribery, sanctions violation". Reuters. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
  28. ↑ "NCR Completes Acquisition of Retalix" (Press release).
  29. ↑ "NCR completes acquisition of Digital Insight" (Press release).
  30. ↑ 'India to be a test-bed for global roll-outs'. Business Standard (2009-09-24). Retrieved on 2013-09-27.

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