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Comment by BenoitP | Hacker News Reader

They had vertical integration and made bank. Then each layer got more complex as computing became mainstream, and IBM got out-competed on everyone of them by specialized companies. And then they sold them off. The only layer that remains is the most strategic: the customer relationship.

IBM is now just a consultancy.

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Not much is left of the great IBM, but their Z architecture is still superior when it comes to reliability at scale.

In fact, "what happened to IBM?", they were in the news recently: https://wccftech.com/ibm-worlds-first-dual-architecture-proc...

Creating the world's first dual instruction set CPU.

> Creating the world's first dual instruction set CPU.

World's first? What about the VIA C3 (or earlier NEC V20)? I'm sure there are more / earlier ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Instruction_Set

That's not the same thing, it's more like a hidden feature than the ISA of an entirely different CPU.

There was also the semi-mythical PowerPC 615 that was meant to have both PowerPC and x86 instruction sets. W

I think that's a little simplistic/reductive.

In some areas IBM still holds if not a technological advantage at least the first among equals position, they just aren't areas that are flashy or generally known outside of folks like us - Mainframes and related technologies for example, the IBM Z series is still a huge player there.

They are also a consultancy though.

They still produce the mainframe hardware ranges though.

> IBM is now just a consultancy.

Except that they own Red Hat

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