Electronic Data Systems

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Electronic Data Systems (EDS) is a global information technology services company that was established in 1962 by Ross Perot and is headquartered in Plano, Texas. General Motors acquired the company in 1984. EDS became an independent company again in 1996. In 2000 it employed 128,000 people located in 58 countries, and reported revenues of US$19.2 billion. 22% of that revenue came from contracts with the United States government, a slightly smaller amount from contracts with General Motors (their largest single client), and 42% from outside the United States.

"Our business is the intelligent use of computers."

That's how EDS described itself more than 40 years ago. No one would argue that this original purpose has changed for EDS today. But so great have been the upheavals of technology, commerce and culture -- the ubiquity of computing, the pervasiveness of the Internet, the fiercely competitive information-technology industry and the advent of digitization -- that it is difficult for most of EDS current employees to feel connected with the handful of people who built the early EDS more than 40 years ago.

It is important, though, to imagine the beginning and to grasp something of what happened between then and now. It's especially valuable to sense the continuation of an institution built over time by real people with genuine passions.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Achievements

The people who accomplished EDS' milestones were just regular folks, said President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Heller.

EDS has always been just ordinary people who came here and achieved more than they ever thought possible because of the opportunity and support they found. -- Jeffrey M. Heller

Those "ordinary people" pioneered concepts and practices that are now centerpieces of the IT services industry, including systems management, systems integration, centralized transaction processing, and the world’s largest private digital voice, data, and video network.

EDS people have continued their innovative tradition by evolving the company’s traditional outsourcing services into a new intelligent network foundation, facilitating online commerce through digital supply chain management, enabling product development via the Internet and developing security and privacy services.

Today, EDS is as committed as ever to serious innovation. Because of EDS’ success in facilities management, systems integration and all manner of complex IT projects, the company’s technical innovation remains largely unknown.

For example, EDS developed the first automatic code generator, INCA. A systems-engineering tool, INCA preceded what became one of the industry’s major transforming trends during the early-to-mid 1990s: computer-aided systems engineering tools. They became systems-engineering mainstays and have multiplied programmers’ productivity by generating millions of lines of routine code while freeing programmers to concentrate on higher-order problems.

EDS was also the first to develop a method for using ATMs to transfer and deliver cash; to create a text-analysis tool that assesses documents’ relevance to specific search criteria; and the first to develop a device that automatically sorts airline tickets. EDS built on this invention to command a leadership position in the airline-travel agent ticket-clearing market during the 1980s.

People and organizations are innovative in their unique ways. EDS’ innovation lies in its people’s capacity for inventive implementation, their capacity for getting the job done for clients through creative and inventive methods. They commit to challenging projects and work until every problem is solved and every difficulty worked through.

EDS' evolution describes a path from reels of magnetic mainframe tapes in the trunk of a 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air to digital processes and products created and consumed in virtual space. There were key points on our journey to becoming a leader in helping clients flourish in the digital economy.