Systems Software Industry - A history

The rise of the famous Silicon Valley resulted in huge fluctuations in the field of computing. Not only this, but the availability of software only generated more and more opportunities to create tremendous amounts of money. Bidnessetc.com gives you a detailed picture of the revolution of the systems software industry over the years.

Back in 1986, the biggest software firms included the likes of Digital Equipment Corp. that came into being in the 1950s, but died down and is unheard of these days. Back then, no companies such as Google or Microsoft existed. A few other companies that existed back then include International Business Machines Corp. that had the largest market cap of $73,180. AT&T Holdings, and another familiar name, Hewlett-Packard, were in the business back then too. HP had a market cap of $10,741 and AT&T had a market cap of $12,900. The total market cap of such foremost ten software companies was calculated to $130 billion. 

Only a decade later, the top ten companies' list saw tremendous changes. The ten largest companies consisted of six new entrants, with only four companies from 1986, making it into the next decade. This time around, the total market cap was calculated to be nearly $580 billion. A huge increase, bidnessetc.com states.

This was also the time when Microsoft embarked on its journey to greatness. The company scooped a market capitalization of over a hundred billion just for itself. Intel, also, expanded its might to vast horizons. With a market cap of two and a half billion in 1986, it soared high and touched almost $110 billion by this time. Therefore, it so happened that companies who did not even comprise the top ten firms a decade ago, had come to become of value much greater than the combined value of the top ten firms back in 1986. Microsoft, here, was a comparatively new entrant into the industry, aiming to produce software for computers and gradually for a much wider base. On the other hand, Intel was bound to celebrate its 28th birthday in 1996.

As years passed by, equally captivating stories would surface and resurface. The year of 1990 saw the Internet transform into a basic necessity of every industry as opposed to a new invention. And it was due to this that Cisco also became a player in the industry. A couple of professors from Stanford University were the founders of the company in 1984. In 1990, the company went public, and had a market capitalization of around $225 million. In just six years' time, the company went to reach a market cap of over $40 billion. Among the top ten firms in 1996, there was Intel on the top with a market cap of $107,77. Then came Microsoft with a market cap of $98,752, and on number three was the International Business Machines Corp. with $78408 in market cap.

2006 witnessed Cisco expanding its horizons to an additional four times. This made Cisco second largest software firm. On top this time, was Microsoft with a market cap of $293,537. Intel had moved to number four. Broadband had become to be available by this time. Hence, there was an added use of the Internet. Businesses were evolving at a fast pace to adopt every novel piece of technological wonder that these companies would throw at them. The year of 1998 was the year when Google also entered the market. It went public six years later, and very swiftly took plunges and leaps to become the top dog in the world of software.

Apple would have made the eleventh place if there were any in the top software firms of 2006. And in just a few years' matter of time, Apple would compete with ExxonMobil on market capitalization, and become the biggest and most sought-after business on the face of this planet.

Nowadays, the world sees another humungous technological advancement in creation. This advancement would revolve around the making of software, its selling and its utilization for any purposes. The movement to cloud computing is a quite evident trend nowadays. Then, the trends also include the movement to SAAS, which stands for software provided as a service. Developments continue to be made to create this software into computing giants that would definitely determine our futures. To keep updated about trends in the industry, please visit www.bidnessetc.com.