Cincom Systems

Cincom Systems was founded in 1968, when the product focus in the computer industry was far more on hardware than software, Now its headquarter in Riverside, California, United States. The company initially only wrote programs for individual companies. (administration), George Fanady (custom systems), Doug Hughes (systems engineering), and Jan Litton (product installation). Within its first year, the company realized that it was solving the same data management problems for its various clients. Nies proposed the solution of developing a core database management system that could be sold to multiple customers. Total was the result of this development effort. Database Task Group Report wrote about it, as did General Electric and IBM. Cincom's TOTAL "segregated out the programming logic from the application of the database." Despite IBM being "where the money was," there was still the problem of compatibility between large systems running OS/360 or small systems running DOS/360, so they "implemented 70 to 80 percent of the application programming logic in such a way that it insulated the user from" whichever they used; some used both. Cincom Systems was described in 2001 as "a venerable software firm, included in the Smithsonian national museum along with Microsoft as a software pioneer." By 2021, Nies was considered the longest actively serving CEO in the computer industry. In June 2024, Cincom Systems Inc. was acquired by PartnerOne, a Canada-based enterprise software company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed at the time, and Cincom's founder Tom Nies stepped down from his post at the company to retire. He had been CEO of Cincom since its founding in 1968, making him the longest actively serving CEO in the computer industry. At the time of the sale, Cincom had 400 employees both in the US and internationally. ==Product history==

1968 to 1969 Initially the company simply wrote programs for local companies. They would use the data management aspects of many programs with reasonable similarities to develop the product called Total, which was seen as an improvement and generalization of IBM's DBOMP. Other than IBM, which was still in the "selling iron" business, Cincom became the first U.S. software firm to promote the concept of a database management system (DBMS). Cincom delivered the first commercial database management system that was not bundled with a computer manufacturer's hardware and proprietary software. • ULTRA (1983), an interactive database management system for DEC's VAX hardware and VMS operating system. • Cincom iC Solutions (1999), a technology that combines sales and marketing automation with knowledge-based support for product and service configuration. 2000 to the present New products include: • Cincom Knowledge Builder (2001), a business-rules management system that streamlines sales and service processes by providing advice and guidance at the point of customer interaction. • Cincom TIGER (2002), a tool that integrates all data sources within an organization. • Cincom Synchrony (2004), a customer-experience management system for multi-channel contact centers. ==References and footnotes==