Unisys

Founding

Unisys was formed in 1986 through the merger of mainframe corporations Sperry and Burroughs, with Burroughs buying Sperry for $4.8 billion. The name was chosen from over 31,000 submissions in an internal competition when Christian Machen submitted the word "Unisys" which was composed of parts of the words united, information and systems.The merger was the largest in the computer industry at the time and made Unisys the second largest computer company with annual revenue of $10.5 billion. Michael Blumenthal became CEO and Chairman. Soon after the merger, the market for proprietary mainframe-class systems—the mainstream product of Unisys and its competitors such as IBM—began a long-term decline that continues, at a lesser rate, today. In response, Unisys made the strategic decision to shift into high-end servers , as well as information technology services such as systems integration, outsourcing, and related technical services, while holding onto the profitable revenue stream from maintaining its installed base of proprietary mainframe hardware and applications.In 1988, the company acquired Convergent Technologies, makers of CTOS.In 1990, Blumenthal resigned. James Unruh became the new CEO and Chairman after Blumenthal's departure and continued in that role until 1997, when Larry Weinbach of Arthur Andersen became the new CEO.

Product development and CEO changes

Joseph McGrath served as CEO and President from January 2005, until September, 2008. On October 7, 2008, J. Edward Coleman replaced J. McGrath as CEO and was named Chairman of the board as well. On November 10, 2008, the company was removed from the S&P 500 index as the market capitalization of the company had fallen below the S&P 500 minimum of $4 billion.In 2010, Unisys sold its Medicare processing Health Information Management service to Molina Healthcare for $135 million.On October 6, 2014, after six years as CEO and chairman, Unisys announced that Coleman was stepping down effective December 1, 2014.On January 1, 2015, Unisys officially named Peter Altabef as its new president and CEO, replacing Edward Coleman. Paul Weaver, who was formerly Lead Independent Director, was named Chairman.

2020–present time

In February 2020, SAIC announced plans to acquire Unisys Federal, the company’s federal defense contracting operation, for $1.2 billion. The company’s federal customer list included over a dozen military and civilian agencies. As part of the acquisition, Unisys has a licensing agreement with SAIC to continue providing its software to the federal clients.In June 2020, Australia’s Home Affairs’ biometric identification system, built in part through partnership with Unisys, was launched.In June 2021, the company announced the acquisition of Unify Square. Unify Square provides software and services which help companies manage collaboration and communication platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. In November, Mobinergy, a mobile device management software company, was acquired; and in December, Unisys acquired CompuGain, an Amazon Web Services Advanced Consulting Partner.In July 2021, Unisys partnered with Vodafone to help the company boost its IT services. The two launched “Vodafone Digital Factory,” and Unisys helped Vodafone clients with technologies like AI, virtual and augmented reality, and blockchain.In May 2022, the company joined the Plug and Play Enterprise Tech program. This allowed Unisys to source and partner with technology startups to access and use early-stage emerging technology.

Recognition and awards

In 2018, 2019, and 2020, Unisys was named an overall market segment leader in the NelsonHall Evaluation & Assessment Tool Vendor Evaluation for Advanced Digital Workplace Services.

NelsonHall: 2021 NEAT Assessment, Leader, Cognitive and Self-Healing IT Infrastructure Services

In August 2020, Unisys Corporation reported that for the third straight year, NelsonHall has listed the organization as the regional market sector leader in the Evaluation & Assessment Tool Vendor Analysis report for Advanced Digital Workplace Services.

Avasant: 2021 RadarView – Digital Workplace Services

NelsonHall: 2022 NEAT Assessment, Leader, End-to-end Cloud Infrastructure Services

Everest Group: 2022 PEAK Matrix - Cloud Services, Major Contender - North America and EuropeIn 2022, the company was named a Forbes’ America’s Best Employers For Women and a Leader in Advanced Digital Workplace Services Assessment.