NEWS RELEASE: Cincom & CEO Thomas Nies Featured in “History of Database Management Systems”

CINCINNATI — December 9, 2009 — IEEE Annals of the History of Computing magazine contains a six-page feature on Cincom and CEO Thomas Nies in its current October-December issue.

The Annals, recognizing the large role Database Management Systems (DBMSs) have played in the history of software development and the growth of the software products industry, is focusing two issues on the subject.

The first issue, which features Mr. Nies, focuses on the products, companies and people who designed, programmed and sold mainframe DBMS software beginning in the 1960s and 1970s.

Thomas J. Bergin, a professor emeritus of computer science and information systems at American University in Washington, D.C., worked with Carla McQueen in marketing to gather recollections on how Cincom TOTAL was developed and marketed.

Cincom and Thomas Nies are found on pages 55-61 with the abstract, “Thomas Nies’ experiences at IBM installing applications convinced him that the industry’s future was in software. With this article, he describes how Cincom, the company he cofounded in 1968 with only $600 in capital, grew into one of the largest software firms in the world. Beginning with its early database management product, Total, Nies details the company’s history and strategic business decisions.”

An abstract of the  article can be seen on IEEE Annals of the History of Computing Web site at: http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/MAHC.2009.93