IBM Israel, headquartered in Petah Tikva, established operations in Israel in 1949.

Highlights

• 1949-IBM established a presence in Israel.
• 1972-IBM opened the Haifa Development Lab (HDL), an IBM Scientific Center, in Haifa.
• At the IBM Software Lab (HSL) in Rehovot, the features for the Lotus Sametime instant messaging application were designed and developed.
• 2000-IBM and El Al Airlines developed the ECO-2000 Optimized Crew Scheduling System.
• 2005-IBM and the Israel Chief Scientist signed an agreement of joint-support for Israeli companies in IBM’s field of activity.
• IBM Haifa Labs developed the Websphere Content Discovery Server, which provides a broad suite of content discovery solutions.
• IBM’s Special Global Technology Unit (GTU) contributes financially to Israeli technology companies and start-ups.
• 2007-A new lab was added to the Haifa R&D center to incorporate three previously acquired Israeli companies.
• 2007-An Israeli team of 30 engineers at IBM's R&D center in Haifa are instrumental in developing the Sony Playstation 3.
• 2008-More than 2000 people work are employed in five different facilities of Haifa Labs and in the various IBM facilities in Rehovot and Jerusalem.
• 2008-IBM and Retalix announced a cooperation agreement to develop a highly-integrated management solution for grocery and convenience store retailers.

Investments and Returns

• 1998-IBM acquired the Israeli company Ubique for $15 million.
• 2001-2007--IBM makes a total of 18 acquisitions.
• 2005-IBM acquires Iphrase Technology..
• 2006-IBM acquires Unicorn Solutions for $7.5million.
• 2007-IBM acquires Watchfire and converts it to an additional R&D software center.
• 2008-IBM acquires XIV for $300 million.
• 2008-IBM acquires Diligent Technologies for $165 million.
• 2009-IBM acquires Guardium for $225 million.
• 2010-IBM acquires Storewize for $140 million.