Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS), based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, is a global provider of information technology services and solutions.

History

Unisys was formed in September 1986 through the merger of the mainframe corporations Sperry and Burroughs, with Burroughs buying Sperry for $4.8 billion. The name was chosen after an internal competition. The merger was the largest in the computer industry at the time and made Unisys the second largest computer company, revenue of $10.5 billion.

Important events in the company's history include the development of the 2200 series from 1986, including the UNISYS 2200/500 CMOS mainframe, and the Micro A in 1989, the first desktop mainframe.

In response to changing market and client requirements, the company has steadily transformed its business model to a services-led, technology-enabled model. Today, 83% of the company’s revenue comes from services such as systems integration and consulting, outsourcing, and infrastructure services. This is up from 65% in 1997. Unisys has decades of experience in providing information solutions that handle high-end, complex, transaction-intensive environments. Clients such as Washington Mutual, the New York Clearinghouse, Lufthansa Systems, Lloyds TSB, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, Nextel, and Telefonica of Spain use Unisys solutions to process millions of transactions for their customers and citizens.

In March 2006, Unisys sold its Japanese distributor stake for $374 million. The sale will help fund 3,600 previously announced employee lay offs. This will account for about 10% of the current Unisys employee workforce.