U.S. manufacturer of cash registers, computers, and information-processing systems.
It was founded in 1884 as National Cash Register Co. by John H. Patterson, who bought a failing maker of cash registers in Dayton, Ohio. He improved the design, sent out an aggressive sales force, and hired repairmen to service his products after sale. The company expanded in the 20th century, introducing accounting machines in the 1920s, electronic products during World War II, computer hardware and software in the 1960s, and microelectronics in the 1970s. In 1991 it was purchased by AT&T Corp. and renamed AT&T Global Information Solutions. When AT&T split into three companies in 1996, NCR Corp. was spun off and assumed its former name.