IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory
Member of a global research community

IBM has maintained a research laboratory in Switzerland since 1956, located on its own campus in Rüschlikon near Zurich since 1962. As the European branch of IBM Research, the mission of the lab — in addition to pursuing cutting-edge research for tomorrow’s information technology — is to cultivate close relationships with academic and industrial partners, be one of the premier places to work for world-class researchers, to promote women in IT and science, and to help drive Europe’s innovation agenda.
Members of the laboratory	Internal and external collaboration
The Zurich laboratory employs approximately 350 individuals, including as many as 30 visiting scientists who typically stay for several months of intensive collaboration. In addition, a steady stream of postdoctoral fellows, PhD candidates, and summer students passes through the Zurich laboratory. More than 30 nationalities, primarily from European countries, are represented among the research staff members, who include such specialists as computer scientists, mathematicians, electrical engineers, physicists, and chemists who often work together on an interdisciplinary basis.	Worldwide interaction and collaboration with internal partners in research, development, industry sectors, and with IBM customers play a vital role in the laboratory's activities. At the same time, IBM researchers are active members of the international scientific community by participating in seminars, conferences, and professional associations in a variety of functions. The Zurich laboratory is also involved in many joint projects with universities throughout Europe, in research programs established by the European Union and the Swiss government, and in cooperation agreements with research institutes of industrial partners.
Activities and organization
The research projects pursued at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory are organized into four scientific and technical departments: Storage Technologies, Systems, Computer Science, and Science & Technology. Also located at Zurich is the Industry Solutions Lab (ISL), an executive briefing facility as well as a forum where IBM integrates and demonstrates leading-edge technology prototypes and solutions.

Throughout the years, scientists of the Zurich lab have made signficant contributions not only to leading IBM products and systems, but also to scientific progress and international standards:

Nobel prizes: Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1986 for the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope. One year later, Georg Bednorz and Alex Müller received the same honor for the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity.

Trellis-coded modulation: The invention of this signaling technique revolutionized data transmission over telephone lines. The method also became a standard for modems.

Magnetic recording channel: PRML (Partial-Response with Maximum Likelihood sequence detection) and NPML (Noise-Predictive Maximum Likelihood sequence detection) are signal processing techniques that, together with novel coding schemes, have contributed significantly to the dramatic increase of storage density on magnetic hard disks.

Token Ring: In the 1980s, Zurich scientists developed the Token Ring, which became a standard for local area networks and a highly successful IBM product.

PowerPRS Packet Routing Switch: This highly efficient switch architecture excels in multi-dimensional scalability and has been used by IBM and OEM customers in a variety of switch products.

SET: The Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) standard used for highly secure payments over the Internet is largely based on technology developed at IBM's Zurich laboratory and supported by major credit card companies.

Smart cards: Highly efficient JavaCard™ technology developed at Zurich has been licensed by a leading smart card manufacturer for secure multiapplication smart cards and is used in many JavaCard™ projects.