DIEBOLD

'Diebold, Inc.' () (pronounced DEE-bold) is a security systems corporation that is engaged primarily in the sale, manufacture, installation and service of self-service transaction systems (such as ATMs), electronic and physical security products (including vaults and currency processing systems), voting machines, and software and integrated systems for global financial and commercial markets. Diebold was incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio in August 1876, and is headquartered in North Canton, Ohio ^[1]

Contents

InterBold

Premier Election Solutions / Diebold Election Systems

Criticism

Competitors

Banking hardware

See also

References

External links

InterBold

Diebold and IBM created a general partnership called InterBold in 1991. The purpose of InterBold was to have IBM sell and service Diebold's ATMs outside of the United States. In exchange, IBM ceased marketing its own ATMs in the US. The InterBold partnership was dissolved in 1997 when Diebold purchased IBM's share of the partnership. IBM eventually entered into a re-distribution arrangement with a German competitor of Diebold, Wincor Nixdorf.

Premier Election Solutions / Diebold Election Systems

Premier Election Solutions, formerly 'Diebold Election Systems' is a subsidiary of Diebold that accounts for 2.4% of its gross revenue. It has entered the business of creating electronic voting terminals and solutions for government entities. Diebold entered this industry in 2001 by purchasing the assets of Global Election Systems which had been selling election equipment since 1991. This subsidiary has been the subject of controversy amid allegations surrounding the security and reliability of some of its products.
In August 2007 ^[2] DES rebranded itself^[3] as Premier Election Solutions, apparently in an attempt to distance itself from the negative associations of the "Diebold" name.
''For criticism, and ethics concerns relating to electronic voting see Premier Election Solutions''

Criticism

In August 2003, Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, announced that he had been a top fund-raiser for President George W. Bush and had sent a get-out-the-funds letter to 100 wealthy and politically inclined friends in the Republican Party, to be held at his home in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.Warner, Melanie. "Machine Politics in the Digital Age." ''New York Times.'' November 9, 2003. When assailed by critics for the conflict of interest, he pointed out that the company's election machines division is run out of Texas by a registered Democrat. Nonetheless, he vowed to lower his political profile lest his personal actions harm the company.
In December 2005, Diebold's CEO Wally O'Dell resigned following reports that the company was facing securities fraud litigation surrounding charges of insider trading.^[4]
In March 2007, it was reported by the Associated Press that Diebold was considering divesting itself of its voting machine subsidiary because it was "widely seen as tarnishing the company's reputation".^[5]
In August 2007, Wikipedia Scanner found that edits via the company's IP addresses occurred to Diebold's Wikipedia article, removing criticisms of the company's products, references to its CEO's fund-raising for President Bush and other negative criticism from the Wikipedia page about the company in November 2005.^[6]

Competitors

Banking hardware

★ NCR

★ Wincor Nixdorf

★ Fujitsu

See also

★ Premier Election Solutions, ''formerly Diebold Election Systems''

★ TABS 9000

★ Diebold i-Series ATMs

★ Diebold Opteva ATMs

References

1. Diebold
2. Diebold: New name, same bad voting machines!
3. Diebold Election Systems to Become Premier Election Solutions
4. Diebold CEO resigns after reports of fraud litigation, internal woes ''John Byrne, December 12, 2005''
5. Diebold Weighs Strategy for Voting Unit
6. Elsworth,Catherine. "Wikipedia Sleuth's tool reveals entry fiddling." ''Telegraph.'' April 16, 2007.

External links

★ Official Diebold site