 Deep Blue's victory was a historic first for a computer over a reigning world champion.Also helping the company reclaim its position as a technology leader was its annual domination of supercomputer rankings and patent leadership statistics.Ironically, a serendipitous contributor in reviving the company's reputation was the Dot-com bubble collapse in 2000, where many of the edgy technology high flyers of the 1990s failed to survive the downturn.