 IBM developed magnetic stripe technology in the 1960s, and it became a credit card industry standard in 1971.The IBM-invented floppy disk, also introduced in 1971, became the standard for storing personal computer data during the first decades of the PC era.IBM Research scientist Edgar 'Ted' Codd wrote a seminal paper describing the relational database, an invention that "Forbes" magazine described as one of the most important innovations of the 20th century.