Business Library

Scope of This Guide:

Description: This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in designing, manufacturing and/or assembling computer systems, such as personal computers, workstations, laptops, computer servers, storage systems, networking equipment; it includes computer components such as processors, memory, hard-drives, graphics cards, sound cards; and computer peripheral equipment, such as storage devices, printers, monitors, input/output devices, and terminals.

• These devices are used for multifarious applications like word processing, spreadsheet applications, presentations, programming, computation, modeling, simulation, web browsing, etc.
• This industry inter-weaves itself with various other related industries like Computer Software, Computer Services, Internet & Online Services and Telecommunication.

See also Telecommunications Industry Guide

Daily tidbits from the Computer Hardware Industry:

Industry Definitions: Description by NAICS Sector / Sub-Sector

Databases for Industry Research

Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage

• Industry surveys
• Bond ratings
• Company profiles and corporation records
• Stock, bond and fund research

• In the "Quick Links", "Industry Surveys" option, select "Computers: Hardware"

• Industry sector analysis and research
• Industry trends and statistics
• Market research and trends
• Company profiles

• In "Industry Research Centers", click on the "Infotech, Computers and Software" option and use "Computer Hardware" as the key word in the search box

• Real-time full-text investment research
• Reports cover companies and industries
• Over 750 contributing firms

• Aggregate data and analysis on industries
• Reports, articles, and company highlights

ABI/Inform (via ProQuest)

• Indexes over 1000 business periodicals
• Trade journals, business magazines, academic journals and other news sources
• Most articles full text

IBISWorld

• Over 700 full-text industry reports
• Over 700 US industry risk rating reports
• Information on over 8000 Publicly Traded Companies
• Hundreds of economic and demographic profiles

Gartner Reports (IT)

• Requires authentication with your Penn State access account
  
• Comprehensive body of technology knowledge
• Resource to help organizational decision makers capitalize on information technologies and markets
• Scroll down to the "Markets" section and use the "Computing Hardware" link to find more information

For additional database choices, see:

1. Database Descriptions
2. Database Comparison Chart

Selected U.S./World Industry Data & Company Sites

Selected Companies

US

Apple Inc.

Cisco Systems

Dell Inc.

EMC Corporation

Hewlett-Packard Company

Intel Corp.

International Business Machines (IBM)

NCR

Palm Inc.

Quantum Corporation

SanDisk Corp.

Seagate Technology

Sun Microsystems

Xerox

Non-US

Acer

Canon

Epson

Fujitsu

Fujitsu Siemens Computers

Hitachi

NEC

Oki Electric

Ricoh

Toshiba

Wipro Ltd.

Resources for Identifying Companies in the Industry

Hoover’s Online

• Proprietary company overviews
• Industry breakdowns and explanations
• Competitor listings
• Financial synopses

Lexis/Nexis Corporate Affiliations
Business Library, Reference: HG4057.A219

• U.S. corporate directory
• Holding company directory

Mergent Online

• Information on 11,000 U.S. public companies and 17,000 non-U.S. Public companies
• Detailed, standardized financial statements
• Searchable by company name, industry codes, revenue levels, and other characteristics
• Comparative analysis among companies
• Access to SEC reports

Ward’s Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies
Business Library, Reference: HG4057.A56

• Listings organized by NAICS code
• Ranks public and private companies by revenues/sales

Library Collections: Selected Reference Titles & Call Number Ranges

Selected Reference Titles

For additional materials, contact the Schreyer Business Library.

SAMPLE subjects:
(To narrow fields, add geographic terms or other limiting terms. Combining terms such as "Computer Hardware" in the keywords anywhere line with subject terms such as "Processors" in the title+subject line will also narrow the focus. Sometime just the sample subjects fetch better results than the combination.)

- Processors
- Memory
- Architecture
- Economy
- Personal Computers
- Laptops
- Chip Multiprocessors
- Computer Graphics Hardware
- Workstations
- Virtualization
- Hardware Simulation
- Computer Network Hardware
- Peripheral Equipment

TechWeb
Articles, company profiles and career information from CMP Media, Inc.

U.S. Industry & Trade Outlook
Business Library, Reference: HC106.5.A173
Published by the U.S. Department of Commerce. See Chapter 27: "Computer Equipment."  Includes global industry trends; projections; and competitive landscape.

Dun & Bradstreet/Gale Group Industry Handbook:  Computers & Software and Broadcasting & Telecommunications
Business Library, Reference, HF5035 .D85 v. 2

Industry-wide Ratios

Use one of the three print sources below.  Information may be arranged by either SIC or NAICS.

RMA Annual Statement Studies
Business Library, Reference: HF5667.R701

Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios
Business Library, Reference: HF5681.R25I5

Periodicals

All issues are located on 3rd Floor Paterno in the Schreyer Business Library, unless otherwise noted. Current Journals are shelved alphabetically by title in the Current Periodicals area on the 3rd Floor, Paterno. Web links from the CAT are available for some titles.

Computer Design: VLSI in Computers and Processors			Computers & operations research
Memory Technology, Design, and Testing			Advanced Imaging EMS Library, 105 Deike Bldg: TK8315.A37
Computer-integrated manufacturing systems			Wired 2nd floor Paterno: HM221.W57
Computers today

Trade Associations: Selected Industry Associations Web Sites

American Electronics Association

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Consumer Electronics Association

CompTIA

IEEE Computer Society

Information Technology Industry Concil

International Computer Security Association

International Organization for Standardization

Computer Security Institute

PICMG

Society of Manufacturing Engineers

• See also Associations Unlimited for association listings by subject or keyword.
• See also ABI/Inform for articles reporting trade association data.

Career Information: Selected Sources for Employment Information

Vault Online Career Library (Currently, Vault Guides are facing problems opening in Adobe Reader 8.x. Please see here for using FREE Adobe Digital Editions to access these guides)

1. Vault provides full-text career and industry guides
2. Includes company profiles, occupation descriptions, and career-related articles

Career Guide to Industries (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Business Library, Reference: HF5382.5.U5 C3162

Occupational Outlook Handbook  (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
CAT record for print copies
Business Library, Reference: HD8051.A623

Career Resources Page

3rd Floor, Paterno Library
University Park, PA 16802
Reference Desk:
814-865-6369