History of ITI

ITI has served the high-tech industry longer than any other trade association and over the years as the industry has evolved, ITI has changed and adapted along with it.

1916 -- The association was founded in Chicago, Illinois, as the National Association of Office Appliance Manufacturers.

1929 – The association set out to strengthen its role in public policy and changed its name to become the Office Equipment Manufacturers Institute.

1961 -- The Institute was reorganized to cope more effectively with the issues confronting a rapidly changing and expanding ICT industry, and it became known as the Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (BEMA).

1973 -- BEMA became the Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA). For the next two decades, the association's value to member companies was manifest in numerous regulatory and legislative accomplishments, in successful efforts to build a network with counterparts in other nations, and in its ability to sustain a voluntary industry standards programs in the U.S. and abroad.

1994 -- CBEMA again reorganized and was renamed the Information Technology Industry Council or ITI. The new name better reflected the dynamic ICT industry as it is today -- consisting of manufacturers and suppliers of hardware, ICT services and software.   

Today, ITI continues to represent companies on the cutting edge of technology, and its mission today is identical to that of its founders in 1916 -- to promote the global competitiveness of its member companies through tech friendly public policy.