How ECN was Founded

Professor Ben Coates

Before 1977, computing resources at Purdue were few, and what resources that were available served both faculty and graduate students. In 1977, Professor Ben Coates, who was the first director of ECN, decided that his undergraduate students also needed to have exposure to computing services if they were going to be competitive after graduation. Dr. Coates founded Digital Services of Electrical Engineering in the early years, and a team of four managed a timeshare computer for undergraduate students. The original network staff was made up of Dr. Coates, George Goble (Computer Operations), Joe Rogers (Hardware Maintenance), Bill Croft (Software & Programming), and Bill Simmons (Manager of Computing).

In the late 1970's, the EE network expanded quickly; the network initially was made up of a PDP 11/70 and about 30 terminals connected to it. From the first day, those working on the network had two goals, to expand the system in terms of memory and disk storage as quickly as possible, and to expand computing resources in terms of number of computers available to undergraduate students. Dr. Coates wanted to network all of the EE computers together so that if machines were not being used, the excess cycles could be made available to students to run jobs elsewhere. Soon, the EE Network also began working with faculty, assisting them in using computing resources. They also got involved in developing school applications to track student records allowing faculty to readily access information about their students.

In the early 1980's, at the request of Dean of Engineering John Hancock, the EE Network began to expand to the other schools of engineering, creating specialized computing environments to suit each individual schools' needs. Those who were working for the EE Network established machine rooms and data centers in each of the primary engineering buildings, which involved physical remodeling, power and cooling, and ordering and setting up of equipment (at that time, VAX 11/780 computers). Once the other schools were involved, the EE Network ceased to exist and the Engineering Computer Network (ECN) took its place.