Few Galwegians under the age of 40 seem to have heard of Digital Equipment Corporation, unless a parent or a close relative once worked there. This is strange; given the impact the US computer company had on the city and in making Ireland a world leader in the IT sector. While the announcement in May 1971 that a US company was planning to create 50 jobs in Galway was welcome, it didn’t create a great deal of excitement. Few of those working with computers at the time had ever heard of Digital. In terms of sales and employee numbers it was a minnow in comparison to IBM, Honeywell, Burroughs and others.
Digital, or DEC as it was widely known, quickly made an impact. It opened its doors in Mervue Industrial Estate in July, 1971. The promised 50 jobs were quickly delivered and by Christmas well over 100 staff had been recruited. Numbers continued to grow, and a second unit was required in Mervue. At the same time, plans were being prepared for a 12,000m2 factory in Ballybrit. This opened in April 1973 and by July 1974 badge number 1,000 had been issued, with staff located in both sites. A second 12,000m2 plant was opened in Ballybrit in 1976 and this was quickly followed by a 9,300m2 warehouse. The Mervue units were retained for software reproduction, while Ballybrit focused on the manufacture of computer modules and the assembly and testing of computer systems. Other European plants were opened in Clonmel, Scotland, Germany and France. Digital continued to grow globally and by 1981 had become the world’s number two computer company to IBM.
In Galway, Digital quickly gained the reputation of being a good employer. The atmosphere was quite different from that prevailing in most Irish workplaces. The pay was good, everyone in the organisation was on first-name terms, employees were encouraged to avail of in-house and external training, there were opportunities for promotion, those who raised issues were treated seriously and efforts were always made to find resolutions. Long service (five, ten, fifteen and twenty years) was acknowledged with awards, which were presented after a dinner in a local hotel to which partners were invited. The social life at Digital was also good. A very young workforce led to romances. Friendships were formed and still endure. Drinking buddies of the 1970s still maintain contact in their retirement. Those interested in sports could avail of the company owned playing fields. Considerable success was achieved in inter-firm football, hurling and soccer. Those attracted to music, song and dance participated in the Tops of the Town variety show, an annual national competition that Digital won on one occasion.
Every summer, each department would have a night out at the company’s expense, to mark the June end of the financial year. This was repeated in December to celebrate Christmas. Also at Christmas every employee received a food hamper containing a turkey, a leg of ham, a side of smoked salmon, a Christmas pudding, a bottle of Baileys and other goodies. Children of employees were also considered. A summer Family Day was a much-anticipated occasion. Sometimes it consisted of a barbecue in Ballybrit, with funfair facilities on hand. The highlight, however, was probably the year a full train was hired to take families to Mosney Holiday Camp, where all the amusements were available to the visitors. Christmas parties for the children were organised in the works canteen. Entertainers were brought in, food was provided and Santa handed out presents.
The serious side was never forgotten. Products of increasing complexity were being manufactured at the plant. The workforce was highly motivated and embraced change. Galway’s reputation grew and eventually there was never any doubt, back at the Massachusetts headquarters, that Galway would successfully rise to any challenge presented to it. By the 1980s, more than $1bn worth of computers were being shipped from Galway each year. The reputation within Ireland was such that whenever the IDA wanted to impress a potential investor, the decision-makers were brought to Ballybrit to see at first-hand what an Irish workforce was capable of. Among the many visitors were Apple, Microsoft and Intel. The subsequent success of these and others led to Ireland becoming a global leader in the high-tech sector.
Digital was always interested in working with universities. The company needed technology graduates, and very soon the universities were producing top-class electronics and software engineers. Again, the reputation of Digital ensured that the annual graduate recruitment process brought the cream of the crop to Galway. Graduates were attracted by opportunities to work on or with leading-edge technologies. In 1976 and 1980 the plants in Ayr (Scotland) and Clonmel were networked to Galway for their initial computer resources; the staff in Ballybrit were using email as early as 1979; data, initially hand-carried to the US on computer tape, was being transferred over a telephone line by 1980; the operational computers in Galway were part of the Internet by the mid-80s; and, still in the ‘80s, Digital had its own company-wide online forums and a World Wide Web type system called VTX. It would be well into the 1990s before the general public became aware of email or the existence of the Internet. Graduate engineers could be allocated to one of the corporate research groups established in Galway and Clonmel in the 1980s, or they could find themselves working on state-of-the-art production equipment, supporting the manufacture of leading edge computers or developing the computer systems required to support manufacturing.
Digital also played a significant role in the wider Galway community. It made generous donations to local charities, it supported a variety of arts groups, it was the major sponsor at the Galway Races, and created a schools computer network which resulted in Galway students experiencing “social media” before the term was invented. To mark Galway’s Quincentenary, Digital developed a two-acre Senior Citizens Park in Salthill.
By the early ‘90s there had been a major move to personal computers. While Digital’s computers were becoming the backbone of the Internet, PCs could perform many of the tasks traditionally undertaken by mainframe and mini-computers. IBM managed to become a key player in the growth of personal computers, but Digital failed to make a significant impact in this market. Sales and profits slowed, voluntary severance packages were introduced, the Clonmel plant closed and, by 1993, it was accepted that either Ayr or Galway was surplus to requirements, although Galway, being the more profitable and more innovative, was expected to survive. A last-minute intervention by the British Government, however, changed the expected decision, and it was announced on February 24, 1993 that the Galway plant would phase out of hardware manufacturing over the following year. A workforce that once numbered more than 1,400 had already shrunk, and a further 761 were made redundant. More than 350 continued to be employed by Digital in its Software group. Digital was subsequently taken over by Compaq, which in turn was acquired by Hewlett Packard. A handful of employees who survived the 1994 closure are still employed by HP in Ballybrit.
The announcement that the Digital hardware business might close was national news. When it came to pass, it was viewed as a disaster for Galway and a major setback to the Government’s jobs strategy. For whatever reason, the closure turned out to be hugely positive for Galway and Ireland. The primary achievements of a government task force were the arrival in Galway of American Power Conversion and Boston Scientific, plus the establishment of the Galway Technology Centre. Redundant DEC employees did not stand around, some went back to college, some established their own businesses, about 50 emigrated, and a few decided that, with their redundancy payment, they could afford to remain at home and look after their young families, but the majority found alternative employment in Galway or in other parts of the country. Many companies valued those who had experience of working for Digital, and engineers in particular were quickly snapped up. The experience gained in Digital led to a number of Galway recruits going on to become vice-presidents of companies including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Dell and Intel. At least two held vice-president positions in Digital. The population of Galway, when Digital arrived, was just over 27,000. Today it is over 80,000 and the presence of Digital was, no doubt, a major factor in this growth.
