Don Canney

Thinking back on the many places I have worked both in Nashua and the surrounding community, I can’t help but think of the high-tech boom of the seventies and eighties and how quickly so many companies expanded to keep up with demand.

Sanders Associates had a huge impact on the Nashua area, dating back to the 1950’s, when they took over the old textile manufacturing building on Canal Street and started what was to become a powerful and successful defense technology business. My sister worked at Sanders for several years and still sings its praises as a great place to work. As Nashua’s largest employer, it provided excellent benefits and educational opportunities. It was acquired by Lockheed-Martin in the 80’s and is now BAE Systems. Trivia note: Sanders engineers, led by Ralph Baer, developed the first video game which was eventually sold as the Magnavox Odyssey. Although it pales to today’s games, it was a pioneer.

When remembering the era, other companies like Wang Laboratories and of course, Digital Equipment Corporation come to mind.

Wang, founded in 1951 by businessman and philanthropist Dr. An Wang, built their omnipresent headquarters right off route 3 in Lowell MA, visible from the air as the big “W” building, (it is shaped like a W). At the time, Wang was the leader in Word Processing technology, which eventually led to its downfall, as it had to compete against the more versatile general-purpose computers of that era. Word processing systems essentially took over for the typewriter, allowing users to produce text at a much faster and more efficient pace, making products like Liquid Paper obsolete. Many Nashuans trekked down Route 3 daily to work.

Another company with a great impact on Nashua and the surrounding area was Digital Equipment Corporation, known simply as DEC. DEC was founded in 1957 in Maynard, MA by Kenneth H. Olsen, and Harlan Anderson. Although DEC invented Digital Linear Tape (DLT, formerly CompacTape) their major claim to fame was the minicomputer. The mini replaced the archaic ballroom sized computers that originated in the 50’s and was in such demand during the tech boom that companies waited up to one year for their product, a far cry from today where a device is obsolete in just a few months.

During the 1980s it seemed like DEC buildings were popping up just about everywhere. In a December 31, 1976 edition of the Nashua Telegraph, an “Area Top 10 News Story of ’76” reported that, “Merrimack, NH was chosen as the site of Digital’s new 590,000 square foot administrative marketing and engineering building complex on a site off Camp Sargeant Road.” That was to be the eighth Digital facility in the state. There was also a site at 125 Northeastern Boulevard, 55 Northeastern Boulevard and 20 Industrial Park. Additionally, they occupied buildings in Derry and Hudson and were soon to announce a huge manufacturing site in Salem and a Software Development site at Spitbrook Road in Nashua. At its peak, DEC employed over 120,000 people worldwide and was one of New Hampshire’s largest employers, with The Nashua Telegraph consistently publishing help wanted ads during DEC’s expansion.

As a former 20-year employee of DEC, I can certainly attest to the fact that it was a great place to work and a very progressive company that genuinely cared about its people. Ken would send a personally signed card to anyone who had the misfortune of losing a family member, and if you met him at any of the many DEC facilities, he would sit with you and ask you about your family and the work you did.

I completed my college degree at no expense to me, learned a great deal about the business and made some lifelong friendships. It was a place where you could climb the ranks quickly or move anywhere in the world if you chose.

DEC misread the PC market and used proprietary software, which lead to its downfall. It was acquired by Compaq in 1998, which was eventually acquired by HP.

As is typically the case, we never realize how great a workplace is until it is no more. I hear that from many former colleagues.

Don Canney is a freelance writer and professional voice artist. He was born and raised in downtown Nashua with great interest in Nashua history circa 1950-1970. He now resides in Litchfield.

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