An automated engineering environment

The author describes an integrated engineering environment developed to address the critical problem of fragmented and/or nonexistent engineering technical resources. Before the development of this Engineering Central Computing Facility (ECCF), resources that did exist were located in obscure locations primarily intended for a select audience. The ECCF makes this tools accessible to the entire engineering community and adds the necessary tools for day-to-day engineering tasks which would otherwise be preformed manually. The base´s local area network provides the backbone for the system. Software capabilities have been provided in the mechanical, facilities design, electronic/electrical, and engineering documentation areas. The core computing consists of a cluster of minicomputers which provides generic-type services. Application software is hosted on the central host cluster, utilizing a library concept for package check-out and check-in. Secondary file service is provided at various locations throughout the base. This is primarily for user-specific requirements and may also be accessed from any remote location