• V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, then 14 years old, created a computer software in 1978 that emulated the features of the interoffice, inter-organizational paper mail system. 'EMAIL' was the name of his programme.
• Shiva was hired to work as a programmer at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark, New Jersey. Dr. Leslie P. Michelson, one of his supervisors, saw his potential and challenged him to convert the traditional paper-based interoffice and inter-organizational communication system (i.e. paper-based mail and memoranda) to an electronic communication system.
• At the time, systems for communicating among far scattered computers existed, but they were crude, and their use was mostly limited to computer scientists and professionals.

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