University Admin-Chicago
Reproduced with permission from NeXT Computer, Inc.
A Reference Guide to NeXT in Higher Education, Fall 1992
ยช 1992 NeXT Computer, Inc
University of Chicago
NeXT chosen for division-wide administration
The Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Chicago, which includes 17 academic departments, will have more than 260 NeXT workstations installed during the next three years. The machines will be used for administrative functions such as bookkeeping, grant management, financial analysis, and personnel administration and for technical work, including application development.
According to Monty Mullig, director for information systems, NeXT machines will replace the PCs currently used by administrators and the Sun workstations used by the technical staff. He adds that the division considered purchasing from three vendors in addition to NeXT: Apple, IBM, and Sun.
"In our search for desktop systems for our administration," he says, "we were looking specifically for a platform that could combine the development and delivery of custom applications with the functions of traditional office automation; and NeXT computers were the only ones that could do both to our satisfaction. Also, we were very impressed with the the quality of people at NeXT at all levels of the organization."
Currently, the division's in-house programming staff is developing several custom applications, including facilities tracking, equipment tracking, and post-award grant management software, using the NeXTSTEP development environment.
"Because NeXTSTEP is conceptually easy to deal with, it will help keep our programmers engaged in their work," says Mullig. "We expect significant time savings in development-two to three times faster, at least. But it's not just the performance and time savings that make NeXTSTEP attractive. It's intellectually a more stimulating environment for programmers, and that will help improve the quality of their work. If programmers are more engaged in the process, they can worry less about code syntax and the tiny details required in procedural programming and concentrate on solving the problem at hand."
In addition to the custom applications, Mullig says office personnel will use Lotus Improv, WordPerfect, FrameMaker, and NeXT bundled applications like NeXTmail and Draw.
"That the machines came with NeXTmail, Interface Builder, and strong networking software was key in our purchasing decision," says Mullig. "And Improv is extremely well suited for business modeling and budget preparation. It's much more robust than traditional cell-matrix applications."
Concludes Mullig, "Right now, we already have 30 NeXT machines installed, and everyone is very happy with the change."
For more information, please contact:
Monty Mullig
Director for Information Systems
Division of Biological Sciences
University of Chicago
5841 S. Maryland, Box 417
Chicago, IL 60637
(312) 702-9130
monty@delphi.bsd.uchicago.edu