|
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a research facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation. NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the scientific community. They conceive, design, build, operate and maintain radio telescopes used by scientists from around the world. Scientists use NRAO facilities to study virtually all types of astronomical objects known, from planets and comets in our own Solar System to quasars and galaxies billions of light-years away.
 Since its beginnings in 1932, radio astronomy has profoundly changed our understanding of the universe in which we live. Quasars, pulsars and the remnant radiation of the Big Bang were discovered with radio telescopes. Radio telescopes today give scientists information about important aspects of planets, stars and galaxies that is not provided by other types of telescopes. Of the ten people who have received the Nobel Prize in Physics for astronomical research, six did that work using radio telescopes. It is the mission of NRAO to provide scientists with powerful radio telescopes that allow them to continue this exciting saga of discovery and understanding.
Founded in 1956, the NRAO has its headquarters in Charlottesville, VA, and operates major radio telescope facilities at Green Bank, WV, Socorro, NM, and Tucson, AZ. The NRAO is operated for the National Science Foundation by Associated Universities, Inc. under a cooperative agreement.
| 1. |
Client
Profile |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Who is in charge of Cybozu Implementation? |
|
|
| Name: |
Mr. Jeff Mangum |
| Title: |
Associate Scientist/ALMA Test Facility Leader |
|
|
2 |
How did NRAO find out about Cybozu? |
|
|
Web search
|
|
3 |
Has NRAO employed other groupware applications before? |
|
|
No. |
|
4 |
How has NRAO been meeting information needs before implementing Cybozu products? |
|
|
Email and telephone conferences. |
| 2. |
Implementation and reasons to choose Cybozu |
|
|
|
|
1 |
What
are the reasons you finally chose Cybozu? |
|
|
The NRAO is collaborating on an international project to develop a millimeter/sub millimeter-wave astronomical radio telescope facility in the high Andes of northern Chile. Called the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), this project is a collaboration between the United States (NRAO), Europe, Canada, and Chile. Japan is a potential future partner in this project.
ALMA will be composed of 64 12m diameter radio telescopes which operate as a combined instrument to make high-resolution synthesis array images of the universe. The radio telescope antennas which comprise this array are of an advanced design. Three prototypes of this design will be evaluated at the NRAO Very Large Array site in New Mexico to determine if they meet our design specifications. This evaluation project, called the Antenna Test Facility (ATF), will bring together scientists, engineers, and technicians from the ALMA partners to conduct a series of evaluation tests on the three prototype antennas.
In order to coordinate the planning, implementation, and execution of this testing program, we felt that we needed a web-based coordination tool which could be used as the primary communication medium for our international testing group. Cybozu Share360 is the communications tool that we have chosen to meet this need.
|
|
2 |
Were there any problems during the roll out? |
|
|
Small display problems associated with Share360 use with Netscape.
|
|
3 |
Why did you make the final decision to implement Cybozu products? |
|
|
Everyone involved in the evaluation of this package during our trial installation liked its look-and-feel and general capabilities. |
| 3. |
System Setup Details |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Which
Cybozu Office products are implemented? |
|
|
Share360 Standard |
|
2 |
Number of users using Cybozu products? |
|
|
50 |
|
3 |
What kind of server machine and network configuration are used to run Cybozu products? |
|
|
Linux server running Apache http server. |
|
4 |
Do you have a full-time administrator for Cybozu products? |
|
|
No. |
| 4. |
End
User Response |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Any
feedback from the actual end users? |
|
|
Overall we had a very positive response from our users. There were some minor changes requested by a few users, which I suspect can be implemented easily in future releases. |
|
2 |
How are the end users using Cybozu office everyday? |
|
|
Information exchange and task scheduling.
|
|
3 |
Do
you offer any training? |
|
|
No. |
| 5. |
Overall
Evaluation of Cybozu products |
|
|
|
|
|
Our overall evaluation is strong. The products are especially useful for our ALMA ATF project. |
|
1 |
What
are the strengths & weaknesses
of Cybozu Office? |
|
|
Overall Strengths?
- Ease of use.
- Ease of installation.
- General capabilities, such as documentation organization and task scheduling.
Overall Weaknesses?
- Interface has a few minor bugs at the moment. For example, pages do not completely refresh when running with Netscape. This is a minor problem, though.
|
|
