MTL intranet: A university microelectronics laboratory www-based management system

As funding for university-based microelectronics research laboratories continues to be increasingly difficult to raise, more of these laboratories are soliciting work from outside the normal user base of university faculty and students. This work often involves companies as well as faculty and students from other universities. This multi-user environment requires a different management approach from the traditional university research laboratory, where logistical issues (such as communication between users) at the same geographical location are relatively simple. In the multi-user environment with users at different locations, issues regarding communication with users, reserving equipment for use from an off-site location, and laboratory use billing can all be solved with an internet-based solution. This paper describes the a www-based software and hardware solution developed for the 200+ laboratory users of the University of Minnesota's Microtechnology Laboratory (MTL).