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The TECS/2 editorial and classified front-end systems have a new home.

Designed by the newspapers of Morris Communications, TECS/2 has been sold to Publishing Partners International (PPI) of Manchester, N.H., by Information International Inc. (Triple-I) of Los Angeles.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and, despite the fact that Triple-I is a publicly traded company, won't be.

"It turns out we don't have to [disclose]," said Harry Dahl, Triple-I's senior vice president, "because it's not material to our business."

TECS/2, systems that run on DOS-based '286 and '386 computers, have been installed at 53 sites worldwide, with 45 in the United States.

Three Triple-I employees -- two programmers and Jon Daly, the sales executive in charge of TECS/2 -- have transferred from Triple-I's Massachusetts facility to PPI's Manchester headquarters.

TECS/2 "gives us some good exposure into larger sites," said PPI Partner Sam List. "It's a good opportunity for us."

PPI developed an advertising management system based on Microsoft Windows using off-the-shelf programs that has been sold for the last two years.

Previously, the company concentrated on system support for old Hastech front-end and pagination systems.

Executives at three major TECS/2 sites were contacted about the transfer of ownership, but none was willing to speak on the record about the sale.

PPI will continue to honor Triple-I TECS/2 service contracts, and the company hopes to lure more newspapers into the fold. List said there were currently 30 newspapers subscribing to support contracts.

"The Hastech support has been declining," said List. "These new sites will give us critical mass to continue to offer support services."

He said he envisioned developing connectivity between the TECS/2 classified systems and the PPI relational database.

"With the [TECS/2] programmers, we can build that kind of connectivity," said List. "The programmers are really good and they're motivated. A couple of upgrades are on the way."

As for Triple-I, the front-end business wasn't really where the company wanted to be, Dahl said.

"Except for Charlie and Al, no one here has a background in the front-end business, and it was treated like a stepchild," said Dahl, referring to Charles Ying, founder of Atex and chairman of Triple-I, and Alden Edwards, a former sales executive at Atex, the former chief executive of System Integrators and now president of Triple-I.

In addition, Dahl said, "the presence of front-end systems in Triple-I's product line was preventing other vendors of front-end systems from recommending Triple-I systems. With our increasing focus on output systems, we could not let this continue."

Triple-I is in the process of merging with Autologic Inc. of Thousand Oaks, Calif., a major supplier of raster image processors and recorders (see THE COLE PAPERS, August 1995).

TECS/2 is a system for small- to medium-sized papers conceived and implemented in the mid-'80s by the Southeastern Newspapers division of Morris Communications Corp. of Augusta, Ga. Product marketing was transferred to Triple-I in the early '90s and eventually Triple-I acquired all the rights to the software.

"It's not a bad business for a company that's focusing on that area," said Dahl. "It just wouldn't be fun for us."

"It's good service," said List, "and it's a fun business."

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COLE'S NEWSWIRE is written by Pete Wetmore and distributed by The Cole Group, publishers of THE COLE PAPERS, COLE'S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING SYSTEMS and consultants to newspapers and magazines worldwide. To receive more information about The Cole Group, send e-mail to: info@colegroup.com.

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