Listings, June 1996

1. AccuWeather Inc.: Think customized weather for your web site would be too expensive? Think again. Longtime weather page provider AccuWeather now has netWeather, a feature that can cost as little as $5 a month (with a slightly more complete weather product available starting at $25 a month). Other items AccuWeather can provide for your web page include sports scores, lottery results, soap summaries, horoscopes and entertainment news. In addition to its weather products (now seen in more than 60 million newspapers a day), the company also provides voice personals services to 70 newspapers. The Perfect Date and Christian Singles Introductions products give the publisher "the highest payout in the industry," according to AccuWeather. (814) 237-0309.

2. Ad-Star Publishing Technologies Inc.: The problem: classified ads coming from agencies. The solution: an Ad-Star System. With both client software (which you can place with an employment or real estate agency) and server technology (which you can hook to your existing classified front-end), the agency can hyphenate and justify the ad on its desktop machine -- getting an accurate rate -- and then transmit it to the paper. New this year is a system for taking in facsimile ads and a new relational database on the server which uses Microsoft SQL Server technology, as well as a new Windows version of Ad-Star's client software. (310) 577-8255.

3. Advanced Technical Solutions Inc.: The new NewsDesk Publishing System provides familiar-looking directories, as well as its own QuikLayout pagination environment.

Advanced Technical Solutions Inc.: With more than a decade of service to the newspaper industry, ATS is celebrating that milestone by revamping its product line. Now called NewsDesk Publishing System (so long, Osiris), the ATS mainstay uses a Sybase database (or anything that is Odbc compliant), with Microsoft Word as the text editor. Pagination is provided by either ATS's own QuikLayout product or by its integration with Quark XPress, called QuarkDesk. Also, the company will be showing off the release version of its new classified front-end (big customer already signed up), which was shown in development last year. (508) 682-0709.

4. Agile Enterprise Inc.: The joke around the virtual Cole offices for the last couple of years has been that the Agile product suffered from "featuritis" -- because the company hadn't sold a system, the product was constantly evolving. We even joked it was a system only a system manager could love. Now, with an installation at Newsweek (more than 200 users producing more than 80 percent of the domestic edition are using TeamBase), the product has solidified, the company has released a new client for the Macintosh PowerPC, as well as one for Windows 95 -- and the joking has stopped. For a company that started out trying to integrate PageMaker into the newspaper world, Agile has created an impressive group of Quark XTensions, including one that allows for preserving in-line notes and special composition tagging, and one that provides fast newspaper-style layout using XPress. (603) 880-6400.

5. American Computer Innovators Inc.: Coming from a networking background, the folks at ACI see the newspaper as a total operation -- as reflected in OpenPages. Using interapplication communications and application programming interfaces, the company has provided a relational database, full-text searching, content management, dummying tools, element tracking, exact copyfit, "wire surfing/sorting/searching," library systems and electronic budgeting, integrated into a "seamless environment." New for this year will be OpenPages Display Ad Tracking. (413) 549-0701.

6. Apple Computer Inc.: When you ignore the Sturm und Drang of the company's very public problems this year (new CEO, massive losses), what you see underneath is still the most innovative computer company extant. With a former newspaperman running the booth this year, Apple will highlight some of its more innovative technologies. There will be a classroom environment to learn about the Internet (classes for beginners as well as power users), and third-party developers will be showing off their stuff, too. The company also will be showing its new UNIX-based Network Server series, which looks to be tailor-made for the newspaper environment. (408) 974-4611.

7. Associated Information Systems International Inc.: Another group of big-supplier refugees (these guys came from System Integrators), Aisi has proven to be a solid provider of integration services while also supplying Tandem expertise to the SII customer community. Now, as the company begins to branch out (a contract repair division will be announced shortly), it has begun to develop its own software products -- the first being FaxAction, an OCR/facsimile product that interfaces with the SII classified or editorial front-end (AISI will interface to other front-ends as well). (916) 888-6459.

8. The Associated Press: The membership cooperative has spent a lot of time and energy working on The Wire, its system of providing member papers with Internet content. For many, NEXPO will be the first time they'll get to see the system, which allows a newspaper to provide a link into a central content database. The trick with The Wire, though, is that the end user never knows she's left the hometown paper, because the system spins off the paper's logos, graphics and advertising. The wire service will also be talking about its new AP Telecommunications division and its national photo archive, and showing the latest upgrade to its digital camera (the NC 2000e), its AP Preserver text and image archive, AP Stocks and AP Audiotex. (212) 621-1732.

9. Autologic Information International Inc.: With barely six months of merged bliss under its belt, it will be interesting to see how the disparate cultures of Autologic and Triple-I have commingled. In the booth will be raster image processors (running on Sun SPARCstations, Digital Equipment Corp. AlphaServers and Apple PowerMac platforms), the Grafix-Distribution Manager (a system that allows pages to be distributed to a variety of locations), Ad Manager (providing workflow management for ad production using Macintosh and PC clients) and the venerable Output Manager (a workflow management tool that provides OPI, print spooling and system load balancing). (805) 498-9611.

10. B-Linked Inc.: The advertiser transmission screen of B-Link's transmission system gets the ad to the newspaper in three simple steps.

B-Linked Inc.: When an advertiser calls a newspaper and says, "I want to send my display ads digitally," the newspaper should answer, "Any way you want, sir." With the B-Linked system, papers can take in digital ads by modem, ISDN or the Internet. The B-Link server software allows for multiple simultaneous sessions, transmission of EDI header information, e-mail, and on-line verification of receipt, logging and tracking. The system accepts transmission of any data type, including PDF, application files, fonts, EPSes and TIFFs. Advertisers can use any communication software to access the system. (212) 532-5083.

11. Baseview Products Inc.: The Little Company That Could (now a division of Harris) builds neat Macintosh-based publishing tools and will be showing four new products at NEXPO: PageWatchIQue (an advertising database that allows for searching, page tracking and automatic ad linking); AdManagerPro (a management system for display advertising that includes all the features of Baseview's classified system, including runlists, reservation queries and comparison reports); Circulation Remote (the only all-Mac circulation system now has the ability to run remotely, even on a PowerBook) and Hot Backup (software that not only copies all your active files to a separate database on a separate server, but automatically switches to the backup server in case the primary fails). (313) 662-5800.

12. Cascade Systems Inc.: With the people who did the Hyphen raster image processor software as founders, it was only a matter of (noncompete clause) time before Cascade really got into the RIP business. Now it has, by leveraging its relationship with one of its investors, Adobe Systems. The new LXR RIP is a client-server implementation of the Adobe Configurable PostScript Interpreter using multithreaded kernel architecture. Though the product will be shown on an Intel machine running Windows NT, the company envisions a Sun Solaris implementation as well. And if that isn't enough, the web fans among you should bring extra hosiery: expect to have your socks blown off by MediaSphere/W3, the web extension to the company's MediaSphere archive. (508) 794-8000.

13. CCI Europe: The momentum has finally arrived. With Phoenix Newspapers, the Toronto Star and the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in production with its pagination system, CCI has been picking up orders fast, including ones with the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel and the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. But at the show, the company will be emphasizing its new editorial front-end, the NewsDesk Editorial System, which runs on Windows NT(!), Solaris, AIX or MacOS at the workstation level, using an Oracle database for text, images, graphics, ads and pages. The server platform can be Sun or IBM RISC technology. (770) 579-9371.

14. CE Engineering Publishing Systems Inc.: What a difference a decade makes -- almost 10 years ago, System Integrators started on its quest to develop a new off-the-shelf client to replace its Coyote terminal. Today, the company is still struggling to make that product everything the customers want. And today, CE has been selling Decade 33 for almost five years. It's a Coyote replacement product that runs on PCs and Macs. In addition to its expertise with SII products and Decade, CE promises to talk about plans for a complete publishing system. (916) 652-5263.

15. Coatsworth Communications Inc.: The WinSolo picture desk software has an easy-to-use thumbnail viewing screen.

Coatsworth Communications Inc.: From the rubble that was the Crosfield (and before that, Muirhead) picture desk operation has sprung this feisty little company. It will be showing its Solo line of image systems, including both Mac and Windows versions for both receivers and browsers. (905) 793-2669.

16. Computerease Software Inc.: The emphasis this year is on advertising, with a new Windows version of the company's AdControl display ad dummying system being shown for the first time. AdControl for Windows includes a new Edition Builder function that improves a newspaper layout manager's ability to analyze the effect of changing press configurations, as well as automate a changeover from one configuration to another. And the original Mac version has been upgraded to run on PowerPCs. Also to be shown is a new ad entry database system from Pongrass Newspaper Systems of Australia, which will share the booth. (401) 245-1523.

17. CompuText Inc.: The latest version of the company's CompuClass system (it's now 5.0) uses Windows 95 for the client software and Windows NT for the servers (which can be dual Pentiums, DEC AlphaServers and others). The database is Sybase; workstations incorporate Microsoft Word and Quark XPress. The company also offers its own display ad makeup package, CAT II, which runs on either Macs or Intel machines. Based on XPress using CompuText extensions, CAT II allows for special type effects such as floating text and obliquing, align text by character and a single command to change typography of multiple objects simultaneously. (713) 480-3494.

18. CText Inc.: Aligning itself with Virtual Resources, its neighbor in Ann Arbor, Mich., CText will be showing CareerSite (http://www.caresite.com/), an Internet-based employment search and recruiting service. CText has integrated its AdVision Advertising System, which allows CareerSite to be treated as an additional insertion, providing for relatively painless revenue enhancement. CareerSite is built upon a "knowledge-based search engine," which allows, for example, a search for a "software developer" that will return a "computer programmer." In addition, CText will be showing its Dateline Editorial System, Expressline Editorial Pagination and Alps Classified Pagination. (313) 677-4700.

19. Cybergraphic Inc.: In light of the recent agreement between Cyber and System Integrators (see The Cole Papers, May 1996), it will be difficult to decide whether to purchase Cyber$ell through Cyber itself or SII. What won't be difficult is deciding to buy Cyber$ell -- certainly one of the most advanced client/server classified systems developed so far, Cyber$ell (based on Windows NT and Microsoft SQL Server) has all the bells and whistles of any proprietary classified system, with all the benefits of an open solution. The company also will be showing its CyberNews and CyberPage editorial systems, with the Newspaper Automated Intelligent Layout System (Nails), which allows for semi-automated news page makeup. (617) 221-0077.

20. Data Sciences Inc.: Providing newspaper circulation solutions for more than 24 years, DSI has migrated from a UNIX-based system (developed long before anyone else was using UNIX) to a Windows NT-based solution. The company's latest circulation product, based on the Oracle 7 database, is in beta testing at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (71k morning), and a number of industry movers-and-shakers are quite excited about it. The company also has adopted Oracle 7 for its advertising accounts receivables package, which is being tested at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. (121k morning). By standardizing on Oracle 7, DSI points out there are a number of third-party financial systems available for that database as well. Oh, and ask about DSI's recent alliance with Freedom System Integrators. (301) 622-6770.

21. Digital Technology International: Say you're part of a newspaper group (and today, who isn't?). Wouldn't it be great if you could share stories, photos -- even pages -- with all your sibling papers? DT has developed the Locations Database, which when used in conjunction with a wide area network allows for just that kind of sharing. Cox Newspapers (Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Dayton Daily News of Ohio, Palm Beach Post of Florida and others) commissioned the system so that all its papers could benefit from the Atlanta papers' coverage of the Olympics. Users report that it is as fast and easy to log onto a remote server as it is to log onto a local server. DT also will be showing the new features of its editorial, pagination and archiving software as well as PlanBuilder, which tracks ads and builds classified pages (with a little help from either PageSpeed or Quark XPress). (801) 226-2984.

22. ECRM: This longtime industry supplier will be showing its KnockOut 4550 ScriptSetter -- an 18-inch, high-speed, high-resolution imagesetter, which has the ability to punch-register the film inside the machine. (508) 851-0207.

23. Edgil Associates Inc.: Flexibility must be the byword at this company, as it has developed product after product in response to the industry's needs and wants; the latest are AdParse and WebCentral. The former is an indexing engine for classified advertising files that, using a table-driven thesaurus utility, can take a variety of abbreviations (3bdr, 3bdrm, 3bdroom, 3bedroom, 3b.room) and put them into a consistent database (Bedroom=3). The latter takes the database created by AdParse, creates a Sybase database out of it and publishes that database on the World-Wide Web. (508) 251-9932.

24. Editorial System Engineering Inc.: Do the phrases "Microsoft Word" and "Quark XPress" ring a bell? The ESE solution "tightly integrates" these two ubiquitous products (along with other third-party applications) into a system called EdBase that's running in more than 16 countries worldwide. The company's latest product is WebBase, which, as you might imagine, handles generation of HTML-based pages. Also in the booth: John Juliano Computer Services Co., showing XPress and HTML conversion software. (617) 276-9400.

25. EDS Inc.: In its second NEXPO outing, the Ross Perot-founded EDS will be showing products and talking about services. The products include the company's own Asis (Advertising Sales Information System, an ad sales automation system for laptops), MediaVault (an archiving program), WebVault (a suite of applications which link popular Web browsers with business processes) and Acustar (a statistical analysis tool). Third-party products to be shown in the booth will include Webforce (Intranet products from Silicon Graphics Inc.), NewsEdge (Desktop Data's wire collection and correlation system) and HNJ Engine (North Atlantic Publishing Systems Inc.'s system for generating accurate story lengths in Microsoft Word for use in Quark XPress). Also, the company will talk about its large number of services, which include newspaper system integration. (212) 403-6029.

26. Eskofot Digital Graphic Systems Inc.: This Danish company -- which merged earlier this year with the Purup imagesetter company -- has moved aggressively into the U.S. newspaper marketplace over the last few years (recently it established a U.S. office, in Pennsylvania). It will be showing its "affordable" CopyDot EskoScan 2024E, which scans 20-by-24-inches of reflective (or 16-by-22.8-inches of film) at 2540 dpi in just under eight minutes. The company also will be showing its new EskoProof color proof printers and computer-to-plate systems. (215) 766-0908.

27. Euromax: One of the first suppliers to treat newspaper systems as enterprise-wide solutions, Euromax has installed its first U.S. site (Journal Newspapers of Springfield, Va.) and has established a U.S. sales office. The company's products -- which include editorial, classified, display ad and business systems -- have heretofore all run under UNIX on hardware built by its corporate parent. But Euromax is now porting its software to Hewlett Packard's version of UNIX, and the company will sell H-P hardware in the United States. Now, if it could just do something about those X-Windows clients. ... (606) 441-1940.

28. First USA Paymentech: Formerly Dmgt and Litle & Co., this company is a credit card payment processing business. You take credit cards? They have to be processed. You can send that business to a processing company that dislikes direct marketing ordering (which is what you're doing with phone classifieds, phone subscriptions or on-line ordering), or you can send that business to a company like First USA, which embraces direct marketing. (603) 896-6000.

29. Freedom System Integrators: Taking its own Macintosh expertise and leveraging the Windows/Intel expertise of British sister company QED, FSI has built a nice suite of products that run on either platform -- or both. New for this year will be an Oracle database running on a Windows NT server with Mac and PC clients. Also new will be Freedom Series ADvance Sales for Windows 95, an ad booking and sales system; an HTML converter; an archiving solution; connectivity between the Apple Newton MessagePad 120 and FSI's LiveWire, and Mets PC and Freedom Series Macintosh editorial and advertising front-ends. For those wishing to have FSI provide everything in their life, the company recently arranged to market Data Sciences' business software. (316) 722-8100.

30. Gannett Media Technologies International Inc.: The DiGiCol text and image archiving system has Internet connectivity; here a thumbnail display from the photo database is shown on a Netscape browser.