NEXPO '98 recommendations

Agile Enterprise Inc.: You want cross-platform? Here, Agile shows its TeamBase editorial system (originally developed for Windows) running on a Macintosh; the company says that the Mac version has full functionality.

1. AD-STAR Publishing Technologies Inc.: This pioneer of remote classified text entry will be showing its AD-starnet product for the first time at NEXPO '98 -- a browser-based application that doesn't require text at the advertiser's site. Though pricey, this product has the advantage of interfacing to virtually any legacy classified front-end. Your choice: Buy a new classified system, or buy an AD-star server. (310) 577-8255.

2. AdOut: A supplier of display ad makeup outsourcing services -- it does 40 percent of the Los Angeles Times' ads and recently announced an agreement to do 100 percent of the ads for Torrance, Calif.'s Daily Breeze -- AdOut has packaged the way it handles workflow and training, and will be selling it both as a service and as individual products (such as application add-ons and databases). The company will also show its spec ad service. (818) 780-4700.

3. AdQuest Classifieds: New for this classified web publishing service bureau (more than 550 newspapers represented) will be Automotive MarketPlace, a newspaper-sold and -managed auto research and buying service. On-line customers can access car-buying information and browse local auto dealers' new and used car inventories. (715) 258-9990.

4. Advanced Technical Solutions Inc.: Moving farther and farther away from its roots as a supplier of systems resembling the traditional Atex J-11 product, ATS will show its NewsDesk II product for the first time. Encompassing parts of previous products, NewsDesk II links Word and XPress using a robust SQL relational database. ATS' QuikLayout allows for an editorial workflow that includes rough dummying, found in only a few pagination solutions. (978) 657-6500.

5. Agile Enterprise Inc.: Smart guys, good product; what's the problem here? Maybe it's just marketing. Whatever the cause, we remain convinced that TeamBase, Agile's editorial front-end, is one of the best designed systems the industry has ever seen. Equally at home as an all-Mac, all-PC or combined environment, TeamBase combines Word, XPress and Microsoft SQL Server to advantage. So why doesn't anyone (except Newsweek, which has a 200-seat system) buy it? Maybe that problem will go away this year. (603) 880-6440.

6. Applied Segmentation Technology: One of the leaders in newspaper database marketing, ASTech will be talking about its new service bureau option for small and midsize papers. Under this plan, ASTech keeps the big iron at its place, requiring you only to provide PCs to run the back-end analysis on data. Of course, if you want a full-fledged copy of AnalytiX for Newspapers, ASTech will sell you that, too. (303) 296-9966.

7. Atex Media Solutions: Nothing is new here, but how could we not recommend a visit to Atex? Against all odds, the company has not only stayed in business, it has thrived. Enterprise, Atex's classified front-end, remains one of the leading client-server solutions -- and just over the horizon are some Interesting Products. Drop by to keep up the relationship; next year, Atex will be hot. (781) 275-2323.

8. Autologic Information International Inc.: Back in the '80s, when we were dreaming of pagination, we dreamed in terms of 60 pages per hour -- meaning a metro could close one page a minute in the last hour, which is what most metros want to do. Fast forward to today, when AII will be showing its entry into the next-generation computer-to-plate systems, which produce 100 broadsheet plates per hour. Wouldn't Grandpa be impressed? (805) 376-5113.

9. Baseview Products Inc.: Baseview, the little company owned by a big company that provides little newspapers with big-newspaper-featured editorial and classified systems, will be showing three new products. Live IQue is a utility that serves up web pages dynamically, which means the stories are in a database, where they belong. NewsEditPro IQue 3.1, using Apple's VTwin technology, has a much better ability than its predecessors to search for text throughout the system. CirculationPro 1.9.5 puts a web user interface on the circulation system. (313) 662-5800.

10. binuscan Inc.: Though there are some technical arguments to be made about the ColorPro scanner modules, with the correct installation these products can turn out consistent scans every time -- no matter who's running the scanner. binuscan comes as close to "automatic" color correction as we'll ever see. Also in the booth is Umax, purveyor of good flatbed scanners. (212) 681-0600.

From THE COLE PAPERS, June 1998, Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved.