Pre-press conference focuses on products and suppliers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- More than 100 newspaper executives got to put their hands on "Power Tools for Pre-Press" at the suitably-named 1995 edition of the Newspaper Association of America's annual pre-press conference.

Nine of the 23 presentations given here April 2-4 were product demonstrations.

Representatives of Adobe Systems Inc., Agfa, Apple Computer Inc., FSI Inc., Gannett Media Technologies Inc., HSC Software Inc., IBM, Printware Inc., Quark Inc. and Xerox Graphic Systems either demonstrated new products or discussed their companies' forays into the new world of digital pre-press systems.

Depending upon the presenter, the sales pitches ranged from nonexistent to somewhat overbearing, but all contributed to the broad discussion of the intricate process of building newspapers.

The heart of the meeting was a panel discussion called "The Future of Pre-press -- Revisited."

Moderated by Eric Wolferman, the NAA's senior vice president for technology, the session echoed one Wolferman held at NEXPO '94: Panelists were arrayed in easy chairs across the stage, while Wolferman peppered them with questions.

Sitting in chairs they clearly felt were hot seats were Richard Cichelli, president of Software Consulting Services of Nazareth, Pa.; Michael Gold, president of Computer Network Integrators Corp. of Newton Centre, Mass.; Donald Oldham, president of Digital Technology International of Orem, Utah, and Robert Yoder, director of marketing at Baseview Products Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Wolferman noted that adopting standard platform hardware and shrink-wrapped software has "been a struggle" for most newspapers, then asked whether "a much greater degree of skill is needed at newspapers."

There are "advantages" to bringing general computing products into pre-press, Yoder responded, pointing out that "you have PCs in other aspects of your operations."

This brings with it "pluses and minuses," Yoder said. "If an Atex terminal died, you were out of luck. If a Mac dies, you can always send out to Circuit City for a PowerPC," he said.

"A traditional turnkey system isn't done anymore," said Oldham. "Networking experts aren't trying to make a living in the newspaper industry alone. If one networking supplier doesn't satisfy you, you can throw them out without throwing out the network."

Wolferman next asked, Must newspapers nowadays have in-house technology experts?

"You can be your own integrator," Gold responded, "but you have to understand the responsibilities."

"Do I believe off-the-shelf can do it? Yes," said Yoder. "Do we want that business? No.

"If a newspaper is willing to make a change in workflow," then implementing standards-based systems is not a problem, he said.

Cichelli concurred: "Can you build large newspaper systems out of standard components? If you're willing to think about the fact that some people will have to do their jobs differently than others, yes."

Referring to the popular term for standards-based publishing systems, Cichelli said, "The promise of the Fourth Wave isn't being realized, in that it's cheaper."

Oldham pointed out that the features newspapers desired 10 years ago could easily be handled today with desktop systems. "But today newspapers are asking for a lot more," he said. "Systems aren't cheaper, but you're getting a lot more from them. The expectations have increased dramatically."

Wolferman prompted the four suppliers to offer a state-of-the-industry overview.

Cichelli, who earlier in his career worked for the NAA's predecessor, said, "We did a study at the ANPA of how many VDTs were needed at newspapers. One VDT per 1000-circulation meant that there were some 60,000 desktops for 60 million total subscribers."

Assuming a newspaper changed systems once every eight years and that the systems cost $10,000 to $15,000 per terminal, then "around 1200 people could be employed" in the supplier industry, Cichelli said.

"The problem is, we're no longer getting $15,000 per seat," he said. "That means there is enough revenue for about 600 employees in the business. Guess what? We're getting there."

Yoder laid some of his company's success to Moore's Law. Named after Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel Corp., Moore's Law holds that microprocessor power doubles once every 18 months -- much to Baseview's benefit.

"Six years ago, we could only handle small papers," Yoder said. "Today, we're handling an 85,000-circulation paper."

Digital Technology's Oldham said new business models were needed. "Companies that can't change fast enough will suffer," he predicted.

Under this new business model, Oldham said, suppliers must now "leverage a broader technology." Citing the Sybase relational database -- used by hundreds of thousands of customers -- as an example, he said, "There's an enormous amount of R&D there that we're bringing to the newspaper industry."

DT didn't have to "develop the way a traditional vendor had to develop, and we didn't have to spend as much money," he said. "You can succeed and you can be profitable."

Change is sweeping the supplier industry, Gold said.

"To say that the world has changed in 20 years is a serious understatement," he said. Today, newspapers "want to know what you're charging for."

Looking back to his time at Atex in its formative years, Gold said: "A $6 million Atex system had a hardware cost of $800,000 to $1 million. Where did the rest go? To put a site engineer into a newspaper for six months."

The distinct nature of newspapering can't be overlooked, Cichelli said.

"What's unique about a newspaper is not making up ads -- lots of companies make up ads," he said. "It's how you combine those ads into pages or reports. It's that combining that makes newspapers unique. It's a really, really serious issue to open systems."

Not quite voicing his own company's sales pitch, Cichelli said, "I think the notion of 'pre-press systems' is bogus -- you need an enterprisewide solution."

In response, Oldham said newspapers need to "unify" their information, that today "text is on library systems, color photos are in one place, black-and-white in another, classifieds are in a different place than display."

Gold agreed: "The challenge to us is not the software, not the hardware, but how to organize the pieces-parts."

Cost justifications and return on investment (ROI) took center stage at a session on the business of pre-press.

"A rule of thumb," said Dale Henn, the assistant treasurer of Gannett Co., is that a new system should be acquired if annual savings from its purchase equal one-third of the project's cost.

He said to "consider savings -- payroll, supplies, repairs, maintenance, the impact of downtime, power savings, disposal of waste. Extend beyond the traditional types of savings."

Factor in as well, Henn said, the revenues a new system might generate: fewer lost classified calls, later deadlines, spec ads, logos, reduced ad credits and electronic transmission versus messengers.

"Be specific," Henn exhorted the technologists, urging them to tell their financial people about everything. "Quantify, include all costs, promise what can be delivered and build credibility, especially in writing," he said.

Maintenance costs were the province of Gerald Flake, the senior vice president for technology at Thomson Newspapers.

"You will spend more over the life of a system than you will at the beginning of the process," said Flake. Such costs entail training, service levels, problem resolution, and management of three broad areas -- vendor relationships, distribution of new releases and sheer change.

"System costs will stay constant," said Flake, "but capabilities will go up."

Robert Strack, the vice president of customer support at System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento, offered his perspective as a supplier of system maintenance.

Referring to SII's brush with bankruptcy, Strack opened by saying, "I'm just happy to be here today."

Exploring "the abyss of the cost of support," Strack pointed out that newspapers today need help with two related issues -- software change and continuous training.

"Staffs are overwhelmed," he said.

The old customer support pricing model, which based fees on a percentage of the total system cost, is now outmoded, Strack said. "Product price has nothing to do with support pricing," he said.

Using a pie chart, Strack detailed rough percentages of his expenditures in running the SII support organization: