SII to focus on 'integrators'

After six months on the job, System Integrators' newest chief executive did what most of his predecessors have done: reorganized the company, cut some products, laid off workers and set about emphasizing the word "integrators."

Frank Washington, who joined Sacramento, Calif.-based SII after a long career in the cable television business (see The Cole Papers, July 1996), announced a series of changes at the company in early January that effectively ended development of a number of key products on which many existing customers had built their technology strategies.

SII now will emphasize products being developed by Cybergraphic Systems Pty. Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia. SII has extended its agreement with Cybergraphic and is now licensed as exclusive dealer of Cybergraphic products in the United Kingdom, along with previously announced rights to the North American, South American, European, Middle East and African markets.

In addition to laying off 14 workers in the company's research and development department, Washington also flattened SII's organizational structure, virtually eliminating an entire level of management.

Among those affected were two veteran SII executives, Jack Pritchard and Steve Nilan.

Pritchard was a longtime SII executive who left the company in the early '90s, returned during the darker days of 1996 and ultimately became chief operating officer. Nilan, long an SII marketing executive, left his post as a vice president and is now a consultant to the company.

Also relegated to consulting roles were Research and Development Vice President Rick Sanders and Strategic Planning Vice President Jim Rentz, both executives who had left the company over the years only to return in late 1996.

All told, 24 people were laid off, the company said.

SII said it would "continue to develop products while focusing its efforts on providing the best support in the industry and a strong sales and marketing channel."

SII has canceled development of Scoop, its Open Pre-Press Interface (OPI), and will not port MTX/AMTX, a graphical user interface for text editing and ad entry, from IBM's OS/2 to Windows NT.

It will continue to develop the Coyote/3 product, which will bring Coyote functionality to the Windows 95/Windows NT environment.

In addition, SII said that it would develop a series of products, called SIIberBridge, that would transition existing SII customers to the new Cybergraphic products. The companies are committed to co-developing a version of Cybergraphic's systems that would run on Tandem servers running Windows NT.

In a letter to customers, Washington said SII's service and support business -- GlobalNet -- continued to be strong.

"We are reinforcing our commitment to superior customer service and, in fact," he said, "we are adding technical expertise to our customer services operation."

Cybergraphic Inc.,
(617) 221-0077,
e-mail: 0004484910@mcimail.com;
System Integrators Inc.,
(916) 929-9481,
e-mail: sii@sii.com.

-- dmc

Unisys wins Colorado Springs contract

Seven months after its hit performance at NEXPO '96 (see The Cole Papers, August 1996), Unisys Corp. of Irving, Texas, announced in late January that it had signed its first order for an installation in the United States.

The Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, a 207,000-circulation morning daily that is part of the Freedom Communications group, has contracted for the replacement of 75 reporter and editor seats and 13 pagination seats with Hermes, the Unisys editorial and pagination system, and WireCenter, the Unisys wire service and document management system.

The system, which uses proprietary Unisys software, is based on client/server architecture. Two Sun Enterprise Ultra servers will support the editorial database, wire and remote access management, page tracking and an Open Pre-Press Interface (OPI). Intel-based client workstations will run Windows NT.

"The Unisys Hermes System is a powerful solution that will enable us to process and deliver information faster, easier and more efficiently," Steven Smith, editor of the Gazette Telegraph, said in a press release. "The overall performance and functionality of Hermes, coupled with Unisys' superior solution integration capabilities, were key deciding factors in our selecting Unisys."

Hermes has been at work at a number of publications in Europe, including Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's financial daily, and La Voix Du Nord, a regional newspaper in France that includes 600 editorial users publishing 28 daily editions.

Unisys Corp., (972) 541-8059; e-mail: daviderdner@unn.unisys.com.

-- dmc

Color me dense

As the responsibilities for managing color move from the cloistered production areas out into the newsroom and advertising department, many more workers need to understand the issues of color reproduction.

To help meet this need, X-Rite Inc. -- the Grandville, Mich., maker of color densitometers, the devices that assist in measuring color -- has published The Color Guide and Glossary (X-Rite Inc., $29).

This 48-page booklet takes the reader through a basic primer on the technical aspects of color -- ranging from the spectrum of light to metamerism (why things look different under different light sources) -- through an explanation of color management and how to measure printed color.

In addition, there is a seven-page glossary at the back.

The book presumes the reader is technical, though most editorial or advertising employees should be able to plow through it.

There is, of course, a bias in the copy toward densitometers and spectrophotometers -- especially X-Rite's products -- but since I believe that not enough publishers understand the basic need for color measurement to achieve quality reproduction, this bias doesn't hurt the book in any way.

X-Rite Inc., (616) 534-7663.

-- dmc

Bit bucket ...

"What's the lifespan of personal computers? Five years? Get realistic -- three years. Now we don't depreciate them at all -- we expense them."
-- Microsoft Vice President Robert McDowell at the NAA's SuperConference

Phoenix folks: At the Arizona Republic (may the Phoenix Gazette rest in peace), Howard Finberg has taken over responsibility for the Information Services department for the next 18 to 24 months. Finberg, a longtime graphics editor (Chicago Tribune, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle), will continue as director of information technology and keep his strategic technology role with new media and on-line and continue responsibilities with Pafet, the newspaper technology consortium. He'll report to Vice President/Operations & Product Development Rich Cox on IS issues and to Publisher & CEO John Oppedahl on strategic technology issues. ... As part of the Phoenix restructuring, Editorial Systems Manager Dave Seibert and Advertising Services Manager Dena Greenawalt, along with computer system support personnel from both departments, will join the Information Services department. IS Director Sam Young will have expanded responsibilities with several projects and IS Manager Sheila Schumacher will shift her focus to IS operations. ... And if that wasn't enough, at Central Newspapers Inc., the Republic's parent, William Toner has been named chief information officer. Toner, a longtime Gannett executive who held a number of technology positions in the company, including director of the company's Advanced Systems Lab, was most recently vice president of operations at Gannett Media Technologies International of Cincinnati. Toner will be based in Phoenix. ...

Educator gets real job: At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, J.T. "Tom" Johnson has been named deputy editor for new media and technology initiatives, computer-assisted reporting, other reporting skills development and responsibility for the news research department. The longtime professor of journalism at San Francisco State University will be part of a "news-editorial leadership team" that includes the editor, managing editor and deputy managing editor. Johnson, a frequent contributor to Time and Popular Science magazines, was one of the founding editors of Macweek. He was also a contributor to feed/back magazine when the editor of this journal was the editor of that journal. ...

Real bits: Michael Mayo has been named production director at Knight-Ridder; he had been vice president of production at the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. ... John Parrish has been named information systems director at the Statesmen-Journal in Salem, Ore.; previously he had been project manager for planning and fulfillment services at Gannett Co. Inc. headquarters in Arlington, Va. ... Paul Mowry, operations director at Tribune group of newspapers in Mesa, Ariz., has been named pre-press manager at the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman. Mowry, a longtime Cox Newspapers editorial and production executive, stayed with the company when it sold the Tribune papers to Thomson Newspapers. ... At the Daily Herald in Arlington, Ill., Robert Finch has been named vice president of process; previously Finch had been assistant managing editor for photos and graphics. ...

New media mavens: At Digital Ink Co., the new media subsidiary of the Washington Post Co., Marc Teren has been named president. He replaces Ralph Terkowitz, who has been serving as acting president and now resumes his duties as Post's chief technology officer. Teren previously was vice president of the Walt Disney Co.'s Disney Interactive entertainment division. ... Also at Digital Ink, Christopher Ma has been named a vice president and executive producer. Ma moves from U.S. News & World Report, where he was deputy editor. ... At the American Reporter, a 21-month-old, on-line-only news service operating on the Internet, Max Bertola has been named publisher. AR is jointly owned by its contributing writers, and earns revenues from subscriptions to an e-mail edition and from resale of articles and subscription fees paid by other publishers of AR material. ...

NAA doings: At the Newspaper Association of America (newly of Vienna, Va.), the following changes have transpired: Nicholas Cannistraro has been named head of the National Newspaper Network; previously he was senior vice president for marketing of the association. Cannistraro will continue to report to NAA President and CEO John Sturm. ... Ronald Weathersby has been named director of public relations at the association; previously he had been director of public relations at the Piney Woods Country School in Mississippi. ... Janet Owens has been named project coordinator for Partners-2000, the NAA initiative to improve relationships between the nation's daily papers and advertisers. ...

Vendor vicissitudes: At Adobe Systems Inc. of San Jose, Calif., Ross Bott has been named senior veep and GM of its graphics division, a new position responsible for management and growth of the company's core graphics business, including Photoshop, Illustrator and PageMaker. Previously Bott was with Silicon Graphics, where he was senior veep of enterprise technologies. ... At AdOne Classified Network of New York, Ron Beach has been named general manager of sales and affiliate relations for the western region; previously Beach had been with Classifacts Inc. of Aurora, Colo. ... At the Associated Press in New York, Eva Parziale has been named director of photo archives; previously she was bureau chief in Portland, Ore., and earlier in her career had briefly worked in the photo library while going to school. Parziale replaces retiring Harold "Hal" Buell, the 40-year AP vet who ran all newsphoto operations for 22 years (most recently Buell was in charge of new photo technologies for the news cooperative). ... At Cascade Systems Inc. of Andover, Mass., Richard Patterson, one of the original principals in the company, has resigned as chairman. The change, initiated by Patterson, is amicable and allows him to continue as a consultant to Cascade's board of directors as well as explore other areas of interest and business opportunities outside the publishing industry (Patterson has had a lively side career as a promoter of musical concerts in the United Kingdom). ... Also at Cascade, Milton Bradley has been named eastern regional sales manager (he comes from a career that includes Atex, Agfa and Scitex), Doug Gregory has been named northwest regional account manager (he comes from Multi-Ad Services of Peoria, Ill.) and Marc Radosevic has been named southeast regional account manager (he, too, is from Multi-Ad). ... At Eastman Kodak Co. of Rochester, N.Y., Denise Dragoone has been named photojournalism liaison; previously Dragoone was a marketer for the company's large-format printers. She replaces Paul Curtis, who had held the position since 1989. ... At ECRM of Tewksbury, Mass., Gerald Governile has been named president; he had been senior vice president and chief operating officer since May 1991. Governile will continue to report to William Givens, who now assumes the title of cochairman of the board (the other cochairman will be Richard Black, who has been chairman of ECRM's board since 1983). ... At Electric Classifieds Inc. of San Francisco, Elliot Wasserman has been named president and CEO. He had been serving in a consulting role as interim CEO after the departure of Jordan Graham last year. ... At Integrated Computing Engines of Waltham, Mass., Richard Buchheim has been named president and CEO. Previously Buchheim was with Intergraph, where he was an executive veep and was best known for handling the purchase of Bestinfo (which became the Retail Solutions Group, which Intergraph announced last month is shutting down). And before Intergraph, Buchheim was senior veep and chief technology officer of Camex. ... At Mactive Inc. of Melbourne, Fla., John Herbst has been named vice president of sales and marketing. Herbst comes to the European systems supplier, which is just opening a U.S. branch, from Harris Publishing Systems Corp., where he had been in charge of Latin American marketing. Also at Mactive, Scott Roessler has been named vice president of operations; Roessler too came from Harris, where he'd been a software engineer. ... At Polaroid Graphics Imaging of Waltham, Mass., Richard Close has been named divisional vice president and general manager of all of Polaroid's graphics imaging business; previously he had been president of Computer Identics Corp. and before that with Eastman Kodak. ... At Scitex America Corp. of Bedford, Mass., Ray Wilson has resigned as veep of marketing. No replacement has been named. ... At Seybold Seminars of Foster City, Calif., Bruce Gray has been named veep and general manager. Previously Gray was executive veep and COO of IDG Expositions, and senior veep and COO of Infortainment World. He replaces Michela O'Connor Abrams, who has been named president of Seybold's parent, Softbank Expositions. ... At Spanlink Communications Inc. of Minneapolis, Dave Dorman has been named sales manager for the ExtraAgent for Newspapers family of products; previously Dorman was with Innovative Systems Design of Montreal. ... At Tribune Media Services of Chicago, Mary Beth Pacer has been named Midwest sales representative for TMS and Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services products; she'd previously been the company's sales administrator and sales coordinator. ... Also at TMS, Bob Hurst has been named sales administrator; previously he was a telemarketing representative (and before that, a sports writer and contributor to the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill.). ... At UMI Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich., Paul Tucci has been named vice president of international sales; previously he was director of international sales. ... At Xitron Inc., also of Ann Arbor, Lisa Austin has been named product manager for print server products; previously she'd been a graphic systems analyst and display advertising product manager at CText Inc., yet another Ann Arbor-based supplier. ... Also at Xitron, Ed Kennedy has been named sales manager for the southern region; previously he'd been with Linotype-Hell. ...

Confabs: Year 2000 Expo and Conference, to chat about computers that have problems with the next century, is Feb. 9-11 in Washington, D.C. Dial (508) 652-1010 for more information. ... M2, the international magazine management conference sponsored by Folio magazine and the Magazine Publishers Association, is Feb. 10-12 in Orlando, Fla. Get the square information at (203) 358-3751. ... Interactive Newspapers '97, sponsored by Editor & Publisher and a host of industry associations, is Feb. 12-15 in Houston, Texas. For more information, call (212) 675-4380, ext. 314. ... The Great Lakes/Midstates Newspaper Conference is Feb. 21-23 in Columbus, Ohio. Call (219) 546-3703 for details. ... The Advertising Technical Conference, sponsored by IFRA, will be Feb. 25-26 in Darmstadt, Germany. Call (49) {6151} 733-720. ... ACM97, the Association for Computing Machinery's 50th anniversary conference, "The Next 50 Years of Computing," is March 1-5 in San Jose, Calif. Point your browser at http://www.acm.org/acm97/. ... The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association meets March 2-4 in Birmingham, Ala. For the down-home details, call (404) 256-0444. ... #

From THE COLE PAPERS, February 1997, Copyright © 1997, All Rights Reserved.