NEXPO Preview, Nos. 1-16

1. Acquire Media Corp.: A dizzying array of technologies are a sound underpinning to this company’s Acquire Media Syndication Suite (Amps), a product in use by the CanWest newspaper group, the New York Times Syndicate, Knight Ridder Digital and others. The Amps product shares a code base with the company’s NewsTrade product, which is aimed at the stocks-and-bonds crowd; both use XML extensively to create what the company calls a “smart” network for filtering and alerting from wire services (the company licenses a number and can provide you with content from its partners). If Acquire can correlate accurate financial data, there’s no reason it can’t move copy. (973) 422-0800; e-mail: info@acquiremedia.com.

2. Adfare Marketing: So the boss has been on your back about this convergence stuff — when are we going to start having video on the web site, he keeps asking — and, oh, by the way, it just can’t be any video, it has to be video that makes us some money. To your rescue comes Adfare, a company that focuses specifically on video systems for newspaper web sites. In the same way some suppliers migrate print ads to on-line, Adfare takes broadcast commercials and makes them ’Net ready. The company will also be showing its Magical Mall product, which turns special sections into CD-ROMs, with video, photos, logos, contact information and links. (866) 257-6596, ext. 0; e-mail: info@adfare.com.

3. AdStar Inc.: Talk about the little engine that could: AdStar is one of the longest-lived companies in the business, having started out selling classified order entry systems for employment agencies and real estate agencies, moving the keystroking from the newspaper upstream to the customer. Now the company is moderately big (it acquired another industry long-timer, Edgil Associates Inc. last year) and publicly traded, with the same top management today as was in place in 1985. New to the AdStar portfolio this year is AdStar Web User Interface (clients make up their own ads — who needs upsell when they spend more on their own without your help?) and EdgCapture.com, the Web-based version of, as they say, “the de facto standard in newspaper payment processing software.” (310) 577-8255; e-mail: info@adstar.com.

4. Advanced Publishing Technology: A pioneer in providing a full suite of publishing products, APT will be showing its newly renamed product line, the Falcon series. The company says it will show fully featured remote access (through a web browser interface) and real-time database access for all applications: classified, display ad entry, accounts receivable, editorial and ad tracking. Oh, and the pagination and copy editing are your choice: InDesign and Quark XPress (and InCopy and CopyDesk) are both featured. (818) 557-3035; e-mail: lynnew@advpubtech.com.

5. Advanced Technical Solutions Inc.: While the products at ATS are great — everything from editorial and advertising to circulation — what sets ATS apart from its competition is customer service. This probably stems from the literally thousands of years of industry experience that the company’s staff has. Well, maybe not literally, but you get the idea; they know newspapers and they know how to install and service systems. A new version of the company’s accounts receivable system (AdVisA/R) and new features in MediaDesk (the editorial system now provides a web browser view of the database) highlight this year’s showing. (978) 849-0533; e-mail:laina.larabee@atsusa.com.

6. Agfa Corp.: Green versus violet — not two losers from the TV show The Bachelor, but two kinds of lasers and two directions that newspapers can take in the computer-to-plate world. Responding to the challenge is Agfa (Autologic being but a mere memory anymore), which provides customers with both types of CTP devices and materials for both types of machines (but it leans toward the longer-lasting violet lasers). The company’s latest — the Advantage series — has a small footprint and comes in two cassette models and a direct load platesetter model. All feature the Sublima screen technology. (800) 540-2432; e-mail: sheila.nysko.b@us.agfa.com.

7. alfaQuest Technologies: You wouldn’t think an output and workflow company would have any place for XML, right? Well, you’d be wrong in the case of alfaQuest (nŽe Monotype Systems). The company’s PrintExpress Consolidated Production Management system features “standard XML interfaces” which can accept information “from any page planning system.” Also new this year is the TrakMate II Automatic Plate Loader, which does pretty much what the name says, connecting to the company’s ultraviolet and violet-based Fastrak Ctp imagers. Also on view are the popular Panther RIP and Workflow Suite, which run on your choice of Windows or Mac (OS X as well as Classic) with the ability to mix-and-match workstations within the same system as well. (847) 427-8800; e-mail: sales@alfaquest.com.

8. AMC (Atex Media Command): The Prestige Content Management System integrates Adobe InCopy and InDesign.

8. AMC: For the publisher who complains there aren’t enough product choices in the newspaper systems world, we present AMC (Atex Media Command), which not only has a full spectrum of products (advertising, editorial, circulation, finance, customer-relation management, business analytics and Web), but in some cases has two products in each category. Upgrade features this year in the Prestige Content Manager (that’s an editorial system to you unwashed hooligans) product include browser-based access, cross-media support and the integration of Adobe InCopy and InDesign. Oh, and they’ll have an Internet cafe, where you can read your e-mail from the complaining publisher. (781) 275-2323; e-mail:frontdesk.us@amc.com.

9. Anitec/Kodak Polychrome Graphics: The Newsetter CTP system features plates with run lengths of 300,000-plus without baking.

9. Anitec/Kodak Polychrome Graphics: Two familiar names in the newspaper business — Kodak and Anitec — continue their long tradition of serving the industry with their Newsetter CTP system, which features the ThermalNews plates (run lengths of 300,000-plus without baking). Two models offer differing speeds — one is a 100-plate-per-hour machine, the other a 180-plate-per-hour device — and the system comes with the “groundbreaking” Color Fidelity System (“easily automates critical color management”) and the ExaStore (for those moments when you need another plate for Page A12 and don’t have time to RIP it again). (203) 845-7000; e-mail: info@kpgraphics.com.

10. Anygraaf USA Inc.: It’s in its sophomore NEXPO year and the company’s product line continues to impress. In addition to a full suite of editorial and advertising products, the U.S.-division of the Finnish systems supplier will be showing Adobe InCopy integration in its Doris32 editorial system and an enhanced version of Doris EPaper, the company’s editorial add-on module that eases Web publishing and also provides readers with access to PDF files of pages. New this year is a browsing feature, which lets readers see pages by thumbnails in addition to section links and full-text searches. Also new will be a set of RGB color workflow and correction tools that handles automatic Cmyk conversion, which can be integrated into Doris32 or work as stand-alone products. (301) 926-1805; e-mail:andy.hunn@anygraaf.com.

11. Brainworks Software Inc.: This company has often suffered from what could be best called the Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome (“We don’t get no respect”), but maybe a full-blown product line, sales of two, 200-seat advertising systems and one of the biggest booths at the show will finally turn the tide. Good stuff; good people. (631) 563-5000; e-mail: info@brainworks.com.

12. Brass Tacks Design: At least since the advent of desktop computers, there’s been a synergy between graphics and systems (all of you who have run both the art department and the systems department please raise your hand), but this is the first time in memory that a firm specializing in newspaper redesign has made a NEXPO appearance. Alan Jacobson, principal of Brass Tacks, has not only editorial redesigns to show, but also classified sections — sections that he says increase sales. And the editorial redesigns? He can cite examples where they have brought back sagging circulation and readership. (757) 622-8116; e-mail: alan@brasstacksdesign.com.

13. CCI Europe: The leading supplier of large-scale newspaper systems asks the provocative question, “Convergence — is anyone doing it right?” To answer, CCI has another of its patented (well, they should be) theater presentations that probably make Disney and Universal Studios green with envy. If there’s such a thing as a thrill ride at a trade show, it’s a CCI presentation — it’s worth the price of admission all by itself. This year CCI’s show will feature convergence efforts at Florida’s Tampa Tribune and Norway’s Adresseaviesen. (770) 420 1100; e-mail: info@ccieurope.com.

14. CityXpress Corp.: This company finally cracks the newspaper on-line auction puzzle.

14. CityXpress Corp.: Back in the ‘90s, everybody thought on-line auctions would be a no-brainer for newspapers; it turns out that the problem was a lot harder than everybody thought. This Canadian company seems to have figured out how to do it right: it says that it conducted an 11-day on-line auction on behalf of the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that generated more than $1.5 million. That’s what probably propelled Knight Ridder (owner of the Startlegram) into making a big investment in the company earlier this month (Lee Enterprises is also an investor — see Page 11). (360) 895-5374; e-mail: info@cityxpress.com.

15. CKP Newspaper Systems Inc.: New this year will be AdShift, a system that provides “point-and-click ad building from a web browser.” AdShift leverages CKP’s modular subsystems in composition and rating to provide on-line ad customers with the ability to build real-time WYSIWYG ads with PDF previews. It supports multiple products and multiple rating schemes. In addition, the company says it is introducing a new integration strategy that “dramatically lowers the cost integration to other front-end systems.” The precursor to the product handles 3000 ads per month at the Houston Chronicle. (603) 472-5825; e-mail:james.mooney@ckp.com.

16. Conic Technologies: If things are a little fuzzy out there past the platesetters — like where is that skid of pre-prints or how many rolls of newsprint do we have on-hand, then Conic’s AXisS system is for you. The system is based on the job description format (JDF) specification, which is used throughout the graphic arts industry as a job tracking tool. Conic’s version— the AXiS Xi System, which includes modules for insert management, roll management, page management and data tracking — has been beta tested by the Leader-Telegram in Eau Claire, Wis., which used it both for the daily as well as in the paper’s job-printing operation. (888) 404-4546; e-mail: info@conictechnologies.com.

From THE COLE PAPERS , June 2004, Copyright © 2004, All Rights Reserved.