COLE'S NEWSWIRE, June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999
Vol. 5, No. 26

COLE'S NEWSWIRE is a weekly distribution of information about the sales and installations of publishing technology and the latest news on new products developed by suppliers to the industry.

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AGFA CORP.
Agfa, an imaging systems supplier based in Ridgefield Park, N.J., has announced the sale of its computer-to-plate products to the 1.7 million-circulation national daily USA TODAY of Washington, D.C.

USA TODAY is acquiring Agfa Polaris 100 CTP (computer-to-plate) platesetters, Agfa IntelliNet Digital Workflow software, PH W32 N processors and N90 plates. The products will enable the paper to cut 30 minutes off the time between closing the last page and the press start. The Agfa configuration also will shave the current transmission time for one edition from 12 hours to 4.5 hours.

Agfa is on the World-Wide Web at http://www.agfapress.com/.

ATEX MEDIA SOLUTIONS INC.
Atex, a publishing systems supplier based in Bedford, Mass., has made several sales and alliance announcements. Atex announced it has sold its new Omnex content management (editorial front-end) system to the FINANCIAL TIMES of London, a global financial newspaper with offices in 18 time zones. Atex will install an evaluation system at the FT's London offices in July.

Atex also has announced alliances with three companies under which Atex will market and integrate the others' products into the Atex line:

-- Digital Collections, the German archiving solutions supplier with U.S. offices in Cincinnati, is providing its DC4 digital archiving and asset management system for use in Omnex and as a stand-alone offering, or with Atex's DewarView and Prestige editorial systems. Atex also will hold co-exclusive distribution rights with Gannett Media Technologies Inc. of Cincinnati.

-- Edgil Associates Inc. of North Chelmsford, Mass., has signed a world-wide reseller agreement with Atex under which Atex will integrate Edgil's Ads To Go tool for publishing ads on the Web into its Enterprise advertising system, permitting display ads booked through Enterprise to be easily posted on the Web.

-- FutureTense Inc. of Acton, Mass., will license its IPS Xcelerate web publishing solution for integration into the new Omnex multimedia publishing system.

Atex is on the Web at http://www.atex.com/.

THE COLE GROUP
The publishers of this newswire provided live coverage of the NEXPO '99 conference on its web site at http://www.colegroup.com/tcp/nexpo99/.

Writers from The Cole Group wrote stories directly from the Las Vegas, Nev., meeting. Free-access articles on the web site include pieces on the project management workshop, the keynote presentation by Adobe's Charles Geschke, the on-line ad sales workshop and the workshop on digital cameras.

FUTURETENSE INC.
FutureTense, a supplier of on-line publishing tools based in Acton, Mass., has announced recent sales of its IPS Xcelerate web publishing solution to the New York Times on the Web, at http://www.nytimes.com/, and Sunspot, the web site of THE SUN of Baltimore at http://www.sunspot.com/.

FutureTense is on the Web at http://www.futuretense.com/.

MULTI-AD SERVICES INC.
Multi-Ad, a supplier of ad make-up and related software based in Peoria, Ill., has introduced CAST, an on-line subscription service providing access to more than 180,000 downloadable images for use in building display ads.

A single monthly fee provides subscribers with unlimited access to and use of images for ads. Eight other sites also are available through CAST, also providing images for ads that can be imported directly into Multi-Ad's Creator and Creator2 ad makeup tools.

Multi-Ad also has introduced Cumulus, digital asset management software based on Canto Cumulus from San Francisco-based Canto Software. Multi-Ad Cumulus is cross-platform, can be bought in single-user and network versions, and is tightly integrated with Creator2.

Multi-Ad is on the Web at http://www.multi-ad.com/.

NEWSINC.
NEXPO is the time for papers to reflect on their tech strategies, NEWSINC. Editor-Publisher David M. Cole writes from Las Vegas, where NEXPO '99 was held June 14-17. With reliability no longer an issue for publishing systems suppliers, the industry is being treated to an array of new products from three major suppliers, Cole writes.

Inside, Correspondent Jay Small attends the Inland Press Foundation's first Online Newspaper Conference, offering tips on how smaller papers manage their web endeavors. Also inside, Senior Editor Pete Wetmore explores one company's grant program, which it has designed to boost promotion of newspaper web sites; offers a status report on a major digital archiving project at the CHICAGO TRIBUNE; rounds up a few more tips on circulation gains and losses, and talks with the incoming and outgoing publishers of the LOS ANGELES TIMES and Canada's GLOBE AND MAIL.

For more about the June 21 issue of NEWSINC., visit The Cole Group on the Web at http://colegroup.com/.

PINE TREE SYSTEMS
Pine Tree, a Danish advertising solutions provider with U.S. offices in Westford, Mass., has announced the recent installation of its Mosaic ad tracking system at the 367,000-circulation ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER in Santa Ana, Calif.

The system, running on IBM RS/6000s with AIX 4.3.2 as the operating system and an Oracle 8 database, will have more than 200 Macintosh and PC clients. Mosaic generates ad jackets, linking business and production sides from the moment an ad order is entered. Eventually news archives will be stored and retrieved via Mosaic.

Pine Tree also has announced that System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento will be a global original equipment manufacturer for Pine Tree products, including them in its systems and sales.

Pine Tree is on the Web at http://www.pine.dk/. SII is at http://www.sii.com/.

USA.NET
USA.NET, a provider of messaging services and tools based in ??, has introduced a new e-mail service for newspapers. USA.NET Ad Mail will enable a publisher to list a temporary e-mail address in each classified it runs, linking the advertiser and buyer through a secure, third-party response system.

USA.NET also announced that three suppliers to the newspaper industry have signed strategic marketing agreements. The firms are Atex Media Solutions of Bedford, Mass., Advanced Technical Solutions Inc. of Wilmington, Mass., and CText Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich.

USA.NET is on the Web at http://www.usa.net/.

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COLE'S NEWSWIRE is compiled by Pete Wetmore and distributed by The Cole Group, publishers of THE COLE PAPERS and NEWSINC., and consultants to newspapers and magazines worldwide. To receive more information about The Cole Group, send e-mail to: info@colegroup.com.

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