AP won't save Preserver

The Associated Press has announced that it has closed its Phototechnology Marketing Group and that it will limit its development of the Preserver image archive system to the next software revision, which only will be supported through 2005.

"The Phototechnology Marketing Group had a number of good years when we had proprietary products to sell," said Tom Brettingen, director of business development for the New York City-based news cooperative. "This year it will actually lose money."

The Phototechnology Marketing Group had sold digital cameras and the AP Server NT in addition to the Preserver archive. Brettingen pointed to new, low-cost digital cameras, saying that they no longer offer the news cooperative the kinds of profit to which it had become accustomed. "The margins will be slimmer," he said. In addition, the AP has decided to distribute the AP Server NT free to members.

The Preserver, which is installed at 36 U.S. newspapers with a total of 92 individual systems installed worldwide (including 12 systems at the AP itself), is in Version 3.5, with a pending rollout of Version 3.6. AP has had difficulty developing Version 4 -- which operates with popular web browsers rather than with proprietary client software and unifies the two databases of earlier versions into one -- and had anticipated that the software would go into beta at the end of last year; it's now expected to be ready "next year."

Ironically, the not-for-profit organization announced its shutdown of the phototechnology group and limitation of the Preserver at the first AP Preserver Users Group, which was held Oct. 15 in Orlando, Fla., with 21 in attendance.

The AP subsequently has provided members with definitive support dates. Brettingen said that the Version 3.6 software would be supported through 2002 and that Version 4 would be supported through 2005.

Reaction in the industry has been mixed. Many in attendance at the users group meeting said they would begin immediate plans to migrate to other archiving systems; others were interested in pursuing Version 4.

"Are there members who are upset that we aren't going to go farther?" asked Brettingen. "I think there are."

The Associated Press, (212) 621-1500.

-- dmc

Quark's new take on QPS

In an unusual move, Quark Inc. of Denver has assigned the development and distribution rights for its Quark Publishing System (QPS) to a new company that will focus exclusively on workgroup publishing.

QPS, with more than 580 systems installed worldwide, is a workgroup publishing tool aimed at the newspaper and magazine marketplace. QPS marries Quark's ubiquitous page layout application, XPress, with a database to provide the tools needed for copy creation and layout. It is marketed through a network of integration firms.

The new company, Modulo Systems Corp. of Burlington, Mass., is headed by Lee Silverman, formerly general manager of Cybergraphic Inc.; he joined Cybergraphic in February and left in June, when it was acquired by Geac Publishing Systems of Tampa, Fla. Previously Silverman was with PMP Communications of Australia and has worked for Agfa Corp., Compugraphic Corp. and Quadex.

"We are eventually going to rearchitect the product," said Silverman, citing the need for "jumps and redlining."

Silverman said that his company would focus on a variety of vertical markets, with QPS to be used in newspapers and magazines. Other areas of focus will include catalogs and document management, with new products to be developed for those markets. Quark also has licensed its Quark Digital Media System to Modulo.

Though Silverman wouldn't say where the funding came from to start Modulo, he did say that it isn't being funded by Quark. "In financial terms it is more of a cousinly relationship," Silverman said in regards to the Denver company.

Quark officials were traveling in rural India and were not available for comment. Quark President Fred Ebrahimi and Vice President Susan Friedman will sit on the Modulo board of directors.

Silverman said that a number of the Quark staff that had developed and supported QPS would be offered jobs with Modulo; some, he acknowledged, would not be interested in moving from Colorado to Massachusetts. Silverman said that he expects Modulo to grow to about 25 or 30 employees.

He said that the company intends to beef up customer support and that it would attempt to leverage the work of Quark XTension developers. In addition, Silverman said that Modulo would review the existing integrator relationships and seek more new firms to sell and install Modulo's products, including QPS.

Modulo Systems Corp., (617) 234-4414; Quark Inc., (303) 894-8888.

-- dmc

Bit bucket ...

"The quake sent heavy turtles rolling top speed across the composing room floor. The giant lead pot in the stereotype room tilted like a teacup -- sending hot lead spilling on the floor."
-- William Tobin, Anchorage (Alaska) Daily Times, in an AP dispatch, March 30, 1964

In the news: At Usa Today of Arlington, Va., J. Ford Huffman has been named deputy managing editor for graphics and photography. Most recently, Huffman was managing editor for features, graphics and photos at Gannett News Service ... At The Sun of Baltimore, Guy Gilmore has been named vice president of production and circulation; previously, he was vice president of circulation. In earlier lives, he worked for the Portland Oregonian, the Nashville Tennessean and Florida Today. ...

New media mavens: At the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., Jimmy Denly has been named director of new media; most recently, Denly was editor of the Abilene Reporter-News in Texas. ... At Nando Media of Raleigh, N.C., Kathryn Trent Ives has been promoted to sales director of the interactive media division of The McClatchy Co. Ives, who has worked as an account representative at Nando for two years, joined Nando's parent company, The News and Observer Publishing Co., in advertising sales in 1995. Before that she was marketing and promotions assistant at the Houston Chronicle. ...

Vendor vehicles: At The Associated Press in New York, Tim Gallivan has been named coordinator of AP editorial services. Gallivan, who has been AP's director of news technology, joined the AP in 1979 as an editorial clerk at AP headquarters and three years later joined a technology group responsible for the cooperative's news, election and e-mail systems. Gallivan has managed that group -- now called News Technology -- since 1987. ... At Artesia Technologies Inc. of Rockville, Md., Sebastian Holst has been named vice president of marketing. Previously, Holst was with Inso Corp., and was the U.S. president for Texcel, a content management company recently acquired by Interleaf. ... At AdOne L.L.C. of New York, Anthony Manson has been named executive vice president of marketing and general manager of ClassifiedWarehouse.com, AdOne's consumer classifieds Web site. Previously, Manson was with Young & Rubicam's interactive marketing unit, Brand Dialogue, a division he founded six years ago; before that he held several executive positions in Young & Rubicam's media department. ... At ECRM of Tewksbury, Mass., Philip Rowlinson has been named senior vice president of customer satisfaction services; previously he was senior vice president of operations. ... At Gannett Media Technologies International of Cincinnati, Greg Doud has been named director of software development for Celebro Advertising Solutions. Previously, Doud was senior consulting manager for Origin Technology. Also at Gmti, David Connerth has been named director of software development for Digital Collections. He was with GE Aircraft Engines and spent seven years in the computer consulting industry. Lastly at Gmti, Carol Laux has been named eastern regional sales manager for Celebro Advertising Solutions; previously Laux was with Champion Homes Ltd. in Cincinnati. ... At Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG of Germany, Bernhard Schreier has been named chairman of the company's management board; he replaces Hartmut Mehdorn, who will become chairman of the board of Deutsche Bahn AG, the German railway, in January 2000. Schreier joined Heidelberg after graduating in mechanical engineering in 1975; most recently he was a member of the management board and head of the pre-press business unit and COO of Heidelberg Digital of Rochester, N.Y. ... At PowerAdz.com of Rensselaer, N.Y., Loretta Farrell has been named vice president of human resources and performance management. Previously Farrell was with Credit Suisse First Boston. ... At Quark Inc. of Denver, Bronwen Turner has been named director of strategic public relations. Previously Turner was deputy director of the Denver Mayor's Office of Economic Development and International Trade and in earlier lives worked as a consultant with a local government management firm, was a mayoral appointee to the Denver Private Industry Council for eight years and has served as the President of the Colorado Chapter of the American Planning Association, as well as President of the Denver Association of Business Economists. ... At Real Media of New York, Norman Blashka has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer. He replaces Don Perri, who left to head the new media unit of Hachette. Previously, Blashka was with Mickelberry Communications Inc. and Union Capital Corp. ... At System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento, Alistair Langford-Wilson has been named editorial program director; previously he held a similar position at Cybergraphic Group of Melbourne, Australia. In previous lives, Langford-Wilson was a newspaper editor in Australia and Hong Kong. ...

Confabs: Color Management -- Scan to Display to Print, a one-day seminar, will be offered Nov. 5 in Seattle, Nov. 8 in San Francisco, Nov. 9 in Los Angeles, Nov. 10 in San Diego, Nov. 11 in Houston and Nov. 12 in Dallas. The session emphasizes how to control color from the perspective of a designer, illustrator, art director, photographer, pre-press operator or press operator. For more info, send e-mail to info@dpac.com. ... PDF & Digital Workflow is Nov. 15 in San Francisco. Sessions will highlight tips and techniques in the use of Adobe Acrobat 4.0, presentations by Agfa, Scitex and Heidelberg about their use of PDF and a presentation by Adobe about how PDF relates to its new InDesign and PressReady products. For more information, call (603) 891-9267. ...

Errors & Omissions: In last issue's story, "Adobe and Quark also share Seybold keynote spotlight," an incorrect word was used in describing the business of Cascade Systems Inc. The sentence should have read, "With that in mind, Adobe has partnered with companies such as Cascade Systems Inc. of Acton, Mass., which provides cross-media functionality for retail." The Cole Papers regrets the error. ... #

From THE COLE PAPERS, November 1999, Copyright © 1999, All Rights Reserved.