Tale of two Tarks: Tera's content management system, dubbed Tark, in its Tera incarnation at top. Below, Autologic's implementation of APS-Tark.

Italian system supplier sells secret sauce through Autologic

NEW ORLEANS -- Known primarily for its output devices and workflow software, Autologic Information International Inc. is now offering an editorial front-end system.

Actually, Autologic is distributing the editorial system from Tera Digital Publishing S.p.A., an Italian company which has had marked success in Europe and the United Kingdom. Until last spring, Tera (whose U.S. office is in Bedford, N.H.) had sold its editorial products in the United States through Software Consulting Services of Nazareth, Pa.

Leaning on the Italian angle, the company made a splash at NEXPO 2000 by handing out quality pasta to booth visitors. This year, the company wanted to hand out sauce, but Robert Hanselman, Tera's U.S. sales director, said U.S. Customs wasn't keen on that idea.

Despite the lack of sauce, Tera still demoed its rich and satisfying editorial system. Tera's product line bucks the trend toward using ubiquitous software such as Microsoft Word, Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign. Instead, all components of its applications are custom-built for the newspaper industry.

Still relatively new to the U.S. market, Tera has a dozen U.S. papers as customers. USA Today has recently signed an agreement to begin using the content management module, which is called Tark.

Tera's editorial system comprises three main modules: GN3 for editorial, GN3XML for web publishing and Tark for content management. GN stands for GoodNews, an earlier name for the editorial product.

While the system runs on UNIX/Oracle or Windows NT/SQL Server, it was created to run on Windows; most of the database structures are Microsoft SQL Server. The fact that the whole system is tied to SQL makes data interrogation easy, and affords slick reporting options to give editors a view into workflow status.

Formed in 1990, Tera focused on pre-press and editorial systems. BookPaginator, the company's first product, was essentially a book pagination system. In 1992, Tera designed an editorial product which ultimately became the Hyphen Editorial System. Hyphen went out of business in 1995, and Tera took the editorial product back.

Gradually, Tera built on to its editorial system with "supplements" such as wire collectors, an Open Pre-press Interface (OPI) and page pairing. The next step was to integrate these into one package. By 1995, the integration was complete and Tera was offering a full-fledged editorial system. By 1996, Tera had roughly 40 installations in Europe.

Tera breaks down the GN3 editorial system into server and client. Running on the server are GN3XML, wire text and picture handler, OPI, imposition software and an index service. Gn3xml pushes content to the Web. Running on the client are the text editor (TED), the frames editor (Fred), the database, the edition manager and the production status module.

TED is the front-end used by reporters and editors. It can contain multiple text windows and a text preview window. It is customizable to allow for multi-story editing and for different editing purposes, such as headline editing.

Fred is the pagination application in GN3. It contains a dynamic link to TED, supports text length estimates, page separations, zoning and multiple editions. A user can use off-the-shelf applications, too, such as Adobe Photoshop to import images.

The database application, called the Shell, maintains search capabilities, story status and copy flow control. This handles many of the workflow requirements.

Tark is the digital archive component of GN3. Also based on Microsoft server technologies, Tark uses Microsoft SQL and IIS Web server. Once a page is completed, the Tark process kicks off and translates the elements into HTML for text, JPEG for color pictures and GIF for line art. It will also save pages as Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

All of these pieces can be repurposed individually or packaged. The system doesn't care.

The Tark import also populates fields for querying and rebuilds links between pages. It can also store unpublished material.

"A classified portion will be available in the fall," Hanselman said. "And a circulation system is forthcoming."

The classified system will include all the nuts and bolts such as upselling, zoning and output functions, he said. Right now it runs only on Windows NT/SQL, but UNIX is in the works.

According to Hanselman, the classified portion creates only transient accounts, but there's no limit on the number of characters in an account name. It uses HTML for a form display and contains Visual Basic scripting. It also uses the GN3 engine for hyphenation and justification. Hanselman also said an ad can be saved as raw text, a PDF or an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file.

Expect lots of customization in the product. Hanselman said you can customize publications and product codes, and add whatever input fields you may need.

Autologic handles U.S.
Autologic Information International of Thousand Oaks, Calif., is now giving Tera a helping hand in the United States through its packaging of the Tera Publishing System.

The APS Tera Publishing System offers all that Tera offers, but slaps "APS" in front of everything, such as APS Text Editor -- TED.

One feature of Tera that fits well into the APS solution is Tracy, the page tracking application. It provides on-screen information pulled from the SQL database. Some of the features include simultaneous tracking of multiple pages, editions or publications. It also provides real-time updates, and can flash an alert on items that are running late.

Autologic sells the system to run on Microsoft Windows 2000, with Sql 2000 or Sun Solaris and Oracle8i for its database.

While Autologic stressed its new editorial system, the company also showed products in its traditional back-end world, such as the modularly designed APS Optical Plate Bender System. It will handle 120 plates per hour at 800 dpi to 1400 dpi; the company has lowered its price "significantly."

The system uses optical sensors to direct movement of the plate-bender for punching and bending. It's software guided -- you can even configure it with a laptop. You can also customize the number of different types of bends. The stacker can handle most paper-size requirements.

Autologic also has a personal digital assistant solution for its APS Workflow product line. Users now can have wireless access to two products, Output Manager and APS Plateroom Manager. RIPs and imagers can be monitored, enabled or disabled.

The system requires standard wireless-enabled hand-held devices, such as the Palm Vx or VIIx, or Compaq's iPAQ Pocket PC. Connectivity is through wireless modem or wireless network devices.

Autologic continues to offer solid output solutions. This year it has demonstrated it's determined to find functional solutions for all publishing needs.

-- J.Z.

Autologic Information International Inc.,
(805) 498-9611, e-mail: ldavis@autologic.com;
Tera US Inc.,
(603) 624-9160, e-mail: bob@tera-us.com.

From THE COLE PAPERS, July 2001, Copyright © 2001, All Rights Reserved.