IFRA

Editorial system: Hermes – version 10.2 is available since March 2005

Some references: News International (UK), Dow Jones (US), Singapore Press Holdings (SG), RCS Media Group (IT)

Recent installations: Axel Springer (DE), Chicago Suburban Newspaper Group (US), Olympia Verlag (DE)

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

newspaper techniques: In your opinion, where is technology development going?

Unisys: Media companies are not debating anymore “if” converging but “when” and “how”. Our developments focus on helping our customers figuring out how to achieve this. It is not easy and is mostly a cultural issue rather then technological, but the technology has to be there to assist.

In this scenario three main concepts helps: integration, security and simplicity. Integration, because a large media enterprise can not just switch the button overnight, the road toward convergence implies both new systems and better way of interconnecting existing ones. Security, because in interconnected and mixed environments secure operations are at premium. Simplicity, because this is becoming a complex information world and users demand and need simple tools to manage it.

nt: What are the highlights of your present system?

Unisys: We believe that the editorial system is just a living part of a complex ecosystem, the IT infrastructure of a media company, and as such must coexist and cooperate with the other systems. We are pushing the envelope on this concept with the Media API, a standards based (SOAP, J2EE) set of services that completely opens our solution to integrations. All of our new products and services are built on this technology.

nt: What can we expect in the near future (e.g. at IfraExpo)?

Unisys: At the next IfraExpo will be very rich for Unisys, we will showcase both new products and new features on the current release, but we will focus mainly on three concepts:

The next Hermes release, known to our customer with the codename Tayen, which will sport a completely new redesigned “information access” portal, the Media Desktop.

We will present the results of the strong partnership we have established with Microsoft.

We will introduce the redesigned printed edition manager, that will offer integrated advertising pagination and enhanced print sites management.

nt: How do you judge the economic development of the newspaper market in general?

Unisys If we consider the convergent newspapers market, we see the economic developments for our customers exciting, but very challenging. The market is completely changing its face and it requires a forward looking approach but also being prepared for a lot of trial and errors to discover new ways to increase readership and find new revenues streams.

nt: How do you estimate the willingness of newspapers to invest in editorial systems?

Unisys: We believe our customers are willing to invest, but only on suppliers that can assist them in achieving their goals and investing with them, most of the publishers do not need a better publishing solution. They need a much better solution north, south , east and west of it.

nt: How do you see the suppliers overall, and your market share in particular?

Unisys: In an attempt to revitalize the classic print business, most of our customers built new print sites or upgraded their presses, to achieve new formats and full color. This has seized a large part of their investments, as a consequence spending in IT is becoming a longer and thoughtful process and this is a boon for companies like Unisys that can offer a broader services spectrum and can count on strong partnerships, like the ones with Microsoft and Adobe.

LINKS:

> The Unisys entry in the Ifra Suppliers Directory

>Unisys Home page