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Journal Register Company Begins 800+ Seat Editorial Installation Rolling Meadows, IL, April 13, 2007 - alfaQuest Technologies, Inc.’s, alfa Media Solutions subsidiary (http://www.alfaMediaSolutions.com) is pleased to announce that installations have begun to install alfa OpenMedia editorial solutions with the Journal Register Company (http://www.journalregister.com) across all of its publication holdings. Journal Register Company (NYSE: JRC) owns 22 daily newspapers, with approximately 550,000 total daily circulations, including the New Haven Register (http://www.nhregister.com), Connecticut’s second largest daily and Sunday newspaper. The Company also owns 344 non-daily publications, with total distributions of more than 6 million, as well as commercial printing and software development companies.
The Company’s operations are strategically clustered in six geographic areas: Greater Philadelphia, Michigan, Connecticut, Greater Cleveland, Central New England, and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York. The Company also has 221 individual Web sites featuring the Company’s daily newspapers and non-daily newspaper groups. At NEXPO '06, a contingency from JRC began its quest to investigate editorial systems with electronic web page capabilities. After an extensive review and visits to alfaMedia installations, JRC selected to standardize on News Suite Enterprise Editorial from alfaMedia Solutions, Inc. alfaMedia Solutions is a sister company of alfaMedia Partners GmbH (http://www.alfa.de) which has supplied solutions to the media industry covering both the commercial and technical aspects of running a media business. Since 1981, alfaMedia has provided innovative solutions and technology to its customers, allowing them to stay competitive in delivering information in print, via the Internet or to the new breed of mobile devices. alfaMedia provides media companies with integrated, yet open solutions for all aspects of the publishing business. alfaMedia is a well proven partner with clients like Rheinische Post (http://www.rp-online.de), Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung (http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de) and the Berlin and Hamburg titles of Axel Springer (http://www.axelspringer.com). The Journal Register Company has chosen an aggressive installation schedule for its alfaMedia Solutions NewSuite rollout. It plans to install editorial, pagination, planning, tracking, e-dition and on-line services integration at two sites per month in 2007. Scheduled installation sites are in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and New York. alfaMedia NewsSuite Enterprise (details) is the central module managing cross-channel news with links to associated multimedia data. ProductPlanner (details) supports NewsSuite with edition planning and tracking capabilities XML feeds are delivered to on-line portals and e-dition (details) at the end of the production cycle or on demand, based on user preference. alfaMedia products are being installed as part of a JRC corporate initiative to consolidate and improve data flow for cross-purposing and cross-media web operations. NewsSuite, ProductionSuite, e-dition and all alfaMedia products operate in a native XML environment, simplifying and speeding throughput of data for re-purposing. The first JRC site to receive alfaMedia Solutions software solution was the Daily Local News (http://www.dailylocal.com) in West Chester, PA. Editors and reporters were upgraded to NewsSuite reporter and layout software, ProductionSuite planning and tracking modules and e-dition on-line newspaper. The DLN was installed from start to 100 percent live in less than six weeks. It has been in 100 percent live operation since November 1, 2006. In addition to containing a complete editorial and pagination workflow, NewsSuite and ProductionSuite are fully integrated to provide multi-channeling functionality. Different applications and publication platforms are transparent to users. At any time, data, complete with associated metadata, can be directed to web services for posting, RSS feed or other web services. Print data can be linked to audio or video to provide multi-channeling cross-media support. NewsSuite also accepts web input and integrate it into the multi-channel operation.
At the end of the production cycle, alfaMedia’s e-dition automatically posts a one-to-one representation of the Daily Local News (http://epaper.dailylocal.com/edition-jrc/) on the web with no human intervention. Podcasts, audio feeds, complete product download, page download, magnified views, embedded links and emailing of stories and associated graphics are available with e-dition. An e-dition archive also can retrieve products based on date or via text searches. JRC has installed dual alfaMedia SUN Fire V890 servers (details) in its Yardley, PA, headquarters. Access will be provided from the Yardley Data Center to all sites using alfaMedia clients or Citrix (http://www.citrix.com) thin-client solutions. With the alfaMedia Solutions consolidated operation, JRC has better control and flexibility in its web presence, as well as extensive automation opportunities based on the native metadata provided. In recent months, both the Mt. Pleasant (MI) Morning Sun (http://www.themorningsun.com) and Lansdale (PA) Reporter (http://www.thereporteronline.com) are now installed with similar capabilities and experiences as the West Chester (PA) Daily Local News (http:///www.dailylocal.com). Currently the installations of the Pottstown (PA) Mercury (http://www.pottstownmercury.com) and Trenton (NJ) Trentonian (http://www.trentonian.com) are well underway. alfaQuest Technologies, Inc. is the parent company of alfaMedia Solutions, Inc. and a member of International Publishing Associates (IPA, http://www.ipasystems.co.uk) based in the United Kingdom. Up until this time, alfaQuest has been primarily concentrating its efforts and resources in the prepress arena with its very successful FasTRAK CTP and production workflow solutions. JRC and alfaQuest have experienced a very good partnership relationship over the years with the implementation of various prepress imaging solutions from film to CTP. JRC’s flagship newspaper, the New Haven Register (http://www.nhregister.com), currently has installed the alfaQuest PrintExpress Consolidated Production Management automated workflow system that provide the input to two violet FasTRAK CTP’s operating at 150 pph with TRAKmate automatic plate loaders. Journal Register Company is committed to being the leading provider of local information in print and on-line in the markets it serves and to providing a vibrant and responsive medium for its readers and advertisers, and a stimulating environment for its employees. alfaQuest Technologies is a leading provider of innovative and leading edge publishing systems, imaging devices and workflow management systems. Our products include FasTRAK and NewsXpress Violet CTP, TrakMATE II and NewsMATE Autoloaders. Workflow solutions include PrintExpress/CPM (Consolidated Production Management) and PlateMATE systems for Sun and Windows and Panther workflow systems for Macintosh and Windows. alfaQuest Technologies, Inc., a member of the IPA Group of companies, designs, integrates, and supports powerful cost-efficient, newspaper workflow page processing and imaging systems for the publishing industry. The number of worldwide installations now exceeds 10,000.
For more information contact: John Lally, Senior Vice President, Group Sales |
