New Contenders in the Editorial Systems Market - Impressed

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PlanSystem3, which didn’t appear at Nexpo but should be ready for review soon. Modulo Debuts New System, Announces Quasar Relationship Modulo Systems owes its founding and continued existence to serving the QPS market, so it isn’t surprising that the first complete system it developed addresses the desires of QPS users for a “new generation” system. The new Modulo system, called Concerto, offers true cross-platform functionality and an SQL database, supports both Quark and Adobe programs for editing and pagination, and uses XML as its command protocol for messaging and communications — items most requested by QPS users that also should provide a strong foundation for the broad market. In addition to Concerto, Modulo also announced at Nexpo a deal with Quasar Technologies of Spain that brings Modulo some important technology and a full Web-based InDesign product suite that it otherwise would have had to develop itself. Designed for flexibility. Based on wide-area network, multitier architecture, Concerto supports distributed workgroups, multiple servers and the ability to scale from tens to many hundreds of seats. Client software runs on both Macintosh (OS 9 and OS X) and Windows computers and supports InCopy-InDesign and CopyDesk-Xpress, giving users a choice that isn’t available with QPS or two of Concerto’s presumed competitors, Softcare’s K4 and Woodwing’s new Smart Connection Enterprise, both of which support only InCopy and InDesign. (Modulo’s flexibility here helps keep pace with the trend in newspaper editorial systems, which tend to offer both Adobe and Quark options.) Besides the Adobe- and Quark-based clients, access to the system will be available using a browser, with two levels of functionality (see below). Concerto also includes the Adobe Graphics Server to produce proofs, FPO images, high-resolution output formats and final page PDFs. Content is stored in a relational database system by reference to both an external file system and an XML repository, which Modulo supplies through a partnership with Ixiasoft. Newspaper planning and scheduling software will be provided through the Quasar deal and Modulo’s own development. Workflow. Concerto provides customizable workflow features, including “channels” (hot folders), baskets, statuses and agents to automate the flow of data and performance of tasks. Channels, which can be configured for specific users or needs, automate certain processes early in the workflow, such as the batch check-in of wire service photographs. When a file is placed in a channel, it automatically enters the system and is given a default header with standard metadata for that channel. Preview images or text samples are also generated automatically, and the file is ready for querying, previewing or editing. Baskets and statuses enable the use of scripts (JavaScript or Visual Basic) to trigger specified actions on a file that enters or exits the basket or status. (Apple- Script can be used on Macintosh clients for local scripting.) Actions that can be triggered include copying files, changing metadata and creating a PDF version for a preview or proof. Alternatively, agents can be used instead of scripts to trigger frequently performed tasks based on the results of specific queries or file types according to predefined schedules. Agents are used to archive files and purge data, among other tasks. Composer clients. Concerto will offer a choice of main clients: Concerto Composer for Adobe InDesign, built around InCopy and InDesign, and Concerto Composer for Quark Xpress, built around CopyDesk and Xpress. The basic editing and pagination functionality comes standard from Adobe and Quark, with good facilities for writing to fit in either case, but with critical differences in areas such as XML support and composition quality, where Adobe has significant advantages. Besides features supplied by Adobe and Quark, Modulo offers Adobe plug-ins and Quark Xtensions to enable predefined styles to aid in the rapid creation of text boxes or other rough layouts. All Concerto applications allow the querying of all content types, as well as metadata, including multiple criteria per query. Queries can examine the name and type of files, header fields and so on. The results of a query can be displayed with up to 256 text characters typically per asset or 50 per item when using the Web application. Harmony browser. Concerto will offer two browser clients. Harmony, which was developed by Modulo and is available now, serves as the interface for handling Editorial Systems InDesign link notification. This is the message an InDesign user receives when opening a layout that contains an article or image that has been modified. Note (1) the Concerto palette (top right) that displays the results of the query and includes both Quark Xpress and InDesign layouts (as distinguished by the icon next to each layout); (2) the check-out icon next to the open layout (the third item, named Inc.indd, in the same Concerto palette); (3) the Links palette (bottom right), which lists both the article and the image, with an “alert” icon next to the article indicating that it is the modified item; and (4) the notification to the InDesign user that the layout may be updated now or later. Volume 4, Number 13 • The Seybold Report • Analyzing Publishing Technologies 7
Editorial Systems Browser client for administration. Modulo’s new Concerto system is built around an SQL database and uses a browser client called Harmony to handle administrative functions. administrative functions and provides remote editorial access to the content database. Through it, administrators can configure the system, view a list of all loggedon users and the applications they are running, search the log of all XML commands that have been executed, monitor the status of pages, handle archiving, and set up and manage groups and users with access privileges and permissions. (Permissions can be based either on system functions or on content, with overrides available for individuals within a group.) Harmony also enables reporters and editors to query the database, preview layouts, check stories out for editing, and create and submit stories. To create a story, a reporter can use Harmony’s rudimentary text editor, which produces a flat text file without hyphenation and justification (with the option of embedding XML tags), or write the story using Word (or CopyDesk or InCopy) and submit it as a Harmony attachment. If a story has already been assigned to a layout, it cannot be edited to fit the layout using Harmony itself unless the user has CopyDesk or InCopy running locally for this purpose and checks articles out remotely. However, Modulo is working on two options to enable writing to fit. One is an interface between Word and both Xpress and InDesign, which would enable text to be sent to an H&J server and returned to Word with the results of H&J displayed in Word. This approach depends on the availability of a server version of the layout program, which is already possible with Xpress using Quark’s Dynamic Document Server and is expected to be offered in the future by Adobe for InDesign. The other copyfitting option is the forthcoming Quasar browser for InDesign (see below). Modulo said it is also working on an agreement with AdLizard to enable remote composition using InDesign. Other functions of Harmony are to review highresolution images (a key requirement of one of Concerto’s early users) and to view finished pages in PDF. Quasar browser. To be able to offer a remote client with interactive composition capabilities, Modulo is looking to Quasar, which is already supplying such technology. Serving much like the “self-service” ad-building stations now coming into the mainstream advertising market, it enables a client to access a remote server for designing and composing jobs. Thus, it will handle not only interactive H&J for reporters and editors, but also remote editorial page layout and the possibility of unattended ad building by advertisers. We haven’t seen the Quasar remote functionality yet, but we’ve been told that it has been installed at a customer site for eventual use in designing and producing corporate magazines. (See “Quasar,” below.) Sonata standalone client. Modulo offers another client, called Sonata, that provides querying and content management functions for files created by third-party applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. It recognizes files based on their file types, checks them out and opens them in their native applications. After editing, files are checked back in, system files are updated, previews generated, etc. Concerto pricing and status. Concerto pricing is based on a server license fee ranging from $27,000 to $40,000 and a per-seat charge of $1,250 to $2,750 for a fullfunction client (less for a Harmony browser client). Five systems have been installed at sites that currently use QPS. The first, a major magazine, has installed a 16seat configuration using CopyDesk and Xpress. Two medium-circulation newspapers each installed about 100-seat systems. The other two sites are a Canadian financial services business and a small publisher of magazines and catalogs. All have been installed, but none are in full production, so it was too early to solicit feedback on system performance. We contacted magazine publisher TL Enterprises and the Arizona Star newspaper, and both seemed optimistic about the prospects and offered to provide us with comments after their systems have been put into full production. Initial releases of Concerto support InCopy, InDesign, CopyDesk and Xpress, although some functions (e.g story jumps and built-in Xpress-to-XML conversions) won’t be supported until the second release. Release 1.5 will add features for cross-media publishing and font management, plus support for Adobe CS 2 and Quark DDS. Release 2.0 will include edition management and complete integration with Modulo’s advertising system, called Symphony. No dates have been announced for those versions. Quasar. The deal with Quasar gives Modulo nonexclusive worldwide rights (exclusive in the Americas) to market the Quasar GetReady system developed in Spain and now in use at one customer site in France and another in Spain. Modulo plans to use the Quasar technology to integrate parts into Concerto, as noted 8 October 6, 2004 • The Seybold Report • Analyzing Publishing Technologies
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