Unisys Corporation today announced an agreement to provide Portsmouth Publishing and Printing (PPP) Ltd., one of the UK`s top regional newspaper groups, with the Unisys Publishing Solutions suite of editorial software applications and services. The Hermes, WireCenter and DocCenter solutions have been selected by PPP to handle their newspaper production, information management and archiving requirements.
Based in Portsmouth, PPP publishes The News, the largest-selling newspaper in the South of England, with a circulation of approximately 72,000. This evening newspaper is published six days a week in four editions, with a sports supplement on Saturdays. In addition to the flagship newspaper, PPP also publishes numerous weekly titles throughout southern England.
Based on client/server technology, the Unisys Publishing Solutions will provide PPP with a highly integrated and flexible publishing system. Reporters, editors and production staff will have increased control during the entire production process. The capability to handle multiple editions will be particularly beneficial in enabling editors to address this complex production task. The system permits exceptional editorial flexibility, so print deadlines can be extended to incorporate late-breaking news and enable the paper to deliver more timely news coverage.
"Our present system is non Year 2000 compliant and so we needed to bring forward our investment in new editorial technology," said Geoff Elliott, Editor, Portsmouth Publishing & Printing. "But this was to be no quick fix. We wanted a replacement that would serve all our publishing requirements for years to come. We looked at all the major systems and decided Unisys was the best. Its functionality is impressive. It is totally flexible, very powerful and fully integrated. It will enable us to produce our papers as we want to produce them, but it has already given us a number of new ideas to update working practices. Our journalists have loved working with it on our pilot project.
Under the terms of the contract, Unisys will install Hermes, WireCenter and DocCenter on 120 workstations at PPP, replacing the current DDE editorial system. The Unisys Publishing Solutions will be based on a pair of Unisys QS/2 four-processor enterprise servers running the Microsoft Windows NT operating system and incorporating HA (High Availability) facilities. The solution will also use a Microsoft SQL Server database to ensure superior performance and data security.
The DocCenter application will operate on a Sun Microsystems E250 server, using a BASIS Document Manager database from the BASIS division of Open Text, and will incorporate a large RAID 5 disk subsystem and JVC 600 slot CD-ROM archiving device.
"The library is stunning," said Elliott. "It will help us re-purpose material even more efficiently for teletext and the Internet and move us into a revolutionary method for photosales and for selling our archives. As a system for the information provider rather than just the printer of newspapers we doubt it has an equal."
Unisys Publishing Solutions
Unisys provides one of the most comprehensive newspaper publishing solutions available with a complete editorial, electronic pagination, wire management and archiving system. The solutions run on several server platforms with mainstream databases and use PCs as clients with applications running in Windows 95 and NT. Unisys systems integration expertise and capabilities allow the integration of existing proprietary and off-the-shelf specialist packages with the Unisys Publishing Solutions.
A major vendor in the publishing industry for over 20 years, Unisys has experienced significant growth in its publishing systems business, with 70% of the new clients signed in the last three years. Unisys success in the publishing market is based on the unique approach the company brings to the industry -- combining the strengths of a leading-edge solution with technology and systems integration services to offer newspapers a total solution from a single source.
Over 100 newspapers in 11 countries around the world have selected Unisys Publishing Solutions. Among them are the News International Group, which includes the UK`s The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, News of the World and other titles; Germany`s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Italy`s Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta dello Sport; Spain`s ABC; France`s Le Télégramme de Brest; and Newsday and the New York Daily News in the USA. For more information, access the Unisys Publishing Solutions Home Page at: http://www.unisys.com/publishing
@EditorNote = Editors note
About PPP
PPP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Portsmouth and Sunderland Newspapers plc (PSN), employs approximately 650 staff at its headquarters in the News Centre at Portsmouth and in nine branch offices located in Hampshire and West Sussex. Its main activities are publishing a range of daily and weekly paid-subscription and free titles, and contract printing for third-party publishers.
In addition to the flagship publication The News, PPP publishes a free newspaper in West Sussex, The Journal and Guardian, as well as free property papers in Portsmouth and Bognor. Paid-subscription broadsheet and tabloid weekly titles include the multiple-edition Observer series based in Chichester, the Post series based in Petersfield and the West Sussex Gazette, also based in Chichester.
For more information about PPP, access their web site at http://www.thenews.co.uk
Unisys (NYSE:UIS) has more than 33,000 employees helping customers in 100 countries apply information technology to solve their business problems. Unisys solutions are based on a broad portfolio of global information services including systems integration, outsourcing, "repeatable" application solutions, consulting, network integration, remote network management, and multivendor maintenance and support, coupled with enterprise-class servers and associated middleware, software and storage. Repeatable solutions are focused on key vertical markets including financial services, transportation, telecommunications, government, publishing and other commercial markets. Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area, Unisys 1997 annual revenue was $6.6 billion. Access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web -- http://www.unisys.com -- for further information.
Unisys is a registered trademark of Unisys Corporation. Hermes is a trademark licensed to Unisys Corporation. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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Editors note
About PPP
PPP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Portsmouth and Sunderland Newspapers plc (PSN), employs approximately 650 staff at its headquarters in the News Centre at Portsmouth and in nine branch offices located in Hampshire and West Sussex. Its main activities are publishing a range of daily and weekly paid-subscription and free titles, and contract printing for third-party publishers.
In addition to the flagship publication The News, PPP publishes a free newspaper in West Sussex, The Journal and Guardian, as well as free property papers in Portsmouth and Bognor. Paid-subscription broadsheet and tabloid weekly titles include the multiple-edition Observer series based in Chichester, the Post series based in Petersfield and the West Sussex Gazette, also based in Chichester.
For more information about PPP, access their web site at http://www.thenews.co.uk
Unisys (NYSE:UIS) has more than 33,000 employees helping customers in 100 countries apply information technology to solve their business problems. Unisys solutions are based on a broad portfolio of global information services including systems integration, outsourcing, "repeatable" application solutions, consulting, network integration, remote network management, and multivendor maintenance and support, coupled with enterprise-class servers and associated middleware, software and storage. Repeatable solutions are focused on key vertical markets including financial services, transportation, telecommunications, government, publishing and other commercial markets. Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area, Unisys 1997 annual revenue was $6.6 billion. Access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web -- http://www.unisys.com -- for further information.
Unisys is a registered trademark of Unisys Corporation. Hermes is a trademark licensed to Unisys Corporation. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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