By: Erik Vlietinck
Sat, December 01, 2007 - 7:14:00

IT-Enquirer just released the results of an in-depth report comparing Smart Connection Enterprise version 4.x to the new version 5, which is a completely new system. The aim of the report was to ascertain how the versions compare, and what sets Smart Connection Enterprise 5 apart from the competition.

The report is available as a free PDF download to Subscribers. Registration is free.

The report finds that Smart Connection Enterprise 5 has become a true publishing platform, offering Blended Media publishing capabilities while keeping all the advantages we found in version 4.x, and which we discussed in our report on Editorial Workflow Systems in general.

In the last couple years, publishers have increasingly been confronted with the need to push content over many different channels and media. Newspaper publishing cannot survive on a paper-based output channel only. The least newspaper publishers will have to do, is to provide for localised content. The Metro free paper success proves that readers are no longer contented with traditional global-interest stories.

All publishing types, including newspapers and magazines, will be facing an increasing demand of the market for access to information through multiple channels and media. And the market will not be satisfied with an access to the same content but in different formats. Rather, they expect to be offered different angles of the same story, with each angle or take delivered through the medium that is best suited. 

The report is available as a free PDF download to Subscribers. Registration is free.

This new way of absorbing information is currently the most obvious with training offerings. Many training companies offer training packs over multiple channels and media —paper, video, audio, MMS, SMS, etc. This new publishing paradigm has been recognised by WoodWing Software. They are calling it Blended Media.
Blended Media publishing means the publisher will deliver different takes on a story through different channels or media to the same or multiple audiences. The problem with Blended Media is that it becomes more complicated to handle and manage as channels and media get added to the publishing mix.

To cater for this increasing complexity, WoodWing Software has released a new version of Smart Connection Enterprise, version 5. This new version supports Blended Media publishing by adding functionality specifically tailored for it. By adding specific new functionality for multi-channel publishing, Smart Connection Enterprise 5 —while not being a break with the past— has become a publishing platform, more than an editorial workflow system.

Smart Connection Enterprise 5 has also improved on a large number of other issues when compared to Smart Connection Enterprise 4.x, including pagination per edition, full scripting support, a vastly improved Web Editor, and metadata that can be restricted based on access rights. The new version is also faster, especially when pages contain images.