By: Erik Vlietinck
Mon, October 08, 2007 - 6:08:00

http://www.woodwing.com/en/Newspaper

At IfraExpo 2007 in Vienna, Austria, WoodWing Software has introduced Smart Newspapers — an integrated solution for the newspaper industry that utilizes state-of-the-art convergence technology. Smart Newspapers embodies WoodWing’s vision for the future of news publishing, offering tools to create a “blended media” experience.

“We’re calling this concept ‘blended media’, because newspapers today can’t just rely on the printed page to tell their story,” said Erik Schut, President of WoodWing Software. “They have to use all forms of media — print, Web, video and audio — to reach their audience. This goes much further than XML export-based cross-media publishing, which it has done for the last few years. With blended media, each medium is contributing to the complete experience, allowing people to move back and forth between these media in a completely natural way. Smart Newspapers will provide the tools to make this blended media concept a reality.”

Smart Newspapers provides publishers with an integrated workflow for the entire process of creating blended media stories — planning, gathering, writing, editing, layout, publishing to print/Web/mobile, archiving and republishing. This tight integration of online and offline media within one environment is an especially big step forward. Editorial staffers no longer have to worry about technical matters, instead concentrating on what it’s all about: Creating compelling stories for their readers.

The foundation of the Smart Newspapers solution is formed by WoodWing’s Smart Connection Enterprise platform, the only truly open editorial solution. Best-of-breed components are fully integrated to make Smart Newspapers the complete solution that meets the requirements of newspaper publishers. “Our open architecture gives WoodWing an unrivaled speed of development, and for our customers it brings a very interesting price proposition,” Schut said. “On top of this, our partners and customers have full flexibility to integrate other components, customize the business logic, and most important, the ability to adapt to any challenges they might find on their path to the future.”

Smart Newspapers will be available before the end of the year through WoodWing’s network of qualified partners.