By: Meg Campbell Winnipeg-based Canwest will implement at its print and electronic publication operations a content and workflow-management solution developed by tampa-based Saxotech.
Saxotech's new Mediaware Center solution, designed to integrate print and digital operations, will be used at the company's news service, online sites, 13 major dailies, and at its community daily and weekly papers.
Canada's largest publisher of English-language paid dailies, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun, Canwest awarded Saxotech the contract after testing the solution in a pilot project at three properties last year. Those sites will use the system to plan and share content with other parts of the company, according to Saxotech. Canwest's news agency will use Mediaware Center to organize and distribute content internally and also externally for syndication.
The 1,200-seat installation will begin this month, with the first users going online in summer, according to Jesper Frank, Saxotech president of sales and operations for North America.
Saxotech Corporate Marketing Vice President Paul Harris says the deal is significant because it is one of the largest of its kind closed in 2007, and it represents an entirely new business model for Canwest, which moves from managing content at individual sites on separate systems to embracing enterprisewide content management in order to share resources and leverage local expertise.
Implementation of Saxotech Mediaware Center "will aggregate our digital assets; provide efficient tools for publishing to print and digital channels; reduce our total cost of production; provide a platform for new products and cost-saving options; and immediately put tangible tools in the hands of our people to ensure the work they do adds value to the content creation process," Canwest Chief Information Officer Edward Brouwer said in a statement.
Saxotech designed its new Mediaware Center to enable users to create, edit and publish content to the Web, small screens (iPhone, SMS, WAP, etc.) e-mail newsletters, digital syndication, and print products.
The Mediaware Center offers "high-performance tools to organize story candidates, manage content, and plan based on resource availability to present stories to best serve each channel," Saxotech said in introducing the new platform. "By managing each new story in the same system from the moment of conception through delivery, content producers get more out of their work and realize greater productivity. The result is better quality and content for both print and digital channels."
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