First AdsML Workshop to Convene Next Week

By: E&P Staff NAA/Ifra Technical Solutions LLC will sponsor the first North American workshop on implementation strategies for AdsML, the new international cross-media advertising standard supported by publishers, systems vendors, advertisers and industry associations in Europe and North America.

AdsML provides the advertising industry with an internationally recognized, non-proprietary, interoperable standard that allows advertising and related systems of all media to speak to and understand each other.

The day-long conference will take place at Newspaper Association of America headquarters in Vienna, Va., on Sept. 28. Online information and registration is available at www.technical-solutions.org. NAA/Ifra Technical Solutions is a joint venture of the NAA and Ifra, an international organization serving the newspaper industry.

Technical Solutions President Owen Smith called the round table an opportunity for publishers and advertising and technology professionals to learn the benefits of and strategies for implementing the standard that "automates advertising processes across all media." After hearing from "those on the front lines of this new technology," he said, participants will gain "a better understanding of how and why the use of this new standard will help end redundancy and streamline their business processes."

The day's speakers include: Allan Marshall of AdsML early adopter Associated MediaBase (a division of London-based Associated Newspapers Ltd., where he is group technology director) who will outline the business and financial reasons for AdsML, and explain the level of company commitment needed for implementation; Technical Solutions Vice President John Iobst, who will look at the standard's history and its future and explain the AdsML Envelope and AdsML Processing Model; Associated Newspapers' Sally Winifield, who will tell how AdsML is being rolled out in her organization and the standard's tangible benefits, ranging from cost reduction to eliminating marketplace confusion; and representatives from The Associated Press and Agfa-Gevaert.