31.08.11 - Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg, Germany, and CCI Europe, Aarhus, Denmark, have entered into an agreement for a 120-user NewsGate system that will serve as the editorial cockpit for all print and digital editions of Financial Times Deutschland.

According to Dr. Markus Dingler, Gruner + Jahr Corporate Services, NewsGate meets all key requirements relating to the current product portfolio and provides a platform for the development of future products.

"NewsGate provides us with a strong and future-oriented cross-media publishing platform boosting our capacities within digital publishing including the possibility to develop products for the iPad and other tablets. In addition, the capability of NewsGate to support efficient template-driven workflows will provide efficiencies that will enable us to focus on the challenge of developing and producing new and innovative products," he says.

The requirement for a future-oriented system was an important element in the selection process.

"In a dramatically changing media market, it is essential that you are running your operation on a system architecture that allows you to develop and launch new products in time-to-market. We are confident that with NewsGate, we are well-prepared for all eventualities," says Dr. Dingler.

Another key element in the project is a bi-directional integration between NewsGate and the online publishing system, FirstSpirit. Other points of focus include open system architecture enabling import/export interfaces, CCI's integration to Adobe InDesign in addition to LayoutChamp, CCI's own design tool, and the intuitive user interface of NewsGate.

"It is greatly satisfying that Gruner + Jahr has chosen CCI as a technology partner for implementing their strategic objectives within cross-media publishing. We look forward to continuing the constructive collaboration that has been started already during the system selection process," says Dan Korsgaard, CEO of CCI.

Roll-out is planned for the beginning of 2012. In the initial phase of the project, there will be a business consulting-process aimed at analyzing and defining the optimal editorial operations and workflows.

"Based on the competence and openness that we have experienced so far when collaborating with the CCI team, I am confident that the project that we have now initiated will be successful," says Dr. Dingler.

The printing and publishing company Gruner + Jahr is Europe's leading magazine publisher. Approximately 13500 employees reach out to audiences in more than 30 countries with 500+ magazines and a range of digital offerings. Among the titles published by G+J are STERN (D), BRIGITTE (D), GEO (D, E, F), CAPITAL (D, F), GALA (D, F, PL), ELTERN (CHN, D, E, PL), P.M.-Gruppe (D), FINANCIAL TIMES DEUTSCHLAND (D), ESSEN & TRINKEN (D) and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (D, F, PL, NL).

CCI is provider of editorial and advertising solutions for multimedia news environments. Our CCI AdDesk, CCI NewsGate and CCI NewsDesk products are the most robust and powerful systems in the industry, and are implemented in news organizations across five continents. We provide the platform to support evolving needs of the world's largest news organizations, and scalable solutions to help growing media brands optimize their business strategies. Constant innovation and strong customer commitment remain the cornerstones of CCI's business model. CCI is an Oracle Certified Partner and an Adobe Gold Solution Partner.

(ccieurope.com)