Johnston Press Signs Contract for Atex Content Management System

Vienna, Austria — Johnston Press, the third largest publisher in the United Kingdom signs a group wide agreement for a 2,500-seat Atex Content Management System. Johnston Press is purchasing the Atex CMS system to further develop its converged newsroom strategy, which creates a single environment for writing, editing, and producing content for both its newspapers and the Web.

With seven divisions, each operating separate systems for digital and print publications, the Atex CMS helps the publisher create a unified central content management system for use with all its products. The Atex CMS allows Johnston Press to centralize its digital and print production system.

“Developing further our converged newsroom strategy is very important to us,” said Roger Davies, Johnston Press Group IT Director. “We recognize that in order to improve the user experience and ensure we can place the right story on the right platform, we need an integrated system that is flexible enough to meet the needs of our individual divisions, but also robust enough to support the work load of all our separate divisions in one enterprise solution.”

The converged newsroom also accelerates the Johnston Press’ online strategy to better serve its audience by offering hyper-localized content created through reader participation. With an abundance of publication and Web sites serving smaller communities throughout the UK and Ireland, Johnston Press recognizes the importance that user generated content can play in helping provide the most relevant information possible.

Another important functionality the Atex CMS provides Johnston Press is the efficient deployment of micro-sites. “Quickly producing micro-sites was another crucial functionality,” continued Mr. Davies. “We realize that local and national events, such as the Olympic Games, which are coming to London in 2012, may require new Web sites dedicated to local athletes.”

The project will begin immediately with the implementation of Johnston Press’ Midlands Division, followed closely by the South Division. The publisher expects to have all seven of its divisions up and operating by the end of next year. When complete, the project will represent one of the largest implementations of a publishing CMS in the world, and one of the largest CMS purchases from Atex in the company’s 36-year history.