ATS debuts MediaDesk editorial system.(Advanced Technical Solutions)(Product Announcement)

Advanced Technical Solutions had an interesting exhibit, including the debut of the versatile MediaDesk editorial system, plus new features for its Advisor advertising system and a first showing of AdOnTime for remote ad entry.

MediaDesk was designed with flexibility in mind. Its key features include the ability to handle print and Web publishing concurrently, support for both Xpress and InDesign for page layout, a nifty sports package built around sophisticated database facilities and a user interface that was designed for newsroom use. We'll describe those items briefly in turn.

MediaDesk is a new system, rather than an enhanced version of ATS's NewsDesk. It will replace NewsDesk in the product line and sell for approximately the same price. It runs under NT with a relational database.

For text editing and page layout, each newspaper will have several options. The best-integrated choice will be InCopy for input and editing, with InDesign for page layout, since that will give an editor the best feedback regarding H&J results. (InCopy wasn't shown, since ATS hadn't had the software in time to work sufficiently with it.) For the user willing to sacrifice some of the integration or not interested …