Software vendor Microsoft Corp., US, is demonstrating its digital media tools at the ongoing IFRA Expo 2008, October 27-30. The company will showcase how publishers can use technology to stay competitive in the world of online and digital media and evolve their publications into content service offerings by creating better user experiences and adapting their business models. It will exhibit a range of solutions dedicated to media search and monetisation of archive materials, advertising and the digital content experience.
The traditional publishing industry is seen to be rapidly adapting business models to make the most of the promise of the online world. The online channel is becoming increasingly important for advertisers. For publishers to stay competitive, they need the ability to offer cross-media ad campaigns, including print and online media. 5 fifteen, a provider of software and consultancy to publishers, is using Microsoft technology to help publishers better support its advertising sales cycle. The company is integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM with ad DEPOT and Atlas AdManager to embed print and online ad bookings, and print ad insertion and online ad serving directly within the ad sales process.
For digital content experience and monetisation, Microsoft is showcasing its Syndicated Client Experiences (SCE) Reader. The solution is projected to make it easy for publishers to build and deploy e-publishing services with a rich user experience, either optimised for the Windows platform using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), or in the future also for web browsers and mobile devices using Microsoft Silverlight. The SCE Reader makes content available both online and offline, utilises WPF's advanced text display and layout capabilities to present a high-quality on-screen reading experience, and supports innovative ways of advertising in news content.
In addition, FAST, a Microsoft subsidiary, is demonstrating its flexible and scalable enterprise search platform, FAST ESP, which allows organisations to create unique user experiences and change the way people interact with information.
In July 2008, at the company's ninth annual Research Faculty Summit, representatives of Microsoft Research had outlined their vision for how Microsoft and academics can collaborate on research projects to develop technological breakthroughs. The firm also announced a set of free software tools aimed at allowing researchers to seamlessly publish, preserve and share data throughout the entire scholarly communication life cycle.
