DTI's Geoff Walker on the Telegraph installation

newspaper techniques: Is The Daily Telegraph still the largest circulation newspaper in the world using DTI's editorial system? How many seats are involved?

Geoff Walker: The Daily Telegraph continues to be the largest circulation newspaper in the world using DTI software, although the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Las Vegas Review-Journal and St. Petersburg (Florida) Times are other big-circulation adopters of DTI software.

Telegraph Media Group is licensed for over 700 users, across editorial and advertising departments.

nt: If I understand the timeline correctly, the installation of the original version of the system was complete and then shortly thereafter, Daily Telegraph embarked on a series of major changes, including its recent move from Canary Wharf to Victoria, what special challenges did these changes present for DTI?

G. Walker: The Daily and Sunday Telegraph publications have been fully live on DTI editorial and advertising systems since the end of 2004.

A decision to upgrade to version 6.x of DTI products across the board was taken in the summer of 2005, and the decision to move from Canary Wharf to Victoria came along shortly thereafter.

In some respects the move delayed the upgrade, but in other respects it helped the process of the upgrade by enabling Telegraph Media Group to install brand new servers at their new location, and fully test and validate them prior to loading on the new software.

The old servers continue to run the previous software version, and produce the newspapers on a daily basis. Overall this has allowed for a much smoother migration path.

The enthusiasm of staff at The Telegraph for their new surroundings and set-up has added to the momentum and desire for the upgrade to be pushed through.

nt: While I understand that each installation is different, has there been anything in particular about this installation (since it has been on such a large scale) that will influence DTI's future installations or the upcoming versions of your editorial system? For example, are there any features/functions that will be added/changed?

G. Walker: We don't believe that there are any particularly noteworthy new features developed specifically for The Telegraph, but of course, the new software has additional functionality and features, many of which have been developed in conjunction with Adobe.

Telegraph Media Group have taken the opportunity of the upgrade to move from Sybase to the Caché database foundation.

nt: Where do things stand now, and what will be happening in the year ahead with the system at Daily Telegraph?

G. Walker: The upgrade is due to go live with advertising in the last week of January and progress with a phased rollout through the editorial departments until its completion at the end of February.

This upgrade will also allow a seemless implementation of DTI’s WebSpeed product which will replace the Telegraph’s legacy web system in the second quarter of 2007.

This interview was conducted by Brian Veseling, senior editor of newspaper techniques.


Page first published: 16.01.2007