First Atelier DPD deal to Stibo

St Austell repro and software specialist Atelier Data Services has sold its first software licence for its Digital Publishing Desktop (DPD) to the magazine division of Stibo Graphic.

Stibo Graphic will use DPD to monitor production of its 60 in-house magazines and will integrate the software into its existing systems in Q1 of 2004. The Danish firm publishes a range of titles in Europe.

Sales and marketing manager Uffe Hansen said that the firm already had similar workflow software for catalogue production, but that DPD represented the best available for the magazine sector.

We have been looking for some time for something to automate some magazine production processes. We intend to develop and integrate it further. It will be used in-house at first but we will also go out to market with it, said Hansen.

DPD is currently used by 30 publishers, including Dennis Publishing, Centaur Communications and Redwood Publishing, but they all use Ateliers ASP, rather than buying a license.

Atelier Data Services business development manager Mike Palmer said the software licence route was aimed at larger publishers.