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BOLD, BRAVE, FREE 08.06.09 - how open source fits into Edda Media vision and strategy Henning Sund Manager Edda Interactive

Edda Media - general Edda Media owns and operates 40 local and regional newspapers within Norway with 550.000 unique visitors, 10 mill PI’s every week In addition, we own several national online services in different niches: Classified : www.tinde.no IT/Tech : www.hardware.no , www.amobil.no , www.gamer.no Women : www.kvinneguiden.no Sports : www.speaker.no Discussion boards : www.diskusjon.no In total (all Edda Media sites) attract more than 1.000.000 unique visitors a week, generating almost 20 mill PI’s a week Edda Media is owned by Mecom Europe plc with presence in DK, PL, NL, GE 08.06.09

Edda Media organization in brief 08.06.09 Edda Media (1.750 employees, Revenues MNOK 2.250/year) Edda International (including M&A, bus. dev. and Operastions in PL/SE) Edda National (National titles, central IT, Printing facilities etc.) Edda Local (Local newspapers, common prod. dev)

Edda Interactive Edda Interactive is a department within Edda Local Our task is to support and develop a common design- and technical framework for all the large local online newspapers, and to provide common product development for the participating newspapers. Tech Platform : Publishing (CMS): Saxotech Online Add-on features: LAMP-platform, self-developed Web-tv: Aptoma / Kroma (LAMP) … and 3rd party integration of several services, typically using XML 10 Man-years, 9 heroes : 7 web developers, 1 designer, 1 project manager and 1 department manager 08.06.09

Overview newspapers and products (to give You an idea on how we work) 08.06.09 Newspapers www.tb.no www.dt.no www.f-b.no www.laagendalsposten.no www.telen.no www.h-avis.no www.moss-avis.no www.varden.no www.noblad.no … and more: 36 in total! Common products (examples) Live fotball: http://livefotball.dt.no http://livefotball.varden.no http://livefotball.f-b.no Weather http://vaer.varden.no http://vaer.h-avis.no Crime map: http://dt.no/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=KRIMKART http://www.f-b.no/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=krimkart ” Readers paper”: www.deldet.no Web-tv: Using the aptoma.no – platform: http://tv.f-b.no/ http://dttv.dt.no/ http://htv.h-avis.no/ http://mosstv.moss-avis.no/ http://tbtv.tb.no/ Videos ar typically integrated in articles this way: http://dt.no/article/20080306/SKISPRINTEN/283180935/1099/NYHET

Historical background – from trees to silicon Edda was built on the foundation of local and regional newspaper 08.06.09

Digital revenues increasing rapidly in Edda 08.06.09 Shows trends, not actual figures

Edda Media vision and mission VISION : Edda Media – the most brave and creative media company in Norway MISSION : We run a multitude of unique and independent media companies in order to inform , engage and entertain BUSINESS IDEA : We build values and revenues by creating, develop and offer relevant , close and necessary editorial and commercial content 08.06.09

So, what about Open Source in this perspective? (Almost) no initial costs for setting up new services Common database architecture Access to dedicated developers – anywhere, anytime Mergers and acquisitions Keeping other vendors alert 08.06.09

(Almost) no initial costs for setting up new services Being bold implies trying out new services, setting up new products, continuously improving existing services. Or closing down services that doesn’t work… Proprietary solutions do often have license policies that require initial set-up fees, for instance per server, per site, for adding new internal users IT IS OK TO FAIL, UNLESS YOU DO THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE 08.06.09

Common database architecture The ”M” in LAMP is probably the most important letter in my opinion Enables us to re-use data for other purposes Common interface for extracting data Very fast, extremely inexpensive compared to any professional vendor 08.06.09

Access to dedicated developers – anywhere, anytime (Relatively) easy to recruit developers Working on open platforms seem to “free peoples minds”, the ideology of open-source is visible in the product itself. Outsourcing/offshoring is possible and cheap Example: Netsprint and interest from DK/PL in “Readers paper” 08.06.09

Keeping other vendors alert Reduce running and licenses cost by changing from proprietary solutions to open platforms Demanding vendors to turn to open source solutions 08.06.09

Mergers and acquisitions When buying new start-ups or services, it’s easy for us to evaluate code and implementation if service is made using open source technologies. Focus on the important issues – user needs and business opportunities Evaluating services built on proprietary platforms is almost always more time-consuming 08.06.09

Strategic worries using open source Is the concept easy to copy for competitors BECAUSE it is made using open technologies? Is security good enough? If project/technology fails: no vendor to blame  Outsourcing: difficult to get hold of professional consultants (in Norway) as many of them won’t develop in technologies without guarantees 08.06.09

CONCLUSION Most of our worries can be sorted out. But we need to rely on ourselves and our readers. The closer we can get to them, the better. As print circulation continues its slide at most newspapers, one of the United States' most respected newspapers, the New York Times , is taking steps to boost online readership. The paper is already the third most cited web site on Techmeme, and the first on Memeorandum, proving that bloggers at least pay attention to its reporting. Now, the Grey Lady is working on an API that aims to make the entire newspaper "programmable.“ http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/new_york_times_api_coming.php 08.06.09

Henning Sund Manager, Edda Interactive [email_address] Phone +47 94 80 90 77 Twitter: @Henningsund 08.06.09

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