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Original inquiry and summary posted by Candice Johnson, Mobil Chemical Company

Does anyone have experience utilizing the NewsEdge product, especially with delivery via LotusNotes? I have read numerous journal articles, especially the article in the March/April 1998 issue of ONLINE. Several of my clients in far-flung geographic areas are clamoring for such a news filtering service. We currently subscribe to Esmerk-UK, and I have found only one other librarian who has any experience with them. Any NewsEdge success stories? Horror stories? Recommendations for another vendor? I will be glad to summarize for the list if you wish to reply privately. Thank you.

Although I have no experience with NewsEdge via Lotus Notes, perhaps my experience using it as a search source and an alert system will help:

The strength of NewsEdge is that it is real-time information. This comes in handy for breaking stories that have not yet gotten online with the traditional online databases. The weakness is that it's search engine is fairly rudimentary (as compared with an online service). You cannot do complex searching, nor can you set up alerts utilizing complex search logic. (It works fine for companies and certain industries.)

Also, there are various sources available at various price levels - you will need to choose what is most relevant for your organization.

-- Robin Feuerstein, Center for Advertising Services/Interpublic in NY

We used NewsEdge in our firm about a year and half ago. While the real time feature was nice, we had issues with the search capabilities, as well as pricing and customer service. We now use WavePhore Newscast, which is delivered via the Internet and can be customized by our end users. The pricing is very competitive, and you can customize your sources (including Dow Vision) and create an unlimited number of "system profiles". It is also real time.

-- Jennifer Brock, CSC Index

We have a group within our organization that utilizes it heavily. They use the LotusNotes databases for a lot of internal, client-contact, etc. information, and the news that comes in from NewsEdge is just one of the pieces of information housed in LotusNotes. As mentioned in a previous message, the search engine is very rudimentary. We have been pressing the vendor for proximity operators ever since we began using the product 4 years ago. Since the search engine is so basic, one has to weed through a lot of "false drops" and insignificant records. One also has to commit significant resources (people) to keeping the system going from a technical point of view. Since it is real-time, it can be invaluable for "breaking" information. It is expensive, however. Adding resources beyond the basic package can be VERY costly.

Also, the news that is pulled into folders is only contained in those folders for 10 days. If users don't access the folders on at least a weekly basis, they are paying dearly for information they may not see.

-- Wendy L. Stotts, Manager, Resource Center

We use NewsEdge, and I pretty much agree with what's been said except for the following. Wendy Stotts wrote..."One also has to commit significant resources (people) to keeping the system going from a technical point of view." That hasn't been our experience. But we're not running it through Notes, rather on our Intranet. "Also, the news that is pulled into folders is only contained in those folders for 10 days." Again, not our experience on our Intranet. Archive time period is governed by the licenses with the original news sources and the amount of storage space on our server.

The one PITA I've had with NewsEdge is delivery via FM radio signal. Our building wanted to charge us $1k/month for using the rooftop for a satellite dish, so we've got an antenna taped to a window. On the plus side - if your Internet connection is down, NewsEdge isn't affected.

-- Rick Raske, Nestle Clinical Nutrition

I saw the message posted from a NewsEdge representative. That individual contacted my sales rep., who contacted me today to address any concerns I might have. Apparently someone in the user group in our company set that 10-day time frame, one can set other parameters. We do not use this in an Internet format, that decision was not mine to make. It may be true that some of the technical issues I alluded to are solved by Internet delivery.

I stand by my statement regarding proximity operators.

-- Wendy L. Stotts, Manager, Resource Center

It would be irresponsible for me to continue to lurk on the outside of this listserv and NOT respond to this particular thread. NewsEdge is likely to undergo some pretty significant improvements because its producer, Desktop Data, has undergone some pretty dramatic changes. For one thing its merged with Individual, Inc., and ISS. The company, renamed NewsEdge can now provide a more sophisticated mix of streaming news and pre-selected content (mini-journals, if you will) created by Individual's Editor/Analyst team (about 30 in all, all long-time industry specialists, many hailing from Gartner, Cahners, etc.). Plus there's an all-purpose systems integration team capable of adding all sorts of additional bells and whistles, even a team to help you work out what those bells and whistles ought to be for your particular business. Perhaps off-line you might spend a little time with me and lets figure out how to make the system work a little better-- and save you some of the time and effort you're currently investing in making the system work for you.

-- Jack Bryar, NewsEdge

Sorry I have not had any experience with NewsEdge. Did you see the article in Online March/April Vol 22, No. 2 p14-24 "Filtered News Services". I use something called Individual. Only in the last two weeks has it been coming early. I have waited as long as 3:00pm before it was delivered. It will not deliver on any holidays. The search engine is not great, nor will they deliver to my Lotus Notes mailbox because I have "too many searches to be delivered". The product does not give you word counts, so you can not tell the length of the article.

Often while printing I only get the headline. I must do a print view on each document that I want, sometimes I get a micro print. Where the document is only 1"x1" and is impossible to read. Individual tells me I am the only one to get micro print. I am using a HP Laserjet 5 and I just put in 12 megs of memory, in hopes that this will fix the problem.

Individual does not deliver any magazine articles. Hopefully this product will improve with the merger between Individual and Desktop Data.

-- Susan Wheeler