You may already have heard about AP Servers; AP has been selling PC-based photo receivers under that name for the past few years. But this is a new and far more powerful version, based on Microsoft’s Windows 2000 operating system.

The hardware platform of the new AP Server is a server-class IBM product, the NetFinity 3500. The Server runs Microsoft’s Windows 2000 Server operating system with Internet Information Server 5.0 and customized AP Server software. Further technical details and specifications can be found here.

Your new receiver will be capable of doing several things at once. On one high-speed input, it will receive your entire AP photo report, any supplemental photo services you now receive via AP PhotoExpress, the AP Graphics report, and any supplemental graphics services you receive via AP DataFeature Graphics service.

If you currently have an AP AdSEND receiver in your building, your AP Server will receive your ad files on a second high-speed input.

The server allows for the complete separation of news and ad applications. Editors and advertising staff can each be completely unaware of the other’s files or activities.

The new AP Server is also designed to receive future AP text services, and is capable of handling digital audio or video files as well. But for now, its purpose is to replace the AP Leaf Picture Desk and AP Graphics receivers that have served AP members for most of the past decade.

But we are not just replacing old receivers with new ones that do pretty much the same thing. We intend to accomplish a lot more than that.

First, the new delivery system will use radically different satellite transmission technology. Delivery capacity on each channel will improve dramatically, and new error correction capability will mean greater reliability and superior image quality. This doesn’t mean AP will move more photos every day. But it means we can when we need to. And we can deliver new future services on the same channel to the same receiver.

Second, picture files on the new transmission system will be available in Photoshop-ready JPEG format. No cumbersome, time-consuming file conversion is required, as with the Leaf JPEG files. You will be able to import your AP and third-party photos into any standard image management and editing software that supports the standard JPEG format.

Third, AP Server connects directly to your internal editorial network, so files can be browsed and downloaded by editors at any properly equipped and authorized workstation on the network. That is a major improvement for newspapers that currently must reformat and transfer files from the separate network where the AP Leaf Picture Desk resides.

Another improvement for many AP AdSEND users not already equipped with OS/2-based AdSEND receivers will be the ability to browse and search for ad files more easily and autoroute them to other destinations on the local network.

In a nutshell, the new AP Server and AP’s new delivery system will bring you better services faster, and make it easier for you to use them.
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There will be no special or one-time charges for your new AP Server. Support and upkeep will be provided on the same basis as for the AP Leaf Picture Desk.

Members who want the additional security of redundant backup on their networks may choose to buy one or more additional servers from AP for $5,250 each, plus installation. That figure represents the actual cost to AP of hardware and third-party software, plus handling.

AP will offer hardware and software maintenance agreements.
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We must maintain different technical versions of the same photo and AdSEND services during the transition from older satellite transmission technology to the new system. Satellite channels are expensive. To control costs, we have to keep the time of overlap for services as short as possible. That has to be the top priority as we develop the schedule.

We plan to install Servers on a rolling schedule on which site visits are set at least 60 days in advance. That means you should be notified about 30 days ahead of time when we plan to be on your premises. With that much notice, there should be time for you to prepare for us and to iron out any special difficulties either you or AP technical staff foresees.

There will be no special or one-time charges for your new AP Server. Support and upkeep will be provided on the same basis as for the AP Leaf Picture Desk.

Members who want the additional security of redundant backup on their networks may choose to buy one or more additional servers from AP for $5,250 each, plus installation. That figure represents the actual cost to AP of hardware and third-party software, plus handling.

AP will offer hardware and software maintenance agreements.

The installation will go more smoothly with your help. Here are a few requests:

1. Name someone on your staff as project manager and AP’s main contact for the change. Tell your AP chief of bureau or chief of communications who it is and provide a phone number and E-mail address.

2. When you hear from AP that your installation is coming up, try as hard as you can to say “yes” to the specific date proposed. The less last-minute swapping of dates, the faster the whole project will be completed.

3. Have your site ready before the installation. Your AP chief of communications or a member of his/her staff will tell you exactly what we need. AP Server has roughly the same power and space requirements as a larger tower configuration PC. If the space is ready when the server arrives, the process will be more efficient for everyone.

4. AP recommends that you dedicate a phone line to the Server. This will allow you to take advantage of one of the Server’s major new benefits – the ability for specially trained AP employees to connect remotely to the system via a phone line and run remote diagnostics. This will help us fix any problems as fast as possible.

5. Make sure your staff is available to help with the installation and be trained as system managers or users. Since AP Server will require one ethernet drop and one IP address, the installer will need help from your network support staff. Generally the physical setup and cable connections take half a day, and the installer will spend the rest of the day training your staff.

6. If you don’t already use Photoshop or other desktop image editing software, inform your chief of communications right away for guidance.

7. Focus your staff on getting used to the new system so you will be relying on it comfortably when we remove the Leafdesk about 30 days after installation. We can only run the two side by side for a few weeks. We don’t have enough satellite downlink hardware to maintain them longer.

8. Make sure the client systems used for editing photos are running at a minimum Mac OS 8.51 or Windows ’95 (systems used for browsing photos may run on an earlier Mac OS). For PCs, the minimum web browser requirement is IE 4.01 or Netscape 4.6.1. For Macs, the minimum is Netscape 4.6.1.
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Processor: 500 mHz Pentium III

Memory: 256 MB of ECC RAM

Disk drive: 9 GB Ultra SCSI LVD drive

Ports: 2 Universal Serial Bus, 2 Serial Ports, 1 Parallel Port, Built-in Video, Mouse Port

Operating system: Windows 2000 Server

Network connectivity: 10/100 Ethernet card

CD-ROM: IDE

Level 2 cache: 512 KB

Power supply: 330 Watt

The technician who installs your AP Server will demonstrate basic features and functions. After that, users may consult the online manual available from within the AP Server application, and also online.

Otherwise, support for AP Server will work very much as it has for the AP Leaf Picture Desk. For special problems that the online manual can’t solve, help is just a phone call away at the Photos Support Desk, (800) 848-3356, or (609) 860-7140.

The Photos Support Desk will try to resolve as many problems as possible by working with your technical staff on the phone. If that should not help and you have a dedicated phone line for remote diagnostics, the desk can dial in to check the health of your system and make any necessary fixes. Otherwise, we will dispatch a field technician to your premises to repair or replace any faulty component or device.
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The older AP Servers can reside on the same network with the newer ones. Members who have these servers are already receiving PhotoStream files in standard JPEG format and enjoying many of the benefits of AP Server delivery. But the OS/2 server cannot receive the new higher-volume satellite channel. For members who think it would be useful, AP will continue for the foreseeable future to maintain a satellite feed of the existing photo service to OS/2 receivers so these devices could provide a backup photo report if necessary.

(For all members, the main backup for photo service is the rerun archive at http://photorerun.ap.org.)

The OS/2 Server also cannot simultaneously receive both PhotoStream and AdSEND services.

Members who prefer to have full backup of their new AP Server may choose to buy a second AP Server server for the at-cost price quoted here. In that case, the OS/2 server may be reconfigured as a desktop PC.

If you still need a Leaf server:

Some members use the special interfaces on the Leafdesk file server to drive Autokon imagesetters or other output devices, or to receive transmissions from remote portable photo transmitters in DIT format.

The AP Server does not support these functions, so in such cases the Leaf server will stay right where it is as long as it is needed.

AP will continue to support the Leaf Server until all members have moved their functions to AP Server or other devices.
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