PrimeNet is a Journal Communications company. Journal Communications, Inc., headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was founded in 1882. It is a diversified media and communications company with operations in publishing, radio and television broadcasting, telecommunications and printing services. In addition to PrimeNet, Journal Communications owns and operates 38 radio stations and seven television stations in 11 states and operates an additional television station under a local marketing agreement.

Solimar Systems interviewed Mike Schake, Director of Mailing Services at PrimeNet to discuss the implementation and operation of their Solimar Systems products – Solimar® Print Director™ Enterprise, iCONVERT™ and Rubika™.

In order to win a new business opportunity, PrimeNet needed to find a way to accept IPDS data streams from a customer’s IBM AS/400 mainframe and subsequently print to a Xerox DocuTech 180. The technical challenge PrimeNet faced was that the DocuTech did not natively ingest and print IPDS print streams. As part of the same workflow, they also needed to modify the print application so that PrimeNet’s intelligent inserter equipment could be leveraged to optimize mail processing. Another technical challenge for PrimeNet was determining how to modify the data stream so that an old obsolete OMR barcode could be replaced by a newer 2-D barcode that the inserter equipment could recognize. Not using the inserter equipment would translate into higher operational costs. “We needed to find a vendor who could help us put together a solution so we could win the new business,” said Mike Schake, Director of Mailing Services at PrimeNet.

PrimeNet selected Solimar Systems as the vendor to configure the solution due to their data stream domain expertise. “There were no other vendors that had the right products or knowledge to take on this project,” said Schake.

The integrated Solimar software solution chosen by PrimeNet included iCONVERT™, Solimar® Print Director™ Enterprise and Rubika™ products. The solution was designed so that PrimeNet was able to accept and transform the IPDS data streams into PDF format. Once in PDF format, the data stream is re-engineered by Solimar’s Rubika product so that PrimeNet’s mail inserter equipment can be leveraged to achieve postal automation savings. Rubika is capable of modifying composed data streams rather than the original application, thus avoiding costly and time consuming reprogramming efforts. Using PrimeNet’s PDF data stream, Rubika applies an opaque mask on top of an unwanted OMR barcode. The unwanted barcode is no longer visible when printed or identifiable by the inserter equipment. In addition to “removing” the old barcode, Rubika also inserts a new 2-D barcode that is recognizable and compatible with PrimeNet’s inserter equipment. “The solution is flexible enough that we can now handle a variety of different workflows from various customers regardless of their diverse data streams and output needs,” said Schake. “Solimar was instrumental in setting up the entire process and in training our staff on how to use the products.”

The Solimar solution has allowed PrimeNet to acquire new customers and new projects that otherwise would not be possible. The solution has been a very beneficial component to PrimeNet’s financial bottom line. “We are able to increase our sales revenues by $450,000 per year as a result of our new Solimar solution,” said Schake. “Clearly, this has been a very good technology investment for PrimeNet.”

According to Schake, the Solimar post-sales support has been outstanding. “The technical support staff has always been friendly and extremely knowledgeable,” said Schake. “Without their help and support we would not have been able to accomplish our goals in the timeframe that we required.”