IREX and Semantico Bring Academic Publishers Tailored Digital E‐reading Solution

IREX Technologies (www.irextechnologies.com) and Semantico (www.semantico.com) today unveiled an end to end solution tailored for academic publishers which will allow students to manipulate and annotate their texts digitally using the DR1000 Digital Reader.

Following the limited success of other digital readers during trials for academic use at Princeton University, the partnership between IREX and Semantico addresses both the software and hardware sides of the equation and offers a professional, writable digital reading device coupled with a robust and innovative online publishing solution already being used successfully by many academic publishers.

The IREX products are the only 10.2 inch large format digital readers in the world to offer users the ability to directly annotate texts using a stylus, making them ideally suited for professional and academic use. The light, robust DR1000 is already in use in schools and universities across Europe including two Dutch universities and other educational institutes and in the UK a recent order by Aston University Business School of more than 200 devices for their MBA students is an indication of the rapidity with which the technology is finding favour with academic institutions. As the UKs leading software developer for online publishing Semantico have recognized the requirement to develop their rich user experience and flexible operating system which is already used by leading publishers such as Wiley‐Blackwell and Oxford University Press, for this new channel.

“As educational institutions buy up fleets of digital readers to issue to students Semantico’s proven expertise will enable academic publishers to put their publications directly into the hands of their customers,” said Richard Padley, Managing Director of Semantico. “We’re thrilled to be bringing the same high standards of development to publications designed for the digital reader as we do for those designed for on‐line use.”

With the DR1000 set to become an indispensible tool in British Universities, Semantico’s complete on‐line publishing solution will enable academic publishers to deliver content to digital readers using the existing proven platform and with the added benefit of Semantico’s expertise and strong track record of successful project delivery.

“For those looking for a digital reading solution fit for the demands of professional and academic use, the DR1000 is uniquely suitable, as no other reader allows a user to interact with a digital document as if it was real paper.” Explained David Edgar, Director of IREX UK. “IREX are about an open platform and business model and our recent launch in the US of the DR800 in partnership with Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and Verizon Wireless is an indication of our ambitions in the UK and Europe. We are constantly seeking partnerships with experts like Semantico to create tailored end to end solutions and we’re excited that we’re now able to launch exactly that for academic publishers.”