An Adobe CMS based on software the company acquired two years ago is to power the 'digital-first' metro newsrooms of Australia's Fairfax Media.

Fairfax will itself integrate and implement the system based around the CQ content management system Adobe acquired from Swiss developer Day in 2010, using it for papers including the 'Sydney Morning Herald' and Melbourne's 'The Age'.

Adobe will provide training and support for Fairfax's end-to-end adoption of products including CQ, SiteCatalyst, its Digital Publishing Suite and content creation technologies from Adobe's popular CS6 suite. The latter includes the products Adobe is best known for including Photoshop and InDesign.

The system will include a dashboard of real time analytical data to be used to enhance audience engagement..

Adobe says CQ Web and the cloud-based digital marketing technologies were chosen following a tender process. 

The rollout starts immediately and includes integration with Adobe products Fairfax was using already.and will start to be rolled out immediately. Fairfax has one on the regional industry's largest software development teams but the deal is nonetheless a significant coup for Adobe, which acquired the Day CMS software for a reported US$240 million in July 2010.

“As well as gearing our newsroom for these digital platforms, we’re also making the process more straightforward for our print publications. Adobe CQ will allow us to process near‐complete copy and images for our newspapers, ready for final pagination and layout before printing.”

Fairfax Media technology strategy director Mark Henley says the Adobe tools are unique in fusing excellence of content management with best‐of‐breed analytics for site traffic, social media engagement, and dynamic segmentation. “This combination makes creation and tracking of stories easier, and will allow us to better serve our audiences in real time,” he says.

"CQ will enable editorial staff to focus more on content for all platforms, with increased quality and less effort required for processes and production.”

Adobe ANZ managing director Paul Robson says journalists and editors will be able to create all content through a central web interface, with media output automatically repurposing to any format, "from print to laptops and desktops, to tablets and smartphones.”

 Senior executive for media and entertainment Stephen Hamill says Fairfax has made the decision that media organisations "have been side‐stepping for many years – to take a business built in the industrial revolution and transform it for success in the digital revolution".

"Our technologies will help Fairfax Metro Media deliver the credible, quality they are renowned for, intelligently and in a way that consumers want."