AbuDhabi-based Al Ittihad newspaper has gone live with what is said to be the first “central intelligence room” in the Arab world.

Giant screens and touch pads allow editors to monitor social media trends, and even news of leading figures, supported by an artificial intelligence programme.

Lebanon-based Layout International – which has become a specialist in software for Arab markets – has implemented its latest web-based NewsPress V5 editorial system, A7 Pro archiving and A7exchange digital asset management. A7 automatically creates a centralised repository of digital assets – accessible via iPad terminals – and extracts related metadata to make it easily and accurately searchable.

Layout International has also recently completed a major installation at Al Bayan in Dubai.