The ACTS PRINT-IT project identified and developed components for a Distributed Publishing Services Toolbox (DPST). The evffectiveness of the toolbox was emphatically demonstrated at the 'Sommet de la Francophonie' held in Hanoi, Vietnam during November 1997. During this event, components, standards and technologies from PRINT-IT were used to deliver the French newspapers Le Monde and Libération to the conference in Hanoi.

The PRINT-IT DPST provided a daily link between editorial offices in Paris and a printing centre in Hanoi. This demonstrated that the different components of the DPST (such as Portable Document Format - PDF - for document exchange, TCP/IP protocol, Digital Satellite transmission and ISDN) worked seamlessly together.

Using normal air transport, it would take 2 or 3 days to deliver newspapers from Paris to Hanoi. During the conference however, copies of the current editions of Le Monde and Libération were available in the hotels where conference delegates were staying, at the French Embassy and in kiosks. They were actually distributed in Hanoi before they hit the streets of Paris. In particular, Le Monde, which is an afternoon newspaper, was available in Hanoi before 9:00 p.m., local time (4:00 p.m. European time).

Integration of the DPST components was a joint effort of the PRINT-IT partners Il Sole, 24 Ore and Expertel, supported and sponsored by France Telecom. Prior to the PRINT-IT newspaper trial, several of the components were tested in analogue satellite transmissions between Italy and reception stations in Maastricht (NL), Bielsko Biala (PL), Sosnowiec (PL), Milan (I), Turin (I) and Verona (I).

The editorial production teams of Le Monde and Libération produced PDF documents containing the daily newspaper. These files were uploaded to an FTP server at France Telecom. The digital documents were sent from there through an IP gateway connected by ethernet to the INTELSAT 704 digital satellite, which broadcast the data. In Hanoi, a 4 metre dish was used to receive the signals and deliver them to a digital DVB decoder in a PC connected to a FTP server. The PDF documents were then opened in a standard 'Acrobat' viewer and the required number of copies printed.

The service worked without any problems for the full week of the conference. The trial demonstrated clearly and publicly that DPST offers a usable approach to Distributed Publishing and Printing applications anywhere the world.