Aptara, a digital vendor specializing in e-book data conversion, has developed eGen, a new e-book platform for converting large volumes of digital content into the ePub standard e-book format for distribution to multiple e-reader hardware platforms. The new web-based technology will be unveiled at the Online Information conference set for London December 1-3.

Aptara CEO Dev Ganesan said eGen is targeted for big publishers who need to convert large numbers of files. “Everyone wants content converted for all the devices and they want to do it economically,” said Ganesan, who said that the data conversion process currently often involves a lot of manual intervention.

He said eGen is aimed at both trade book houses and STM publishers, who often incur extra expenses to convert complex charts, graphs and equations. “eGen will even automate the conversions of complex charts,” said Ganesan. “And in a small number of circumstances that do need manual intervention, the eGen software will identify those files before hand,” he added.