Prepress Technology March 2000
Quark enters the asset
management market
By Lisa Larson
Prepress Editor
Following three-and-a-half years of product development, Quark Inc. unveiled its long-awaited digital asset management solution -- Quark Digital Media System -- and it appears to have been worth the wait.
Quark's market strategy is to transition as a company from its traditionally very proprietary applications to open standards-based applications with rich Web applications, said Mark Lemmons, vice president of strategic development for Quark, during a demonstration of DMS at the company's Denver headquarters. Lemmons underscored the modularization of XML and its ability to make content flexible for media-independent publishing.
DMS lets publishers manage a virtually unlimited number of text files, images, and other digital resources using an Oracle8 relational database with a scalable three-tier architecture capable of serving hundreds of concurrent users.
The enterprise-wide digital asset management system is used to receive, catalog, store, retrieve and archive the seemingly endless flow of digital content created in publishing.
The system is designed to manage the computer-generated work of writers, page layout artists, graphic designers, business development professionals, marketing communications specialists, digital audio and video producers and Web page designers.
South African newspaper publisher Independent Newspapers already has installed DMS at its three newspaper sites in Johanesburg, Durban and Capetown to help it manage the publications' digital assets. The publisher currently has licensed 55 concurrent users and is looking at adding more users, said Quark.
DMS details
The DMS client/server architecture and straightforward user interface, which uses a familiar folder metaphor, provide an efficient method to check in, search, browse, preview and retrieve assets from the system.
In its 1.0 release, DMS speaks native Oracle8, and support for other industry-standard databases, such as Microsoft SQL Server, will be included in future DMS releases. The DMS server supports both Sun Solaris and Windows NT, with future support for Windows 2000. Hardware and software requirements for the server include an Intel Pentium II or Sun UltraSparc computer, 512 megabytes of RAM, and the Oracle8 database, which is included with the DMS suite.
The system includes the server, an administrator for configuring the server and an agent running on distant computers to store assets in a distributed environment.
DMS for QuarkXPress in the authoring environment allows drag-and-drop of assets into XPress documents and deconstruction of XPress layouts.
Quark offers DMS Connect for sites using other publishing tools. DMS seamlessly integrates with Macromedia Dreamweaver and FreeHand, Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator and Premiere, and Microsoft Word and Excel.
Scott Moore, DMS product manager, demonstrated how the DAM system integrates with third-party applications. Users can check assets in and out of DMS, run queries, conduct full-text searches and schedule work for other users right from the file menu within the application currently in use.
"QuarkDMS goes beyond basic file organization to facilitate reuse of creative assets in print and on the Web," said Moore. "QuarkDMS works with the applications publishers know and use on a daily basis, and has an unparalleled integration with the growing suite of Quark products."
Clients can access assets from both Windows and Mac OS platforms, as well as from the Internet using Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. About two-thirds of Independent Newspapers' users access the system via the Internet.
Search and retrieve
Metadata is associated with assets as they are stored on the DMS server. Some of the metadata is generated automatically, such as file type, size and last modified date, and some metadata is custom entered, such as descriptions and keywords. In addition to the default metadata fields, organizations can define an almost unlimited number of attribute fields.
DMS lets users search automatically generated and manually entered metadata. Users can retrieve assets using these search criteria, as well as many other qualifiers individually or in combination to access various types of assets.
Users can browse thumbnails and previews of assets, or preview every page of XPress documents tracked by the database. DMS will execute a full-text search for text-based assets.
DMS also uses sophisticated version tracking controls to ensure that versions of assets used in different projects are consistent, and that the most recent version of an asset is being used. The system also stores previous versions of assets.
Moore explained how the metadata interface can be customized in both its layout and the format, how the administrator of a DMS system can control access to specific data and client features, and other system features, such as "action folders."
Action folders provide batch imports of digital assets, and allow users to automate activities such as checking in assets, applying metadata, converting assets from one format to another and archiving assets. These actions are performed automatically when users drag-and-drop assets on the action folder.
Exclusive XPress features
One feature unique to the DMS system is that it automatically deconstructs XPress documents. When users add an XPress document to DMS, they will be able to add it as a unit, or to add some or all of its components separately. XPress documents can be deconstructed at check-in, or individual assets, such as text and picture boxes, from the XPress layout can be checked in one at a time.
DMS is ideal for organizations that do cross-media publishing, allowing users to repurpose and re-present content in projects developed for print and the Internet.
QuarkDMS is available exclusively through system integrators. United States system integrators include CTI Group Media Solutions, E-Content Corp., I.M.A.G.E. Inc., Quad Graphics and The Revere Group. A complete listing of international system integrators is available at www.quarkdms.com/sales.html.
Entry-level pricing for QuarkDMS enterprise digital asset management solution is approximately $50,000, and a system for several hundred users could cost as much as $1 million.
Quark Inc.
303.894.8888
www.quark.com