By: Erik Vlietinck
Wed, October 10, 2007 - 4:42:00

http://www.canto.com/main_menu/products/enterprise/enterprise.php

Canto and Quark announced an integration between the Canto Cumulus digital asset management system and the newly announced Quark Publishing System (QPS) 7.

New capabilities for QPS 7 work groups include XMP and IPTC legacy and core metadata searching to find any image, text element or other asset. In addition, the full text contents of documents created in QuarkXPress, QuarkCopyDesk or even Microsoft Word are now searchable. Combined, these features make it easier than ever for QPS 7 users to find any file the moment they need it.

“We particularly welcome the release of Quark Publishing System 7, as QPS 7 is Java-based and supports open standards.” says Canto CEO Ulrich Knocke. “This enables technology partners like us to smoothly integrate QPS 7 into existing systems. Following Canto BrandAssistant, our successful integration of Cumulus and QuarkXPress 7, this opens up a wide range of new opportunities for QPS 7.”

Cumulus provides QPS 7 work groups a central repository from which to access and store assets. What’s more, Cumulus’ check-in/out and version control supports all asset formats, enabling QPS 7 work groups to better manage all their files—not just those used in QPS 7 projects. Cumulus also provides a “portal” view onto the assets of QPS 7 work flows for managers or clients—even over the Web. Cumulus catalogues are always “live” representations of asset collections, so the moment an asset is updated by a QPS 7 user, it can be previewed from anywhere on Earth.

As a workflow example, a Photoshop artist creates an image, drags and drops it into Cumulus, and uses a menu option to attach the file to a QPS 7 project. The asset becomes a part of the QPS 7 workflow, and the layout artist is notified that the asset is available. She drags and drops the asset into her QuarkXPress 7 layout. When her layout is saved, all assets it contains are automatically cataloged and linked in Cumulus, and attached to the QPS 7 project, ensuring the two systems remain in sync.

Other asset types, such as text and spreadsheets, are handled just as easily. In fact, QuarkCopyDesk documents checked into the QPS 7 system are automatically cataloged into Cumulus with no action on the user’s part.

Check-in/out and version control services are handled automatically, ensuring edit integrity even for the largest, most complex work groups. Assets cataloged in Cumulus can be assigned to new QPS 7 projects at any time, ensuring maximum ROI on assets created in-house. For protection when using the assets of others, Cumulus automation features can help ensure that only assets available by license are available for layout.

Cumulus also makes it easy for users to create PDF or JPEG versions of Quark projects, layouts or individual pages, enabling fast Web publishing with only a few mouse-clicks. Cumulus can even create these files automatically, so an art director can see hourly JPEG renders of a layout in progress, while the layout artist remains focused on design.

To reduce administrative requirements, and to help reduce potentially costly errors, reports can be generated that list all assets used in a QPS 7 project, and include contact, fee and other information necessary to ensure contributors are paid.