05/08/01 - Que-Net Media, part of the Quebecor World Group, launches a portfolio of automated publishing and content management solutions. Providing industry-driven solutions, these market-specific applications increase the production efficiency of catalog, retail, magazine, book and commercial industries. "A substantial part of success in the marketplace depends on three things - reduced distribution requirements, shortest possible production cycles and the flexibility to make later and later changes in response to market dynamics," says Nicky Milner, vice president and chief technology officer for Que-Net Media. "Through leveraging our high-speed data network, Que-Net Media has developed a 'distribute and print' workflow that provides tremendous flexibility with equally impressive production speed." Automated Publishing Solutions: To meet varied market demand, Que-Net Media launches a range of automated publishing solutions. These products include template-driven campaign management tools and customized systems for linking design-driven layouts with content management databases. SKUCaster - Designed to meet the specific needs of retail and catalog production teams, SKUCaster links content merchandising information to page layouts. It accelerates the population of an assembled page and improves productivity ? particularly on design-intensive page production. Working in tandem with SKU-based databases, SKUCaster reads exported content merchandising data from legacy systems, pricing mainframes and other data sources, and links the data to page production. Catalog Magician - Developed for catalog publishers, Catalog Magician is a comprehensive solution that enables in-house, automated catalog production. Ideal for small- to- mid-sized, multi-department workgroups, Catalog Magician speeds, standardizes and automates page assembly for complete catalog campaigns. Working in conjunction with QuarkXPress, Catalog Magician stores all product-related content (including images, text and prices) in a central database. Using SKUs to identify content, Catalog Magician retrieves data and delivers it to a QuarkXPress document. Content Management Solutions: To help each industry category store, retrieve and distribute images, text, graphics and files, Que-Net Media also launches hosted asset management databases on a central server. Meeting the demands of multi-audience and multi-channel production, these asset management solutions provide digital data access, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SKUCentric - Designed for retailers, SKUCentric manages images, graphics and text for specific IDs or SKUs. It controls multiple images for a single SKU, short and long descriptive text for each line item and a SKU bundling of related products. In addition, SKUCentric can manage multi-lingual content simultaneously, supporting English, French and Spanish. CataVault - CataVault helps catalogers simplify the process of storing, retrieving and distributing data. Images, graphics and text are managed for specific IDs or SKUs. Multiple copy "voices" and descriptive text is connected with specific images. In addition, CataVault can manage multi-lingual content simultaneously, supporting English, French and Spanish. PubValet - Specifically designed for magazine publishers, PubValet simplifies the process of storing, retrieving and distributing digital editorial content and advertising files. Text, images, graphics, advertising files, audio files and video files are accessed anywhere in the world via a secure Internet connection. PubValet manages editorial content with features, such as editorial full-text search, editorial library article storage, digital ad repository and support links for publication management systems. BrandCentric - Designed for advertisers, marketers and other commercial teams, BrandCentric simplifies the process of storing, retrieving and distributing data. Images, logos, graphics, text documents, brand materials, audio files, video files, templates, masters, CAD files and production files can be accessed from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Increasing control over branding efforts, BrandCentric eliminates the time and costs of shipping digital assets on disk. Workflow Solutions: The name of the Que-Net Media workflow solutions series is CoFicio. The name of this series was created based on a simple philosophy: Through collaboration, you increase efficiency. The CoFicio workflow suite of services will deliver a variety of benefits that can automate and streamline tasks, increase workflow control, provide immediate access to data and enhance team collaboration. Workflow services are accessible through a virtual private network or over the Internet. Using state-of-the-art fiber optic technology, Que-Net Media evaluates customer system requirements and offers solutions to connect Que-Net Media and customer networks. I-Ficient is the first product offering in the suite. I-Ficient - Available to all industry groups (catalog, retail, magazine, book and commercial), I-Ficient makes images and files available on a desktop directly from the Que-Net Media? server. It gives production teams real-time access to "work in progress," streamlining production cycles. "We have developed a level of integration and connectivity that allows us to put multiple teams, multiple functions, in multiple locations to work for a client as though they are in the same space," says Milner. "As we continue to consult with our customers, we will increase this efficiency by adding workflow solutions to the CoFicio suite of services."