DENVER - November 13, 2007 - Quark Inc. today announced continued momentum across its business in the third quarter of 2007, driven by new product launches in the Desktop and Enterprise markets, new clients and partnerships, and other key benchmarks.
"Our third quarter performance demonstrates the strong progress that we are making toward delivering on Quark's strategic plan for expanding in the Enterprise market and continuing our commitment to high quality and customer service in the Desktop market," said Ray Schiavone, president and CEO, Quark. "We are making the investments needed to further extend our leadership and position ourselves for long-term growth, and I am excited about the opportunities ahead."
Major New Products, Upgrades and Initiatives
Quark began the third quarter with the release of QuarkXPress Server 7.2, the latest update to Quark's dynamic publishing technology. QuarkXPress Server combines the typography and graphic support of QuarkXPress with server-based performance to enable on-demand advertising automation, catalog production, Web-to-print, and one-to-one marketing. Quark introduced new XML capabilities to ease system integration and enable users to repurpose content created in QuarkXPress into other publishing or Web environments.
Further expanding its presence and capabilities in the Enterprise market, Quark ended the quarter on a high note with the launch of Quark Publishing System (QPS) 7, the next generation of the world's leading collaborative workflow system. Designed with a new open, standards-based architecture, QPS 7 integrates seamlessly with existing business systems and complimentary publishing solutions – simplifying the editorial, creative and production processes for publishers and corporations with demanding workflows.
Quark continued its commitment to delivering the industry's leading professional design software in the third quarter with new features and enhancements to QuarkXPress 7. The QuarkXPress 7.3 updater addressed the most frequently reported issues identified by QuarkXPress 7 users and added new localized user interfaces in European Portuguese, Finnish, Croatian, Hungarian, and Russian -- increasing the number of languages supported by QuarkXPress 7 to 18.
Quark also announced in the third quarter that Quark Print Collection, the company's comprehensive set of prepress and imposition tools, now supports Adobe Acrobat 8. The enhanced Quark Print Collection offers publishers and output providers advanced features that enable the imposition of native QuarkXPress layouts or PDF files quickly, simply and accurately.
At Graph Expo in September, Quark invited output providers and industry stakeholders to provide feedback on QuarkConnects, a new technology concept that will connect printers to QuarkXPress 7 users. Currently in development, QuarkConnects will link output providers that are members of QuarkAlliance™ with designers using QuarkXPress 7 to help them expand their current and potential printing business opportunities, and to provide designers with direct access to first-rate print services.
New and Expanded Client and Partner Relationships
In the third quarter of 2007, Quark developed and expanded relationships with clients across the Desktop and Enterprise markets. Examples of Desktop clients worldwide that purchased, upgraded or renewed licenses during the quarter include: Crain Communications, Parce que le ciel est blu, Savannah College of Art & Design and University of Lincoln. Examples of Enterprise clients worldwide that purchased, upgraded or renewed licenses during the quarter include: Ad Giants, BurdaYukom, Chicago magazine, l'agence Textuel, and Univers Workplace Benefits.
In addition, Quark developed new partnerships with system integrators and developers including Heiler (Germany), Connect3 (United States), and Codeware (Germany).
Expansion with New Silicon Valley Office
In the third quarter, Quark opened a new office in Santa Clara, California, to expand support for its sales, customer service and product development teams. Establishing a presence in Silicon Valley enables Quark to attract top talent to develop and deliver the industry's most cutting-edge publishing technology to customers worldwide. The office is the latest addition to Quark's global presence, which includes new teams in the Latin American, Asian, Eastern European, Benelux and Russian markets.
Awards and Recognition
Quark was honored in the third quarter with a prestigious Macworld (UK) Award for Quark Interactive Designer, its innovative software for creating Adobe Flash (SWF) content with QuarkXPress 7. Quark Interactive Designer was named best creative Web software by the judges, who stated that it makes QuarkXPress a more rounded cross-media authoring tool and enables designers to build lively Flash presentations.
In addition, market research firm Frost & Sullivan named Quark to its "Hot Company Watchlist" for the company's performance in the world dynamic publishing market. In its first study on dynamic publishing, Frost & Sullivan identified Quark as a market leader and positioned for further growth, driven by its strategy for new product and features development, and strong channel partner relationships.
New Leadership Team Member
Quark made a new appointment to its executive team in the third quarter. Mark Benfer joined Quark as senior vice president of sales for North America, responsible for leading the company's direct and channel sales activities across North America and driving key growth initiatives in the desktop and enterprise markets. Benfer has spent over two decades in technology sales, including global experience in building and managing sales teams with market-leading companies.