The companies will target workflow improvements, and QuarkAlliance partners will get reduced-price access to Enfocus products, such as Instant PDF.On Tuesday Quark Inc. announced that it has entered a strategic alliance with Enfocus Software, a developer of PDF workflow products, to enhance creation of Certified PDFs.
According to Quark and Enfocus, the two companies are collaborating to streamline Certified PDF-based workflows and to improve the PDF workflow process in general. Quark, of Denver, already has taken other steps toward improved PDF workflow functionality in its publishing products. In late March, the company announced that it had joined the Ghent PDF Workgroup, an international organization formed to establish standards in publishing workflows.
Enfocus makes PitStop Professional, an Adobe Acrobat plug-in that provides PDF auto-correction, editing and preflight capabilities, and Instant PDF, a PDF workflow solution that enables users to prepare printer-ready Certified PDF files.
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"True Certified PDF consistency is one of the next major hurdles facing the publishing industry, [and] Quark will continue to work with companies that will help win this battle for the publishing professional," said Jürgen Kurz, senior vice president of software development at Quark. He said that Enfocus PDF workflow technologies will complement his company's signature product, QuarkXPress.
"We know our millions of customers will be pleased," Kurz went on to say.
For his part Patrick Van Dam, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Enfocus Software, of San Mateo, Calif., said that the alliance is a win-win situation and that it will benefit designers by providing them with an easy-to-use solution for making error-free Certified PDF files.
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"For Enfocus, it is an excellent way to jump-start the adoption of Certified PDF by the designer community. Enfocus' Certified PDF technology has achieved widespread industry acceptance at the document receiver end, where publishers and printers recognize the time-savings and quality they enjoy when utilizing Enfocus Certified PDF files," said Van Dam.
During the first phase of this newly formed partnership, all QuarkAlliance partners will be able to buy Enfocus' Instant PDF at a special, discounted price to help manage their PDF workflows. Other plans for the alliance have yet to be announced.
"PDF issues cost our partners and customers a lot of time and money, [and] we want to give our partners the tools they need to service our mutual customers more effectively," said Cyndie Shaffstall, manager of QuarkAlliance programs.
"Together with Enfocus we can empower our partners to leap over many of these expensive hurdles," Shaffstall continued.
