Sun Microsystems Inc says it has been working with Quark Inc for two years on the Solaris version of QuarkDMS Digital Media System, and that the software has now reached beta testing. Sun wants to capitalize on the extensive use its Sparc-based Solaris servers already have in back-end processing for the pre-press publishing space, and wants to extend its business into content management and full-blown publishing systems. Components of Quark’s existing QPS system are being incorporated into the new software. Front-end systems will typically run QuarkXpress, with DMS parsing the Xpress format so that it can tag store and track individual elements within the page lay-outs. QuarkXpress itself isn’t being ported, and will run on PC and Macintosh desktops. The two have been working on the project mostly at Quark’s German development labs. The product could be out by the end of the year, says Sun.
