Press Release
DENVER – Quark Inc. announced last week the selection of Sterling Ledet & Associates Inc., a QuarkAlliance Authorized Training Provider, to operate a training center at Quark’s headquarters in Denver. The Quark Authorized Training Center will offer professional-level QuarkXPress training in state-of-the-art facilities and prepare students for the new QuarkXPress Certified Expert program.
“This effort by Quark demonstrates a concrete commitment by the company to improve customer service and satisfaction,” said Sterling Ledet, president and CEO of Sterling Ledet & Associates. “We are honored that Quark selected our team to work in their facility and spearhead training for the QuarkXPress Certified Expert program.”
“Having successfully developed and published training and skills-development materials for colleges, universities, and educational environments for more than 15 years, we feel that Quark’s decision to develop a formal training facility at the company’s Denver location is further evidence of Quark’s strong commitment to dramatically improving the services and values it offers to its worldwide user base. QuarkXPress remains the industry- standard application for page layout and design in both the print and digital environments. Their expansion into providing classroom training and a broad range of custom-developed materials will further cement their dominance in the graphic arts space,” said Ellenn Behoriam, president of Against the Clock, Inc.
Quark is pleased with the match as well. “Choosing Sterling Ledet & Associates was simple,” said Jay Wortham, director of QuarkAlliance. “They excel in hands-on learning using real-world exercises that are applicable to the workplace. Their instructors are top-notch and we’ll keep the class sizes small enough to ensure the kind of attention our certified experts require to excel. Sterling Ledet is a valuable addition to our growing coalition of excellent training providers.”
For more information about QuarkAlliance training providers, visit (www.quark.com/partners/trainers).
About Sterling Ledet & Associates Inc.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Sterling Ledet & Associates Inc. (www.ledet.com) is a fast growing training and professional services company for the print, Web, and video industries. Founded in 1982, Sterling Ledet & Associates offers training across the nation with offices in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, and San Diego and plans to open a number of new offices in 2004.
About Quark
Quark Inc. (www.quark.com) is a leading developer of tools and technologies for desktop, workgroup, and enterprise publishing. Quark has been providing award-winning software for professional publishers since its flagship product QuarkXPress changed the course of traditional publishing. Today, as QuarkXPress is used by more than three million customers around the world, Quark is developing the next generation of tools to let publishers create and manage content flexibly so it can be delivered anywhere at a low cost. Founded in 1981, Denver-based Quark Inc. is privately held.
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Quark and Quark-related marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Quark, Inc. and all applicable affiliated companies, Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. and in many other countries. All other marks are the properties of their respective owners.
For background information, please visit the Quark press center at (www.quark.com/about/presscenter) or send an e‑mail message to pr@quark.com.
The flurry of activity from Quark Inc. is interesting to watch to say the least.
I’m encouraged by it. Not that I’m in the mood to see Quark do a comeback, mind. I share the opinion of a local friend that it’s useful to have a minority platform (we were jawing about OSs, Win vs OS X to be particular).
Quark is a textbook example of what complacency can do to a firm. After Quark passed PageMaker, not only did PM not really play catch-up, no powerful company moved forward to fill the breach at #2. So Quark rested on its laurels, developed what they wanted rather than what the market wanted, and acted as though they were really well aware of the fact that for a long time, they were the only game in town.
Of course, that’s common knowledge by now. I said that to say this: Quark was vulnerable, and it was only a matter of time before someone outflanked them. Quark was ripe for dethroning by Adobe and InDesign.
That said, I think that Quark is too ornery to go away. When I find a volunteer opportunity to layout a quarterly newsletter for a non-profit (Sierra Club) and find that they recently moved from PM to InDesign, then that seems to be a big sign that a real tectonic movement is taking place.
I think Quark is on the way to becoming the minority platform. That they are so publicly fighting a battle to prove thier vitality (QuarkVista, the reports that have been filed here) means that maybe they know that to have some position in the market, they’ve got to do this.
Now, Adobe doesn’t seem to need a goad to innovate. They seem to do that as a matter of course. So having Quark as an active #2 will provide insurance that if ever they do forget thier bread-n-butter, all they have to do is look over thier shoulders to remember why they have to be better, and, if they forget that, then there’s a strong #2 waiting ot take over.
I mean, a recent Quark rumor holds that release 7 is aiming for an “InDesign-like look and feel”. When Quark has to play catchup to InDesign, that’s a sure sign the rules have changed, I think.
As always, a well-written, thought-provoking response, Samuel.
I responded in a new post here.
Much obliged! B-)