Al-Ittihad Newspaper upgrades to QuarkXPress and ArabicXT version 5.0

UAE, Dubai - May 11th, 2003 - Layout Middle East has announced that the renowned Al-Ittihad Arabic newspaper in Abu Dhabi has opted to upgrade their QuarkXPress and ArabicXT software to version 5.0.

Looking to improve their daily newspaper production and workflow, Al-Ittihad has acquired 50 upgrade licenses of QuarkXPress with ArabicXT, the latter developed by Layout Ltd. of Beirut and distributed in the Middle East by Layout ME of Dubai.

"Operating in an increasingly competitive environment, we cannot afford today to waste time or money trying to look for alternative solutions and thus, jeopardize our everyday production need" said Mr. Magdi Hanna, Head of Pre-Press IT at Al-Ittihad Newspaper. "Thus, upgrading to the latest version of QuarkXPress and ArabicXT will preserve the level of professionalism we were able to build through the years of operations. QuarkXPress's ability to handle structured data and designs through tables and to create Web documents is simply unrivaled", he explained.

"Al-Ittihad illustrates another model of a modern newspaper whose main concern is to achieve maximum efficiency at low cost" stated Layout ME's Area Manager, Joe Karkour. "ArabicXT customizes QuarkXPress to meet the demands of every publisher who is in need for a reliable and easy to use Arabic DTP solution" he added.

Al-Ittihad newspaper decided on the fifth version of QuarkXPress with ArabicXT for its reliability, friendly interface, unmatched ability to boost productivity and performance, and its complete Arabic/English user interface.
Once again, QuarkXPress and ArabicXT have proven to have utterly modernized just about every layout and production activity. Production departments, which are burdened to meet deadlines and time-sensitive daily schedules, have found that QuarkXPress and ArabicXT remain the most efficient and superior publishing software in the market.

About Layout Ltd.                        
Layout Ltd.(http://www.layoutltd.com), the developer of ArabicXT, is a solution-oriented company that emphasizes development and adaptation of systems and software for the international market.
Layout's mission is to offer Arabic desktop publishers, efficient and professional solutions on both Macintosh and PC platforms. Through proactive thinking and diligence, Layout has raised Arabic DTP technology to the same high standards as Western languages and now ranks among the top Arabic developers worldwide.

About Layout Middle East
Layout ME of Dubai (http://www.layoutme.com) is the sole and regional representative of Layout Ltd. of Beirut and Quark's only Authorized training center in the Middle East. LayoutME runs professional training courses on all DTP products, including QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Acrobat.

About Quark Inc.
Quark Inc. is a leading developer of tools and technologies for media-independent publishing. Quark has been providing reliable software for professional publishing since its flagship product QuarkXPress changed the course for traditional publishing. Today, as its software is used by more than two million customers around the world, Quark is developing the next generation of tools to let publishers create and manage content flexibility so it can be delivered anywhere at low cost, Founded in 1981, Denver-based Quark Inc. is privately held.

Users of Layout Ltd. products will find extensive production information and technical support capabilities online at www.layoutltd.com

Copyright Notice
Quark, QuarkXPress, Quark XTensions are the trademarks of Quark Inc., registered in the U.S. Patent and trademark office. ArabicXT is a trademark of Layout Ltd. registered in Lebanon and in other countries. All other products are the trademarks of their respective owners.