The firm claimed that upfront costs for the CovumDesigner would be roughly the same as for Quark but that firms would save on IT maintenance and costs since dedicated terminals are not needed. It estimated that some firms could save 173,000 (250,000) a year.

Covum sales manager Alex Demmler said: "An added benefit is that anyone can access the software from wherever they are."

Customers will be charged on a case-by-case basis, but Demmler said the initial cost for the core system would be around 35,000, with each group of three users adding 670. The firm will provide integration and training.

The product is aimed at the brochure, flyer or catalogue industries, but Covum hopes to release a version for magazines soon. A public demo is due in the summer.

CovumDesigner features automated and traceable workflow via a request management system as well as a JDF interface. The company said it was fully compliant with other systems.

"It has about 70% functionality of Quark, but Quark is so old and you never use everything anyway," said Demmler.