Zuno zones in on print publishers

A new firm backed by some major technology interests announced its presence on the Web software scene as well as its first product: a system for Net publishing.

Zuno, launched in January with seed money from electronics giant Mitsubishi Electronics, has released Zuno Digital Publisher (ZDP), targeted at scientific, medical, technical, and professional Web publishers.

ZDP is "a tool for large-scale print publishers to move their content onto the Internet and to support the business models that they have in place for selling their content to customers," said Mark Ketzler, Zuno's general manager for North American markets.

In its attempt to break into what Zuno tagged a $35 billion market, the company has already signed up scientific and technical publisher John Wiley & Sons.

The pricing scale for ZDP is "much like a database might be, on a per-CPU basis" added Ketzler, ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

Zuno also plans to roll out another software product in the next three months, what Ketzler calls a "user search agent."

Headed by CEO Hugo Patten, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi.