Home → Migration → Choosing between Ironmark and Arbortext

Choosing between Ironmark and PTC Arbortext

Arbortext is a well-established structured-XML editor with strong S1000D and 40051 support. Ironmark is a different shape: browser-based, per-seat priced without call-for-quote, and the platform surface extends past the editor into review, publishing, delivery, and program reporting.

This isn't a "we win everything" page. Below is what stays the same, what changes when you swap in, and where each tool fits.

Authors keep the editor they know. Programs gain workflow, review, publishing, traceability, and delivery.

At a glance

What stays the same

• Your source XML. Ironmark reads and writes the same DTD/schema-conformant XML. No proprietary intermediate format.
• Standards compliance. S1000D, 40051, 63029 — the schemas and BREX apply the same rules regardless of which tool ran them.
• IADS packages. Ironmark produces standard-shape .iads files that open in IADS Native 4.x and later.
• Structured authoring discipline. Tag-aware editing, schema validation, controlled vocabularies — familiar territory.

What changes

You gain

• The rest of the lifecycle in the same tool. Peer review, IPRF, BREX validation, publishing (PDF + IADS), portal delivery, feedback triage, PM dashboard — no chain of desktop applications.
• Browser-native. Anyone with a URL and credentials is an author. No install, no OS lock-in.
• Transparent pricing. Number on the page. Multi-year discounts, but no hidden ceiling on modules.
• Portal + feedback flow built in. Customers open a branded portal, download deliverables, file DA-2028 or redline comments, and their feedback lands in your triage queue.

You give up

• PTC ecosystem integration. Windchill, Creo, Servigistics — if your organization already runs PTC, Ironmark won't slot in as tightly.
• DITA-first workflows. Ironmark focuses on defense standards. DITA isn't in the current SDM set.

Editor depth used to be on this list — Arbortext's authoring environment has decades of refinement. It isn't anymore, because with the Ironmark Desktop Launcher your authors can keep using Arbortext as their editor while Ironmark handles the platform surface around it.

Using both

Arbortext authors can round-trip Ironmark documents through the desktop editor they already know. The Ironmark Desktop Launcher is a small Windows helper that registers the ironmark:// URL scheme; from the Ironmark web UI, Open in Desktop Editor checks the document out, opens it in Arbortext (or whatever editor is configured), flushes every save to the server as a working-copy update, and performs the final check-in when Arbortext closes. A companion Continue in Desktop button resumes a checkout that an author left open from a previous session.

Review, applicability, parts, publishing, IADS delivery, and portal feedback still flow through the Ironmark server, so nothing about running Arbortext as the front end changes the rest of the workflow.

Migrating in

• Existing S1000D content imports via IADS package or by drag-drop of DMs into a fresh project. DOCTYPE + schema references are preserved.
• Existing 40051 content imports similarly. WPs land as first-class documents; PM structure comes across in the same import.
• Your BREX ships in the imported package and gets picked up as-is. Structural rules can be edited through the widget UI once imported.
• DTD folder is retained per project — if you ship a customer-supplied DTD, the "use this DTD instead of the SDM's default validation" toggle in Project Settings → Fallback DTD keeps it authoritative.

Related

← Back to migration guides