| Adobe Systems, Inc. has announced the introduction of Adobe Acrobat
5.0. According to the company, Acrobat 5.0 enables users to work more efficiently
as individuals and with teams; to have enhanced capabilities for creating,
digitally signing, and sending secure documents; and to distribute information
in a more accessible manner to people with disabilities. In addition, the
upgrade allows IT managers to easily deploy and maintain Acrobat software
across an entire organization.
"In the coming years, as business work flows move to the Web, there
will be an increased need to access information anytime, anywhere," said
Rita Knox, vice president and research director at Gartner. "Software that
allows organizations to save time and money by supporting such ubiquitous
access will be key. This involves both technology and management of user
requirements and preferences."
According to the announcement, Acrobat 5.0 offers a number of key benefits
that enable business, graphic arts, and IT professionals to excel in the
new network publishing environment. Tight Web integration based on WebDistributed
Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) and Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC)
allows teams to simultaneously share comments on Adobe PDF files from within
a browser. Support for the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) makes it simple
for users to integrate data—such as metadata and forms data in Adobe PDF
files—with back-end systems. In addition, stronger integration with enterprise
deployment tools enables IT professionals to auto-install and maintain
Acrobat 5.0 over a network to thousands of multiuser or lockdown desktop
systems. For a comprehensive list of the new features in Acrobat 5.0 software,
see http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/pdfs/acr5nfhs.pdf.
Acrobat 5.0 software is expected to ship in the U.S. and Canada in the
second quarter of this year for an estimated street price of U.S. $249.
Registered users of earlier Acrobat software versions can upgrade to Acrobat
5.0 for $99. French, German, and Japanese versions of Acrobat 5.0 are expected
to be available shortly after the initial release. For information about
other language versions, as well as pricing, upgrade, and support policies,
visit http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat.
More than a dozen companies have supported the release of Acrobat 5.0
by announcing products and solutions for streamlining business processes,
such as electronic forms, digital signature verification, and secure document
delivery. These companies include InterTrust Technologies Corp.; Movaris;
Cardiff Software, Inc.; E-Lock Technologies; Authentica, Inc.; Verity,
Inc.; Freedom-Scientific, Inc.; VeriSign, Inc.; and Community Intelligence
Corp.
Source: Adobe Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA, 888/724-4508; http://www.adobe.com. |
