"In the past year, Adobe and its partners have been fueling the network publishing evolution by turning a compelling vision into reality," said Bruce Chizen, Adobe's president and CEO. "We are at the forefront of this category, and our newly announced Web, cross-media, collaboration, and imaging products, along with new and extended partnerships, are shaping the way that customers create, manage, and deliver content."

Adobe InDesign 2.0 helps to solve customer layout and design problems, delivering the cross-media tools to manage current and future publishing. Adobe Illustrator 10 is a vector graphics tool for cross-media design professionals, Web designers, and Web developers for publishing artwork.

Adobe AlterCast is new dynamic imaging server software that allows Web publishers to automatically generate and re-purpose images and graphics within existing content-management and e-commerce solutions, enabling the efficient creation of visually rich Web sites. AlterCast is built on Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator technology, and it supports industry-standard image file formats. By supporting open standards and APIs, AlterCast software integrates into existing Web or print publishing work flows, such as industry-standard databases, leading content, and asset management systems. The product is expected to ship at the beginning of next year in North America only.

XMP provides Adobe applications and partners with a common metadata framework that standardizes the creation, processing, and interchange of document metadata across publishing work flows. It will eventually be incorporated into all Adobe products and is available for developers via a software development kit (SDK).

According to the announcement, Adobe has won support for XMP from such companies as Artesia Technologies, Documentum, Getty Images, IBM, Interwoven, Kodak, KPMG Consulting, Inc., and Xerox Corp. It also incorporates many World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. W3C produces the technologies that serve as the foundations for Web architecture, including XML, Resource Description Framework (the foundation for metadata on the Web), and Semantic Web developments.

The Acrobat Reader for Pocket PC gives mobile business professionals the flexibility to view content in Adobe PDF on devices based on Microsoft's Pocket PC software. A beta version of the product is available for download free of charge from the Adobe Web site at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/ppcbetareg.html.

The Adobe Studio Web Site provides a network publishing solution for creative professionals. The site has two main areas: Adobe DesignTeam, a subscription-based collaboration service that is now in public beta, and a free community area that offers a wide range of design-related content.

Source: Adobe Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA, 800/833-6687, 408/536-6000; http://www.adobe.com.