Information Today
Volume 18, Issue 5 — May 2001
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Adobe Systems Introduces Acrobat 5.0

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.

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