Adobe launches "intelligent document"

SAN FRANCISCO: Adobe Systems Inc., known for its Acrobat document-sharing software, has introduced a new set of products aimed at making corporate document sharing quicker and more secure.

The San Jose, California-based company said the new products would help companies automate the flow of digital documents in its Portable Document Format between staff, customers and suppliers.

Security features in the "intelligent document" software offering is also intended to prevent document tampering after the files have been stored, Adobe said.

Another product, called Document Control and Security service, is intended to give companies more power to control access to information, create audit trails of usage records and certify document authenticity with digital signatures.

Pricing for the document security software, which runs on computer servers and is available now, starts at $50,000 per microprocessor, a standard pricing arrangement in the software industry.

"It's not just a question of how to store things efficiently, but how do I assure that people can't change documents once they've been stored," said Eugene Lee, vice president of Adobe's product marketing, about the new products.

Adobe bought Canadian-based Accelio Corp. in 2002 as part of a strategy to capitalize on the growing use of electronic forms by corporations and governments.

New laws passed in recent years have required companies to strengthen internal controls that protect consumers' personal information.

Health-care companies, for example, will have to ensure by April 2005 that electronic patient data is stored in a confidential and secure manner, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

Banks and other financial-services groups face similar demands under the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

© Reuters