Adobe Systems to Provide a Virtual Network For Electronic Prepress File Transfer and Communications.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 29, 1995--As part of its "distribute and print" strategy, Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) announced today a telecommunications software product that enables the remote delivery of files between graphic arts print production providers and their clients.

Called Adobe(TM) Virtual Network for the Macintosh(R), the new software eliminates geographical boundaries and costly couriers while providing a reliable, cost-effective means to transport electronically produced documents over telephone and ISDN lines, AppleTalk(TM) networks or the Internet.

Consisting of a Host module at the prepress provider site and unlimited Client modules at the providers' customer sites, Adobe Virtual Network software links client sites to the provider's prepress production system. Group Logic, a developer of telecommunications software for the desktop videoconferencing and graphic arts markets, provided their telecommunications technology knowledge to help design Adobe Virtual Network.

Trade shops, service bureaus and print houses can use the Host module to send Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files, low-resolution For Position Only (FPO) images and other electronically produced files to their customers. Conversely, customers can use the Client module to connect to their provider's network to either retrieve files or submit job files.

Customers who own the Host module can receive incoming jobs and route them automatically to processes within production workflows such as an Adobe OPEN(TM) program pipeline or an Adobe Color Central(TM) software printing queue. Each job is compressed, given an electronic Job Ticket, and then transferred automatically according to the user's preferences.

"Adobe Virtual Network helps prepress service providers prepare for a distribute-and-print workflow in which files are sent digitally to presses in different locations to minimize shipping and inventory costs," said Richard McCormick, Adobe Virtual Network program manager. "Today, Adobe Virtual Network provides a cost effective means of moving electronic job files to and from client sites efficiently."

The Adobe Virtual Network Host Module

The Adobe Virtual Network Host module lets service providers customize their allocated number of Client modules so that their customers can exchange files with them. Installed at the service provider's site, the Host module will manage communications with customized Client sites that the service provider has installed. They can also receive files from a generic Client module that will be bundled with independent applications such as Adobe PageMaker(TM) and Adobe Illustrator(TM).

Other Host module functions include managing Wide Area Network (WAN) and serial telecommunications connections and generating detailed reports on job files and job tickets received from client accounts. The Host module accepts all waiting client files any time a Client module connects to the Host module.

The Adobe Virtual Network Client Module

Two types of Client modules will be available: customized and generic. Either type of Client module will be installed at a provider's customer site enabling the customer to submit or enter job files into the service provider's production workflow through point-to-point communications.

The Macintosh version and a future Windows(R)-based version of the customized Client module are expected be available so that customers and providers can interact seamlessly regardless of whether the Host module is Macintosh-based or, in the future, Windows NT(TM)-based.

With the customized Client module, users will be able to send a file to a service provider as simply as they choose an output device. The customized Client module will automatically or manually transfer files to the service provider through a WAN or a serial telecommunications connection; send and receive job files; collect job files from the customer's computer network; and collect job ticket information for job files. Customers can choose to store files to be sent automatically to the Host module at a specific time or at the next connection point.

In the future, a limited access generic version of the Client module will be available in applications such as Adobe PageMaker and Adobe Illustrator. Users of products bundled with the generic Client module will be able to work with service providers who have configured their Host modules to communicate with the generic Client modules. Adobe Virtual Network Host purchasers who register their product will be included on a list of service providers posted on the Adobe World Wide Web home page and listed in Adobe's FaxYI service.

System Configuration and Requirements

Adobe Virtual Network will be compatible with most analog and high-speed digital telecommunications systems, including, but not limited to, Integrated Switched Digital Network (ISDN) services, switched 56 digital services, WAN routers, high speed modems such as Global Village and other Hayes AT-compatible modems, Transware routers, MultiAccess MCC-256 cards with an Apple(R) Internet router, and any communications method compatible with the Macintosh Communications Toolbox.

The minimum system requirements for the Adobe Virtual Network Host for the Macintosh is a 68030-based Macintosh or greater, Apple System 7.0 or greater, and 2 MB of RAM available to Adobe Virtual Network.

The Adobe Virtual Network Client system requirements are identical to those of the Host.

Adobe Virtual Network software will be an Adobe OPEN Aware(TM) application. A Windows NT version of the Host module and Windows-based versions of the Client modules are expected to be announced in the future.

Pricing and Availability

The Adobe Virtual Network is expected to be available from authorized Adobe Prepress Dealers in the U.S. and Canada in the fourth quarter, 1995 for a suggested retail price of $1,695 (U.S.) for up to 10 customized Client sites, and $2,995 (U.S.) for an unlimited number of customized Client sites.

For more information about Adobe Virtual Network software or to obtain information about other Adobe prepress products, customers should call Adobe at 800/685-OPEN.

Adobe Systems Incorporated, founded in 1982, is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Adobe develops, markets and supports computer software products and technologies that enable users to create, display, print and communicate electronic documents. The company licenses its technology to major computer, printing and publishing suppliers, and markets a line of application software and type products for authoring visually rich documents.

Additionally, the company markets a line of powerful, but easy to use, products for home and small business users. Adobe has subsidiaries in Europe and the Pacific Rim serving a worldwide network of dealers and distributors. Adobe's 1994 revenue was approximately $598 million. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Adobe, the Adobe logo, Illustrator, OPEN, OPI, Color Central, PageMaker, and TrapWise are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated or its subsidiaries and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Apple, Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks and AppleTalk is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark and Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft in the United States and other countries. All other brand or product names are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Burke & Associates

Barbara Burke, 206/938-8827

http://www.adobe.com/