IBM and Adobe join forces to deliver enterprise solutions based on document services.

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) and IBM have announced that the two companies have signed an agreement to develop solutions to help customers improve data capture, document generation and delivery across the enterprise, by creating intelligent, digital document processes. This agreement expands the current relationship to include joint sales and marketing of document services to the enterprise.

This expanded sales, marketing, and development relationship brings the breadth of Adobe's document services together with the cross functional scalability of IBM software offerings to customers worldwide. Combining these technologies into a heterogeneous infrastructure enables organizations to integrate document intensive processes into new next-generation computing environments. As part of the expanded agreement, the two companies will further integrate technologies across IBM's portfolio of software offerings, beginning with IBM's DB2 Content Manager and DB2 CommonStore for SAP, and moving to integration with IBM's WebSphere and Tivoli software brands.

"Documents are a key currency of business and the ability to digitize, centrally store and manage them enables businesses to respond to employees, customers and business partners faster and with more efficiency," said Steve Mills, IBM senior vice president and Group Executive, IBM Software. "Adobe's server products and PDF technologies, along with the over half a billion copies of the Adobe Reader distributed around the world, make Adobe an important partner for developing solutions to manage business content in an on-demand environment."

The first phase of IBM and Adobe's software agreement has been the integration IBM DB2 Content Manager with Adobe Form Server, Form Designer and Reader, allowing forms to be created, managed and processed within DB2 Content Manager environments. The joint solution will integrate capabilities for intelligent Web-based forms giving organizations and governments the ability to automate their existing paper-based processes. This expanded relationship broadens Adobe's customer base and expands IBM's Enterprise Content Management capabilities.

For example, applying for a mortgage has traditionally been a highly manual, labor-intensive process where information is captured, duplicated and communicated on paper. With IBM DB2 Content Manager middleware, Adobe Reader on the front end, and PDF as the interactive format for delivering a personalized mortgage agreement, the entire process can be completed on and off line. Because the entire workflow is electronic, overall processing, storing and retrieval costs can be lowered and the disparate content of the application can be unified into one format and digital process.

"IBM is widely recognized as the leader in enterprise infrastructure and its commitment to delivering solutions for an ever-dynamic marketplace is the future of enterprise computing," said Bruce Chizen, president and CEO, Adobe. "With Adobe's expertise in document technologies and IBM's breadth of distribution channels the companies will deliver document services that empower organizations to more efficiently manage information between people and processes to produce measurable business results."