April 1999

Adobe Acrobat ® ®

and Adobe PostScript ®

Rapid delivery of corporate information on screen and in print, exactly as intended

Capture Interact Deliver
Mainframe/Server
Office, Publishing,
and Custom Apps
Legacy Documents
A corporation’s accumulated knowledge takes many forms, including product information, manufacturing
guidelines, financial reports, and marketing and sales collateral. Without the ability to access, view, and print
this information as needed, employees are isolated from many of a company’s greatest assets, and effective
communication across an enterprise and with customers breaks down. For example, printed product
documentation needs to be ready in time to ship with
products, and might also be available in searchable
electronic files that service representatives can access
quickly to handle customer questions.
Intranet, Internet, For IT managers, achieving this seamless delivery of
and E-mail
information requires a move from application- and
platform-dependent files to documents that can be shared
and printed easily across an enterprise. They are
Electronic Paper Network or discovering too, that materials being printed today often
Desktop Printing
need to be posted on the Web tomorrow. The goal then is
to allow corporate documents to benefit everyone who
needs them, not just the limited few who have the right
combination of hardware and software.
Production Printing

This approach is creating a new class of corporate

Electronic Paper greatly simplifies document delivery and printing. No matter what the
documents—electronic paper—and is changing the very
source, no matter the destination. Electronic Paper lets you capture information, inter-
act with it, and deliver it exactly as intended. nature of business communications, combining the
benefits of the printed page with the power of digital
technology. Driven by the widespread adoption of web-based systems, electronic paper bridges the gap
between abstract information such as database-driven documents and physical paper documents. By
capturing information from a wide variety of sources and delivering it in readily accessible digital files, users
can easily work with documents that feel as familiar as paper, but are also much more dynamic and interac-
tive. Electronic paper can include hyperlinks and searchable text for rapid delivery and easy archiving. It can
also enable electronic forms and provide digital signatures for seamless workgroup collaboration.

An Integrated Approach
As IT mangers are discovering, leveraging investments in corporate information requires the right
combination of software, printing, and web-based technologies. Yet, enterprise resources are seldom
infinite—IT professionals have to make long-term investments that hold their value and accommodate
evolving business trends. It’s a challenge that increasing numbers of IT managers are meeting with advanced
software and technologies from Adobe.

With the introduction of the PostScript language in 1985, Adobe sparked a revolution in how we
communicate on the printed page. In 1993, Adobe introduced a technology as important as PostScript itself:
the Portable Document Format (PDF). Based on the same imaging technology as Adobe PostScript, PDF is
rapidly gaining acceptance as the ideal file format for electronic paper. And like PostScript, PDF is an open
bc standard, enabling integrated solutions from a broad range of vendors.
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With Adobe Acrobat software, documents originating in any format are converted easily to Adobe PDF, a
platform- and application-independent file format. Anyone with the free Acrobat Reader software can view
and print PDF files. Corporations and government organizations worldwide rely on Acrobat and PDF to
easily deliver business documents exactly as intended to any audience. The compact PDF files travel quickly
over networks and contain materials that look exactly like the originals. And by using Adobe Acrobat
Capture®, organizations are bringing millions of pages of legacy paper documents online and delivering
them in PDF.

Adobe PostScript printing technology takes the power of electronic paper one step further by allowing users
to print virtually any document on demand. Because Adobe PostScript 3 and PDF are built on the Adobe
Imaging Model, printers equipped with Adobe PostScript 3 are the ideal choice for printing PDF
documents. Sophisticated graphics, fonts, and images appear on paper exactly as they did on screen, giving
organizations the freedom to distribute consistent, reliable communications across any media.
As the following examples illustrate, electronic paper takes many forms, depending on the varied needs of
Abstract each industry. Yet the benefits—better collaboration among employees and partners, lower costs to produce
Documents and deliver documents, and improved customer service—are unmistakably similar.
Financial Services
Rapid access to timely investment information means better buying decisions, and ultimately, higher
returns. So while five or ten minutes might not seem long to most people, it’s an eternity for investors with
millions of dollars on the line. Recognizing this, financial services providers are tapping into the power of
Database Adobe Acrobat and PDF to speed the delivery of financial information to business professionals, and Adobe
PostScript printers to improve the reliability and quality of printed business communications.

Web By distributing information in PDF, financial services providers can give investors up-to-the-minute
information, while lowering their own costs of printing materials by millions of dollars annually.
Documents such as corporate earnings reports and market research studies are converted easily from native
Electronic applications to PDF and delivered instantly to anxious investors by email or over secure extranets. These
Paper graphical, highly interactive files allow investors to click on hypertext links to view more detailed financial
information, and in some cases, even calculate projected returns using advanced forms features within
Adobe Acrobat.

Paper An additional benefit is that the application- and platform-independent PDF files contain materials that
look exactly like the originals, ensuring that every symbol, graph, and number is correct. This reliability
offers much needed peace of mind to financial professionals, who know that even minor discrepancies in
documents can lead to bad investment decisions.

Physical
Documents
Electronic Paper is bridging
the gap between abstract
and physical documents.
Adobe software and technology also supports the rapid creation and printing of such materials as corporate
prospectuses, which are often printed and mailed to clients. Adobe Acrobat makes easy work of last-minute
review and editing, while Adobe PostScript printing technology supports consistent reliable printing, from
the first draft printed from a designer’s desktop to the ten-thousandth copy run on the production floor.
Print Publishing
In the digital age, where Internet speed is redefining the word fast, print publishers face new challenges.
Many print jobs, for example, now have to be completed to coincide with the delivery of materials over the
Internet—no easy feat considering the short shelf life of most Web-based documents.

To speed production, print publishers are moving to fully digital workflows, largely built around Adobe
Acrobat software and Adobe PostScript printing technology. In essence, PDF acts as the reliable digital
master, while PostScript provides the foundation of an underlying imaging architecture. Together, the two
streamline printing, and result in smoother communication between customers and print houses, faster
production, fewer errors, and higher quality output.
When clients submit print jobs in PDF instead of on paper or on film, prepress time can be cut by weeks.
The delivery of a four-color annual report as a composite PDF file offers a perfect example. Instead of
preseparated PostScript files, where each color is in different files, a composite PDF allows clients and
printers to catch errors—missing elements, font problems, poor layout—before they are sent to a RIP
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(Raster Image Processor). Customers can easily make last-minute corrections or design changes, and avoid
the considerable delays that result when inaccurate files have to be returned or re-worked by printers.
As a result of these efficiencies, corporate reproduction centers and print houses often recommend that
documents be submitted in PDF. Materials in PDF can be sent directly to a printer and often print
successfully on the first run. Sometimes, however, it is necessary for printing facilities to rework documents
from clients and send them back for another round of edits. Advanced features in Adobe Acrobat, such as
annotation tools and the ability to sign off electronically on documents, make quick work of this once time-
consuming, manual process.
Government
No single corporation or entity—except the government—has the daunting mandate of serving all people.
Add shrinking budgets and staff reductions to the mix, and the importance of effective, efficient
communications is clear. Fortunately for government agencies and their constituents, the widespread
acceptance of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe PostScript makes document distribution and printing faster and
easier than ever.
Log on to any number of government Web sites worldwide and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of PDF
files can be found. Tax documents, environmental reports, medical safety studies, transportation
information—the list of public materials available in Adobe PDF is extensive. In fact, many government
agencies report that constituents download millions of documents in PDF each year. The reason, they say, is
obvious: quick, easy access to application- and platform-independent files that look exactly like the
originals, with all charts, colors, and images fully intact.
Thanks to the freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader, people have immediate access to the government
documents that they want—no phone calls are needed, no time wasted. They can view and print materials
or decide to research a topic by clicking on links within PDF files to view related information. The benefits
to government agencies are equally impressive. For one, online delivery of materials can reduce the expense
of printing, copying, assembling, and mailing documents by millions of dollars each year. Second, direct
access to information by constituents means that government staff can devote more time to enhancing
existing services or creating new ones.
But Web-based delivery of documents is only part of the story. Government materials in PDF, particularly
those for internal review, are often repurposed for distribution on paper, a process greatly streamlined by
the integration between Adobe PDF and Adobe PostScript printing technology. Because both technologies
are built on the Adobe Imaging Model, document fidelity—a requirement for classified government
communications—is retained across any media. For instance, highly classified materials such as military
intelligence reports can be distributed electronically via a secure intranet and manually as bound
documents. Because of PDF and PostScript, both the electronic and paper copies look identical, eliminating
the possibility that even slight variations in images, fonts, or graphics will cause concern and confusion.
Pharmaceutical
Time-to-market is everything in the pharmaceutical industry. New treatments can literally be a lifesaver for
patients. And for top-selling drugs, pharmaceutical companies can make millions of dollars for each day
time-to-market is reduced. Yet due to the complexity of new drug applications, government agencies can
spend months or even years processing them. These documents often contain millions of pages with
detailed clinical studies, pharmacology reports, and thousands of other topics. There was simply no easy
way to manage and distribute all that paper—that is, until Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Capture software
came along.

New drug applications submitted in Adobe PDF retain the exact appearance of the original materials,
including graphs, fonts, photos, and layouts of complex medical and research reports. Pharmaceutical
companies rely on Adobe Acrobat to convert materials to PDF from any software application and Acrobat
Capture to convert paper-copy reports from physicians’ offices to PDF. The fully searchable, hyperlinked
PDF files allow for fast, easy location of information, facilitate archiving, and reduce review time for
applications. For example, reviewers can use hypertext links within reports to dig deeper into new drug
applications to view data on drug efficacy or side effects. Previously this information was available only in
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paper reports that had to be requested from a central document library. And because of the compact size of
the PDF files, they require less storage space than paper-copy documents, an important benefit for both
government agencies and pharmaceutical companies.
In the United States, for instance, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) accepts certain sections of new
drug applications in PDF. As a result, the industry average turnaround for applications has been reduced
substantially, and pharmaceutical companies can save millions of dollars annually due to better document
management and reduced photocopying. The FDA, too, reports substantial savings due to increased
efficiency, streamlined information management, and lower document archiving costs.
Sales and Marketing
Any company serious about succeeding in today’s increasingly crowded global marketplace knows that sales
and marketing materials have to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Failure to get these
documents, which include product manuals, specification sheets, and pricing guides, into the hands of sales
staff, channel partners, and customers is a sure way lose deals. It’s no wonder then that thousands of
corporations have turned to Adobe Acrobat software and Adobe PostScript printers to improve document
printing and delivery.
In many respects, Adobe Acrobat and Adobe PostScript are tailor-made for marketing and sales
organizations, allowing them to retain their substantial investment in collateral design and layout. Adobe
PDF is the only electronic file format that retains the exact look and feel of documents for delivery across
any media, inside and outside the company. Customers can interact easily with these online documents,
often placing orders over the Web, clicking through to get supporting documentation, or simply filling in
forms to request that additional materials be sent by mail.
And when it comes time to output the digital images in PDF to paper, Adobe PostScript helps guarantee
reliable, efficient printing, no matter whether documents are printed on local network printers or on high-
end machines in corporate reproduction centers. The bottom line is that print jobs submitted in Adobe PDF
and output to Adobe PostScript printers are completed faster, print more reliably, and achieve greater
clarity.
Every Step of the Way
From the first release of the Adobe PostScript language more than 15 years ago to the recent release of
Adobe Acrobat 4.0 software, Adobe has given corporations the freedom to create and distribute professional,
polished materials to any audience, exactly as intended. It’s a track record that’s hard to beat—and one the
company is set on keeping. So as corporations and organizations worldwide continue to look for better ways
to leverage existing information and take advantage of new technologies, Adobe will be there, every step of
the way.

Adobe Systems Incorporated

345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704 USA
Adobe Systems Pty. Ltd.
Level 4, 67 Albert Avenue
Chatswood, NSW 2067
Australia
Adobe Systems Benelux B.V.
OEM Business (Printing) Europe
Hoogoorddreef 54a,
NL-1100 D6
Amsterdam Z.O.
Adobe Systems Europe Limited
Adobe House, Mid New Cultins
Edinburgh EH11 4DU
Scotland, United Kingdom
Adobe Systems Co., Ltd.
Yebisu Garden Place Tower
4-20-3 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-6017 Japan This brochure was created with Adobe PageMaker software and font software from the Adobe Type Library.
World Wide Web Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Capture, PageMaker, PostScript, and PostScript 3 are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
www.adobe.com © 1999 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. AcroPS-DocuWorld 4/99