Adobe Announces New Acrobat Connect Pro
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced a new version
of Adobe® Acrobat®
Connect™ Pro, the company’s
comprehensive Web conferencing and eLearning solution. The version
includes new functionality that enriches online communication and
collaboration, enabling organizations and schools to offer more engaging
rapid training, interactive virtual classes and dynamic online meetings.
Acrobat Connect Pro includes many new features for Web conferencing such
as options for archiving and editing recorded online meetings; new
presence capabilities that can allow federation with popular instant
messaging (IM) clients; and powerful compliance and usage reporting
tools. eLearning enhancements include break-out rooms to let students in
virtual classes initiate separate conversations online; rapid authoring
of video-based content; integration with Learning Management Systems
(LMS) from Blackboard and SumTotal; and tools that track and organize
online classes. Users also can easily tailor training sessions or
meetings that help capture participants’
attention and increase knowledge retention, resulting in an online
learning experience remarkably similar to an in-person class.
Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. (TABS) has been using Acrobat
Connect Pro to provide dealers and employees with training and
presentations ranging from compliance issues to new product
introductions. "With Acrobat Connect Pro, we
have been able to reach more people and maintain greater control over
the content, which has given us a much higher degree of training
consistency,” said Steve Bamberger, national
training manager, eLearning, Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. "Integrating
Acrobat Connect Pro into our online training initiatives has been
enormously instrumental in helping us enhance communications and grow
business lines, and we’ve been able to extend
this enrichment to other teams for use in product launches and customer
meetings.”
Combined with the new version of Adobe Presenter, also introduced today,
Acrobat Connect Pro can enable users to hold engaging online meetings
that incorporate high-impact Adobe Flash®
Player compatible presentations. Adobe Presenter can give virtually
anyone the power to easily turn Microsoft®
PowerPoint presentations into multimedia experiences that include video,
narration, animations, interactivity and advanced quizzes. New
capabilities in this release include question pooling and randomization,
easy-to-work-with video, and the ability to publish presentations to
mobile devices or within PDF files.
"Organizations and educational institutions
alike are challenged with reaching highly distributed workforces or
student populations, as well as communicating, collaborating, and
transferring knowledge at the accelerated pace of today’s
demands,” said Rob Tarkoff, senior vice
president of Adobe’s Business Productivity
Business Unit. "Whether it’s
meeting with co-workers across departments, or conducting virtual
classes across continents, Acrobat Connect Pro can help break through
technology barriers by letting virtually anyone participate in effective
online communication and knowledge transfer.”
Deployed using the Adobe Flash Player, already installed on more than 98
percent of Internet connected PCs worldwide; Acrobat Connect Pro lets
virtually anyone connect to an online meeting or classroom instantly
using a simple Web address, regardless of operating system or browser
version, and without the need to download additional software.
Availability
Acrobat Connect Pro is expected to be available by the end of May 2008,
on a hosted or on-premise basis. It will be available in English,
French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese,
Korean, and simplified Chinese. For more information, visit www.adobe.com/acrobatconnectpro/.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information –
anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.
© 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights
reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Acrobat Connect, and Flash are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated
in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft is either a
registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
