News

XML busy under the hood of new Adobe servers

• By Jack Vaughan
• October 23, 2002

ANALYSIS: XML technology continues to contribute -- albeit under the covers -- to advances in corporate computing. One of the latest examples comes from document powerhouse Adobe, which has just unleashed a new set of servers.

Oddly, it may be said, the use of XML in these systems brings businesses closer to the goal of full office automation. Office automation is the long-forgotten siren song (did you know that Xerox and Pitney-Bowes were once computer companies?) of early computing. XML helps vendors like Adobe automate processes, as is shown in Adobe's latest server suites.

''XML really helps with data interoperability of office processes,'' said Shawn Cadeau, director, product management, Adobe ePaper Solutions. ''The concept is that once data is captured in XML, say in a form, it can be passed from one system to another.''

In Adobe's case, served documents can render the XML into PDF, or other formats, for viewing of documents or forms throughout a business process.

New products from Adobe this week include versions of Adobe Document Server, Central Pro Output Server, Document Server for Reader Extensions, Form Server and Workflow Server. Some of these products were the result of long-brewing Adobe in-house efforts. Others were the result of Adobe's purchase earlier this year of Ottawa, Ontario-based Accelio, which is better known by a former moniker, JetForms.

For more on XML and documents go to ''Make the most of XSL-FO; lively up those Web services!,'' ADT's Programmers Report, Oct 22, 2002, http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=6843