Aiming to make it easier and safer for manufacturers to collaborate with design, supply chain, and other partners, Adobe Systems Inc. yesterday unveiled a server-based product and a hosted service offering that the company said will allow users to more tightly control who sees and makes use of potentially sensitive documents.
Unlike earlier versions of Adobe's LiveCycle Policy Server, the new release, version 7.2, works with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Dassault Systemes' Catia V5 files in addition to documents stored in Adobe's own PDF format. The latest release also implements a new distributed architecture based on Web services protocols that makes it easier for administrators to change policies and permissions that control who has access to specific documents and what can be done with those documents.
Using LiveCycle Policy Server, organizations can assign policies and permissions to documents -- or parts of document files. Those policies control who can access documents and what can be done with them, both online and offline. The LiveCycle Policy Server, for example, encrypts files and grants access only after prospective users have provided secure authentication.
The software also can control who, for example, can print or copy a specific file, and it can impose limits on the length of time that a given user has access to a file. Policies and permissions created through the LiveCycle Server are persistent, meaning that while they can be changed, they remain associated with the file throughout its lifecycle.
Securing documents in this way -- a concept known as digital rights management (DRM) -- can be particularly important to manufacturers, increasing numbers of whom need to share documents with onshore and offshore partners while continuing to protect their intellectual property.
"Historically, organizations have used VPNs [virtual private networks] and SSL tunneling to control who can gain access to important documents," said Steve Gottwals, Adobe's senior product manager for security solutions. "But what happens after a document has been accessed by a partner? It's easy to lose control over it," he noted. "Companies need a solution where they can maintain control over intellectual property no matter [where] a document goes."
Adobe isn't the only software company offering digital rights management tools. Other large vendors -- including storage systems giant EMC Corp., through a joint venture with Network Intelligence Corp. -- also offer DRM products. Design software vendors also have begun to enter the DRM space. Lattice Technology Inc., for example, this week introduced XVL Reducer, a product that allows users of its XVL 3D file format to secure documents by removing features of 3D models before files are shared or published.
With LiveCycle Policy Server 7.2, however, Adobe has at least one big advantage, said Jared Carleton, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan. Since the company controls the Adobe Reader free viewer -- which is already installed on millions of desktop systems worldwide -- it can provide DRM features without requiring users to download large new executable files, something that is often discouraged by IT departments.
LiveCycle Policy Server 7.2's new support for non-PDF files, however, will require users to do some downloading. Applying policies and protections to Word, Excel, and Catia file formats, Gottwals said, will require users to download plug-ins to their Catia and Microsoft application environments.
In addition, he said, not all of the security features for PDF documents available through LiveCycle Policy Server will be available for non-Adobe formats. LiveCycle Policy Server, for example, allows administrators to block users of a PDF file from filling in or changing values in a form. Adobe determined this capability was not necessary in Catia environments, Gottwals explained.
Adobe is currently considering supporting additional file formats with the LiveCycle Policy Server, he said. Currently under consideration is Microsoft's PowerPoint format, he noted.
Existing licensees of Adobe's LiveCycle Policy Server who have maintenance contracts can download the 7.2 version for free. For new users, pricing starts at $100 per author.
The corresponding hosted service, Adobe Document Center, uses the LiveCycle Policy Server to secure Word, Excel, Catia, and PDF documents.
The hosted service will be available in English beginning early in 2007, Adobe said. The company will provide hosting services itself for PDF, Word, and Excel documents, Gottwals said. Adobe Document Center services for Catia documents will be provided by IBM under a partnership arrangement with IBM and Dassault, he said.
Adobe said it is offering a free trial of a pre-release version of the on-demand Adobe Document Center through the end of the current year. Beginning early in 2007, Adobe will offer the service on what it called a six-month introductory basis for $19.99 per user, per month. The company has not announced regular pricing for the service