Adobe and standards
By setting new standards for producing and delivering information that can be accessed anywhere at anytime, Adobe has established a household name and global reputation for business, entertainment and personal communications through its innovative technologies and software. Furthermore, the company’s involvement with organizations such as the British Standards Institution (BSI) in the development of standards has enabled it to maintain a competitive edge by anticipating customer needs and creating products to meet them. Adobe’s work with BSI, the UK’s national standards body, also ensures the company has a voice in standardization at an international level.
Adobe, which is now one of the world's largest and fastest growing software companies, is involved in the development of two kinds of standards. Firstly, through the creation of PDF (Portable Document Format), which is an example of a de facto standard (1), the company has revolutionised the exchange of information by enabling people around the world to deliver electronic documents in a universally comprehensible way across computing platforms and applications.
In addition, Adobe is actively engaged with standards bodies, including BSI and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), in the development of de jure standards (2), including PDF/A, an ISO standard to enable the archiving of documents, PDF/X for pre-press printing and PDF/E, which when final, will enable the exchange of engineering documentation. The use of these standards is crucial for businesses and government in facilitating interoperability.
Benefits of standards to Adobe and customers
Adobe’s involvement with standards bodies in the development of standards has been integral to its success as a business. It is also implicit in its philosophy of openness whereby it allows third party developers to pick up its technology and software.
Shantanu Narayen, president and chief operating officer of Adobe, explains what the
company gains from promoting standards,
“At Adobe, we fundamentally believe in open standards as a means of attracting developers to our technology platform. Being open needs to be part of your DNA. By participating in the development of standards, we’ve secured and maintained our position at the cutting edge of technology for over twenty years. We have achieved competitive advantage , as the first and only player to give customers anywhere in the world the ability to access digital documents across platforms using a free reader.”
Narayen continues, “Being involved with organizations like BSI and ISO in the development of standards provides us with a clear advantage once these standards are published. It puts us in a front row position to create products, which will utilise the standards, thus providing customers with what they want and growing our customer base. By responding better to customers’ needs, we are building better relationships with them and maximise our profits. For this reason, Adobe would encourage other businesses to use their expertise to work with industry standards bodies and contribute to the creation of standards.”
Adobe supporting standards development
Adobe's best-known standard is PDF, an excellent example of standards driving innovation. PDF is everywhere. It is a published specification that has become the de facto worldwide standard for the secure, reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents.
Adobe is currently working with the Association for Information and Image Management International (AIIM) to develop PDF/UA, a proposed ISO standard for PDF documents that provides a definitive means of interacting with assistive technologies - devices and software that present documents in formats accessible to the disabled. These include:
- screen users, which convert on-screen text to speech
- Braille printers that print document text into Braille fonts
- embossers, which print images with raised lines
- screen magnifiers to display extra-large text on the screen.
This will be finalised in two years.
In addition, the company supported the development of PDF/A (3), an ISO standard that enables the long-term preservation and archiving of electronic documents in PDF. This ability to archive documents and records efficiently is a major breakthrough for business.
It is of particular interest to government and private industries, enabling them to archive notary documents such as medical and insurance records, and has only been available since November 2005.
As mentioned, Adobe is also supporting the work of the AIIM and the National Printing Equipment Suppliers (NPES) in developing PDF/E, a proposed ISO standard that addresses the need for the reliable and secure exchange of engineering documentation including three-dimensional graphics. PDF/E is expected to be available in the first half of 2007.
Working with partners from PostScript to PDF, Adobe has a long tradition of establishing, supporting, and promoting standards.
Adobe is an active member of key standards bodies, such as BSI and the American National Standards Institution (ANSI) as well as more than 30 other standards organizations and committees worldwide that help ensure businesses and government agencies can easily and securely exchange information.
With an increasing emphasis on security in international trade and the need to reduce administrative burden, Adobe is playing a key role in enabling the United Nations to migrate international trade forms and documents from paper to electronic formats.
The company also works with vertical industry organizations, such as the Mortgage
Bankers Association in the US and the Internet Standards Agency to develop industryspecific
standards.
Spreading the word
Recent research conducted by Populus on behalf of BSI revealed that 100% of all FTSE 250 senior decision makers questioned believe companies that adopt standards are viewed more favourably by customers than those who do not. Despite this, many adopters of standards fail to communicate their involvement to existing and potential customers.
Adobe’s involvement in the development of standards means it is viewed as an innovator by existing customers and potential customers. To communicate its work in this area to stakeholders, Adobe maintains a comprehensive micro site www.adobe.com/standards, where visitors can access extensive information on standardization. The company also provides education and training on relevant standards to its global sales force and attends trade shows and accessibility events where delegates can learn more about its involvement in standards.
Footnotes
(1) Standards which are driven by market adoption.
(2) Formats and processes which are directly developed and overseen by standards making
organizations, such as BSI.
(3) Official name of PDF/A is BS ISO 19005-1 Document management. Electronic document file
format for long-term preservation. Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1).
