IBM Partners with Adobe for the Future of Forms

by Alex Woodie

IBM has seen the future of forms processing, and it's an Adobe PDF (or portable document format) form. The two companies extended their partnership last week with a new agreement to further integrate Adobe's forms software with IBM's middleware stack, beginning with DB2 Content Manager, an enterprise-strength imaging and content-indexing system, and a similar offering specifically for SAP environments. But the companies' roadmap calls for even more integration and use of Adobe software with IBM's WebSphere products.

Last week's announcement standardizes the connectivity between IBM's DB2 Content Manager and Adobe's Forms Server and Forms Designer. Previously, users who connected the two products did so by writing custom code. Now Forms Server can talk directly to the DB2 Content Manager repository, which is available in OS/400, mainframe, and multiplatform (Windows, Unix, and Linux) flavors, in addition to application-specific offerings, such as those for SAP, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Exchange.

While DB2 Content Manager already had the capability to store documents in the PDF format, it was limited in its use of the PDF. Previously, users would have to print the PDF form, fill it in, then fax or mail it back to the issuing organization, says Harry Vitelli, vice president of business development for Adobe's document solutions group. As a result of the integration, they can now fill in the PDF online and submit the completed form electronically. "We've moved from a print and fill to a fill and submit, which dramatically changes the workflow," Vitelli says. "It's essentially getting rid of data-entry errors."

The integration between Adobe's PDF server software and DB2 Content Manager is just the beginning. IBM intends to make extensive use of the PDF, which has become the de facto standard for electronic documents for corporations, governments, and other organizations that need an affordable, consistent, secure, and easy-to-use way to present forms to people. No other presentation format--plain text, Word document, HTML, XML, PCL, PostScript, AFP--possesses the combination of these attributes, and the result has been a surge in PDF use, with over half a billion free PDF readers downloaded, Adobe says. Even among OS/400 shops, there is a strong push to get business documents, such as invoices, purchase orders, and receipts, into the PDF format, so they can be posted to the Internet, e-mailed, faxed, or even printed and mailed.

But the PDF doesn't stop with DB2 Content Manager, as IBM and Adobe intend to further integrate Adobe's forms technology with its software. "The technology roadmap calls for shared document services over time, including forms generation, documentation, and security, and moving them to IBM's software middleware stack," Vitelli says. "We're primarily interested in a few areas: Content Manager first and, second, WebSphere." There are also plans to integrate Adobe's software with the Tivoli systems management software stack.

Adobe also has a desire to capture some of the market for serving less dynamic forms than what is found in DB2 Content Manager, such as the automatically formatted invoices, purchase orders, and receipts that OS/400 shops generate using document management software from a number of vendors. "We have a lot of interest in serving the ERP space, and we think WebSphere is a key component for doing that," Vitelli says, adding that the company has no specific plans in place at this time. "It's a very natural space for us."

Last year Adobe, which is based in Silicon Valley, acquired Accelio, which had just gobbled up JetForm, a successful developer of document management products used by OS/400 shops, among others. Adobe's server products, including Forms Server, are based on these JetForm products, but Adobe's machinations for the OS/400 market are unclear as yet. The company recently announced plans to sunset some of the legacy JetForm products, including JetForm Design and JetForm Filler, in favor of native PDF design tools.

Sponsored By FAST400

What makes IBM different from Microsoft regarding Fast400?? What is Fast400? You are hearing a lot about Fast400 aren't you? But what is Fast400? Fast400 is a "tuning" product for the iSeries. Fast400 will allow an iSeries server to utilize the available CPW for interactive processing. IBM would have you believe that these interactive cards that cost thousands to millions of dollars, actually add value to your server. By buying Fast400, you do not ever need to buy another interactive card for your iSeries. For a free demonstration of Fast400, please visit www.fast400.net. Why Fast400? A few years ago Microsoft would not let other software companies build tools to work with the Windows operating system. Microsoft did all kinds of scurrilous things to stop other manufacturers' software from working on their platform. They would put code in the base operating system that prevented other companies code from working properly. IBM even had these issues with Operations Navigator. In the early days of Operations Navigator, the developers in Rochester had to scrap early versions because Microsoft did not want IBM leverage on what was proprietary to them. Netscape also had a few problems using the Windows operating system. The result Now we all know what happened to Microsoft. After spending tens of millions of our tax dollars in the trial, the US government told Microsoft that they were acting as a monopoly and what they did was not right or fair. The similarity IBM is doing exactly the same thing to Fast400 as Microsoft did. IBM has changed the operating system of the iSeries 400 to prevent Fast400 from working. In fact this has been done several times now, and each time the Fast400 developers produce a new fix to circumvent the IBM action. Why does IBM do this? because Fast400 takes money out of IBM's pocket. The potential for IBM to make billions from its user base, for delivering virtually no product is tantamount to corporate deception! Did IBM change the operating system when EMC introduced a low cost storage solution for the iSeries? The future The cat and mouse game between IBM and Fast400 is already a year old. Every time IBM changes the operating system to disable Fast400, the developers of Fast400 produce a new version within days to enable it again. Does Fast400 have a commercial agenda? Of course it does. Fast400 is in business to provide its clients with added benefits, which will maximise the interactive performance of iSeries 400 servers. And as we are a business, why shouldn't we charge a nominal fee for that service? A fee that our clients see as being fair and proper. After all, it's not Fast400 that is making enemies in the user base. As long as IBM wants to play "David and Goliath" we will continue to "out" the giant. Fast400 is not running, you can be assured!! For more information, please visit www.fast400.net.