Adobe Systems Incorporated announced a major upgrade to its Acrobat software which promises to help streamline the process of creating and sharing electronic documents.

Adobe Acrobat 9 software includes big changes that can help organizations and consumers exchange important documents in a secure, efficient way. With many businesses, both large and small, for-profit and non-profit, making the transition to a paperless environment, these upgrades could be critical to their transition’s success.

Now included in Acrobat are native support for Adobe Flash® technology, the ability to unify a wide range of content in rich PDF Portfolios, and access to real-time capabilities for co-navigating a PDF document with colleagues.

“Rapid, reliable communication is key to success on all of our projects,” said Shawn Pressley, director of project management systems and development at Hill International, one of the world’s largest construction claims and management firms. “With enhanced support for a broad range of content types and expanded collaboration capabilities, Acrobat 9 will enable us to reach any audience with the right information, where and when it’s needed. We can include proposals, images, computer-aided design models and even Adobe Flash applications in a single PDF Portfolio to clearly communicate what is required of our local and global teams.”

Acrobat 9 is used around the world as a way of communicating with widely dispersed teams of colleagues, partners and customers

Acrobat 9 provides deep support for Adobe Flash technology, enabling users to include Adobe Flash Player compatible video and application files in PDF documents. For example, a marketing manager can use Acrobat 9 to convert Web pages with multimedia to PDF documents. The PDF file can be shared for review and comment with others who are using free Adobe Reader 9 software, which is expected to launch up to twice as fast as earlier versions.

Acrobat 9 also includes the ability to unify a wide range of content into a single document with the new concept of PDF Portfolios. PDF Portfolios enable users to assemble multiple media types into one, compressed PDF file that can be customized with several professional layouts and specific branding. A sales professional could create a single proposal document for a prospective client that includes charts, spreadsheets and images, as well as a branded, introductory video from the CEO discussing the company’s latest products.

In addition, Acrobat 9 provides access to capabilities for collaborating live within a PDF document, enabled by working with Acrobat.com, a suite of hosted services available as public beta at the Adobe Web site. This new capability allows users to drive a group’s navigation through a PDF document in real-time, helping ensure everyone is literally, and figuratively, on the same page.

Acrobat 9 suite includes oAcrobat 9 Standard, Acrobat 9 Pro, and the new Acrobat 9 Pro Extended software. The most comprehensive member edition is Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, which includes Adobe Presenter software for turning Microsoft® PowerPoint presentations into multimedia files that can be published as PDF files.

Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, Acrobat 9 Pro and Acrobat 9 Standard for Microsoft Windows®, and Acrobat 9 Pro for Mac OS X, are available in English, French, German, and Japanese language versions. Acrobat 9 Pro Extended is available for US$699, and registered users of qualifying earlier versions of Acrobat (1) can upgrade to Acrobat 9 Pro Extended for US$229. Acrobat 9 Pro is available for US$449, and registered users of qualifying earlier versions of Acrobat (2) can upgrade to Acrobat 9 Pro for US$159. Acrobat 9 Standard is available for US$299, and registered users of qualifying earlier versions of Acrobat (3) can upgrade to Acrobat 9 Standard for US$99.

The prices listed are the Adobe Store direct price. Reseller prices may vary.

Other Adobe news: Reader 9 is expected to be available by early July 2008.

Tags: Acrobat, Adobe, collaboration, software upgrades