Adobe brings Flash to LiveCycle enterprise server

Adobe Systems on Monday released an early version of LiveCycle Enterprise Suite, a revamped version of its document management and work-flow server.

LiveCycle Enterprise Suite, which is expected to be available for deployment in July, integrates with Adobe's Flex development environment so developers can create Flash-based user interfaces. Until now, LiveCycle served up and routed forms in the PDF format.

Now customers can choose between either friend front end as the server can serve up data and forms to both, said Jeff Whatcott, the vice president of product marketing and strategy for enterprise solutions at Adobe.

LiveCycle is the primary product in Adobe's enterprise business, which represents $200 million in annual revenue and growth opportunity for the company, said Whatcott.

LiveCycle is designed for applications that involve document exchanges outside of, rather than within, organizations, such as government Web sites that require people to fill out and process claims.

Flash allows people to create interactive front ends for Web-based applications. But customers may choose to display documents as PDFs for printing. Both allow customers to layer security and digital rights management onto their documents, Whatcott said.

Whatcott added that the next version of LiveCycle Enterprise Solution will have closer integration with Apollo, Adobe's plug-in for running Web-based applications that integrate with desktop PC operating systems.

The software comes in two packages, starting at $100,000.