Flexible Architecture Enables Rapid Development of Custom Solutions

Boston, (March 2, 1999) (Nasdaq:ADBE)--Leading developers, systems integrators, and prepress/service providers are pledging support for Adobe® InDesign® software, a breakthrough professional page-layout program from Adobe Systems. InDesign is based on a new, open, object-oriented architecture that is highly extensible, enabling Adobe and leading industry vendors to deliver powerful publishing solutions. Together, with Adobe Photoshop®, Illustrator®, Acrobat®, and Postscript® software-InDesign forms the cornerstone of a complete integrated professional publishing solution.

Extensis, A Lowly Apprentice Production (ALAP), Em Software, and other award-winning plug-in developers have announced plans to deliver tools to work with Adobe InDesign. Twenty developers are expected to demonstrate beta versions of InDesign plug-ins at Seybold in Boston. The InDesign developer program currently includes over 80 top developers and will be opened to a much larger group when InDesign becomes available this summer.

Leading newspaper system integrators such as Baseview, DTI and Systems Integrators, Inc. have announced plans to leverage InDesign in new publishing systems. At the same time, major service providers are gearing up to support InDesign files as soon as the software becomes available.

"Adobe has a proven track record and strong relationships with the developer, system integrator and service provider communities because of our successful work together on Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat and other leading Adobe products," said Hank Skorny, senior director, professional publishing solutions, Adobe Systems Incorporated. "InDesign's flexible architecture allows our partners to rapidly build unbeatable publishing solutions for our customers."

Flexible Architecture for Rapid Innovation
Built on a new, object-oriented code base, Adobe InDesign software offers a radically new approach to extensibility. Where most programs provide limited access to core application capabilities, almost every aspect of Adobe InDesign is extensible by design. Third-party developers can create tools that add database publishing, image manipulation, new import/export, text manipulation and other capabilities. Developers can also build entirely new solutions around InDesign to meet the specific needs of vertical publishing segments. Additionally, end-users and IT professionals can use AppleScript and Visual Basic Scripting to automate common operations with access to over 80% of the InDesign API.

Plug-in Developers
Third-party plug-in developers are moving rapidly to create new solutions for Adobe InDesign. Extensis Corporation will announce plans to support InDesign through its award-winning pre-flighting software, Preflight Pro, and its inspection and collection software, Collect Pro. Em Software plans to produce plug-ins that automate database publishing for catalogs, directories, and other publications. ALAP expects to revise two of its highly regarded products, ShadowCaster and XPert Tools, for InDesign, as well as develop a new suite of plug-ins.

"Adobe technologies are the foundation for many of our customers," said Craig Barnes, president and CEO, Extensis Corporation. "Customers adopting Adobe InDesign will need to be able to create documents free from potential output errors. As the industry-acknowledged leader in preflight software, we will once again set the pace by offering our Preflight Pro customers with support of InDesign, thereby giving them the highest quality of service, beginning with availability of the product."

"We're excited by the state-of-the-art approach to page layout and publishing that Adobe InDesign embodies, and we're thrilled to be able to offer our data publishing tools in this context," said Chris Ryland, president of Em Software. "Further, Adobe InDesign's state-of-the-art approach to plug-in module development will give us tremendous leverage in developing these products and adding new features as our users find new challenges for us."

"Drawing on our experience developing solutions for the publishing industry, we're excited to be working with Adobe to develop products for use with InDesign," said Paul Schmitt, president of ALAP. "Adobe InDesign's open platform, object-oriented architecture enables us to develop publishing industry-specific tools with the features users need in a timely manner."

Other developers with plans to support Adobe InDesign include Celebro Advertising Solutions, Enfocus, HexMac, LizardTech, Managing Editor Software, MapSoft, Pantone, PowRTools, Shadetree Marketing, Systems Integrators, Inc., Ultimate, and Virginia Systems.

System Integrators
Adobe InDesign also provides an opportunity for system integrators to quickly build highly customized publishing solutions for the newspaper, magazine, and advertising industries. Its extensibility gives these system integrators control over key publishing components, such as the text composition engine and the hyphenation and justification systems. System integrators can incorporate InDesign into many existing solutions or build entirely new solutions based on the architecture. Sii, DTI and Baseview, leading newspaper integrators, have announced their support for Adobe InDesign.

"Sii's decision to integrate Adobe's InDesign with both our current system and our new groupware solution is based on InDesign's powerful open architecture," said Kirk Norlin of Systems Integrators, Inc. "Access to the core components of InDesign allows Sii to now provide high-production pagination solutions for the critical demands of large daily newspapers while adding the new creative features of InDesign."

"New daily newspaper systems require highly trained personnel, smooth installations without missing a daily deadline, tight integration with existing systems, and around the clock support," said Don Oldham, president DTI. "With the inclusion of Adobe InDesign in our systems, we have a solution to fit all these criteria. A paper may never miss a deadline because of their technology again."

"We're thrilled to be able to offer our customers a publishing tool based on InDesign," said Vickie Bair, Baseview's vice president and general manager. "We're already coming up with tons of ideas on how to develop Baseview's software to work seamlessly with InDesign's object-oriented architecture, its ability to handle graphics, illustrations and page layout and Adobe's reputation for developing first-class products.Ó

Service Providers and Adobe InDesign
Service providers are the backbone of the desktop publishing industry, processing millions of files a year for graphic professionals. Adobe Systems is working closely with these influential companies to design reliable, cost-effective, error-free digital prepress workflows based on Adobe PostScript and the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Adobe InDesign includes extensive support for PDF, including the ability to place and perform light editing on PDF files, direct output to PDF and access to key Acrobat settings for preparing files for high-quality output. That clear focus on a better high-end output process has garnered the endorsement of key service providers nationwide.

Many other leading companies in the professional publishing industry today publicized their support for Adobe InDesign, including the following: MacTemps, Quad/Graphics, Sells Printing, Sheridan College, and Total Training.

About Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign software is a new, state-of-the art page layout program that delivers unprecedented creative freedom, productivity, and precision, while integrating seamlessly with Adobe's other leading design programs. It was created for high-end graphic designers, production artists, and prepress professionals. Adobe InDesign removes the barriers in creativity presented by previously available publishing software, and provides powerful new set of tools that can shorten the distance between inspiration and reality.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems builds award-winning software solutions for Web and print publishing. Its graphic design, imaging, dynamic media, and authoring tools enable customers to create, publish and deliver visually-rich content for various types of media. The company's products are used by Web and graphic designers, professional publishers, document-intensive organizations, business users, and consumers. Adobe is the fourth largest U.S.-based personal software company, with annual revenues approaching $1 billion. It employs over 2,400 employees worldwide and has operations in North America, Europe, the Pacific Rim, Japan and Latin America. Adobe's worldwide headquarters are in San Jose, California and its web site is located at www.adobe.com.