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Move to Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite

Enable straight-through processing, from the customer's first request to the final archived document

You've worked hard to streamline your print operations and transition your organization to electronic document delivery. In fact, it's possible the Adobe® Central Output Server family has been there with you all the way, helping you achieve those successes.

But today, you're under pressure to deliver a lot more than just cost savings and legally compliant documents. If you're in business, you need to find even better ways to attract and retain customers, and sell more to the ones you already have. If you're in government, you're looking to increase the use of online constituent services or speed decisions that span multiple agencies or ministries.

Introducing Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite

Adobe LiveCycle® Enterprise Suite software, including Adobe LiveCycle Output ES, is uniquely designed to help you embrace these challenges and ensure your continued success. LiveCycle ES is integrated J2EE server software that extends beyond document generation to build end-to-end processes that include interactive forms, process management, document security, and more. LiveCycle extends processes beyond the firewall to customers, constituents, and partners by leveraging the ubiquity of Adobe Reader®, Adobe Flash® Player, and web browsers ??? along with PDF and XML standards ??? to capture information from users and integrate with existing enterprise infrastructure. Its robust architecture makes it ideally suited for organizations taking advantage of today's best-in-class enterprise architectures.

Frequently asked questions

What are the key capabilities of Adobe LiveCycle Output ES?

• Automatically generate personalized documents in PDF, PDF/A, PostScript®, PCL, or Zebra label format on-demand or in batch mode.
• Quickly design and maintain templates or template fragments, define business logic, and preview jobs with award-winning LiveCycle Designer ES software.
• Easily assemble customized document packages from new or existing PDF files.
• Enable unattended PDF printing.
• Support conversion of PDF files to image formats, including multipage TIFF.
• Easily orchestrate document delivery via print, e-mail, or the web with LiveCycle Workbench ES.
• Protect electronic document confidentiality and authenticity with PDF document encryption.

What are the key benefits of LiveCycle Output ES in combination with LiveCycle ES?

• Standardize on a single design environment to support interactive, on-demand, and batch output processes.
• Easily orchestrate long-lived processes that extend beyond the firewall, with support for best-of-breed electronic processing including interactive forms, business process management, certified document delivery, and digital rights management.
• Reduce the cost of output development, maintenance, and support by taking advantage of the standards-based LiveCycle development environment and robust developer program.

Can I get a trial version of LiveCycle Output ES?

Yes, you can download LiveCycle Output ES ??? along with most of the solution components ??? as part of the Adobe LiveCycle ES trial.

What is the difference between a trade-up and an upgrade?

The word "upgrade" usually describes the transition from one version of a product to the next. A "trade-up," on the other hand, is an offer to exchange one product for another. This transition involves migrating templates, scripts, and other aspects of your implementation from the Central Output Server environment to the LiveCycle ES environment. This trade-up offer provides an optional migration path for customers who are ready to take advantage of the next-generation capabilities offered by LiveCycle ES.

Which Central Output Server family products are eligible for a LiveCycle Output ES trade-up?

The following chart summarizes the target migration path for key Central Output Server family products. Some older generation products qualify as well. Please contact your Adobe representative or solution partner to discuss your specific options. Adobe Platinum Support customers can also contact the Customer Center at 888-649-2990 (option 1).

Your product	Trade-up to
Central Pro Output Server	LiveCycle Output ES
Central Output Server	LiveCycle Output ES
Central Workstation	LiveCycle Output ES
Web Output Pak	LiveCycle Output ES
Output Pak for mySAP.com®	SAP NetWeaver, which includes Interactive Forms based on Adobe software*
Output Pak for Oracle® EBS	No LiveCycle equivalent*
Output Manager	No LiveCycle equivalent

• ^*Customers with these products qualify for a trade-up to LiveCycle Output ES, but there is no integration with SAP or Oracle EBS.

Is there any cost for the trade-up?

If your organization purchased licenses before the introduction of LiveCycle Output ES on June 4, 2007, and holds current maintenance and support contracts, you are eligible to exchange your software for a similar configuration of LiveCycle Output ES software at no cost. Organizations that purchase on or after June 4, 2007, are also eligible to trade up, but additional fees will apply. Independent of the software upgrade exchange, you may wish to reserve resources or budget for consulting services to support the migration. Migration exchange scenarios for Central Output Server family licensees vary. Contact your Adobe representative or solution partner to evaluate your specific implementation.

Does Adobe LiveCycle Output ES offer identical functionality to Central products?

LiveCycle Output ES is comparable, but not identical, to products in the Central Output Server family. Its robust architecture and extended capability set are designed for organizations that want to make the most of today's best-in-class enterprise architectures and on-demand business processes. We encourage you to discuss the differences with your Adobe representative or solution partner before committing to a trade-up. Here are the key differences.

LiveCycle Output ES:

• Is J2EE compatible and runs on Java??? application servers and industry-standard operating systems including Windows®, AIX®, Solaris???, and Linux; HP-UX and OS/400® are not supported, but customers using these can trade up to a supported platform
• Inherits the strength of the LiveCycle ES environment, including LiveCycle ES Foundation and LiveCycle Workbench ES. The foundation is the LiveCycle job execution and integration environment, corresponding to the Central Job Management Database. It supports watched folders and e-mail delivery, which are similar to the collector directory and e-mail agent. It also supports today's best-of-breed invocation methods such as web services, Java APIs, and LiveCycle ES process orchestration.
• Leverages award-winning LiveCycle Designer ES software to create and manage XML document templates and template fragments
• Adds new capabilities including the ability to assemble newly created PDF files with existing PDF files to create customized PDF document packages, as well as PDF-to-PostScript and PDF-to-TIFF conversion
• Provides editable rather than preconfigured print device profiles, known as presentment targets or ICS files; generic profiles are edited to customize finishing options such as stapling, sorting, and paper tray selection
• Approaches fax integration differently, using the process orchestration tools in LiveCycle Workbench ES rather than preconfigured device profiles
• Accepts XML data input only. Text and field nominated data (DAT) formats are not supported. Similarly, there is no equivalent for the Central Transformation agent and Visual Transformation Editor for ASCII data file transformation.
• Does not support older or less popular output methods including PCL6, generic Windows drivers, or Tec, Intermec, or Datamax label formats
• Provides somewhat lower document formatting performance per CPU, but provides ready access to parallel document formatting to process jobs more quickly and efficiently; higher volume output requirements are addressed with CPU scaling and clustering

What are the technical implications of the migration?

Document templates need to be converted and new methods are needed to integrate into enterprise systems. LiveCycle Output ES accepts only XML data input, for instance. A template conversion tool is included that converts templates created in Output Designer to LiveCycle Designer ES. Templates created using the standard Output Designer tools typically convert easily and accurately. If you modified the preamble to customize your implementation, however, you will need to rework these aspects manually. Similarly, integration points previously handled by the Job Management Database will need to be migrated to the LiveCycle J2EE environment. You may want to consider hiring expert services, such as Adobe Consulting Services, to assist with these tasks.

How will Adobe help with the migration process?

We realize that transition is not always easy. With this in mind, Adobe has formulated a transition strategy to simplify your migration and accelerate time to value. Adobe has consulting services available to assist your enterprise throughout the process.

To begin the migration process, contact your Adobe representative or solution partner to discuss the right option for you. Adobe Platinum Support customers can also contact the Customer Center at 888-649-2990 (option 1).

Learn about LiveCycle ES upgrade options