FAQ

The Adobe Central Output Server family is scheduled to be discontinued on June 30, 2016. Adobe LiveCycle Output ES, a component of the Adobe LiveCycle ES integrated server-based solution, is the recommended replacement for most Central products. LiveCycle Output ES is designed to help you reduce costs by extending document-based processes outside your organization to better engage with customers, partners, constituents, and colleagues. It also helps with your green IT initiatives by enabling the delivery of more secure electronic correspondence.

The following chart summarizes the target migration path for Central Output Server family products:

1. * LiveCycle Output ES runs on Java™ application servers using industry-standard operating systems including Microsoft® Windows®, AIX®, Solaris™, and Linux®.
2. † Output Pak for mySAP.com customers are encouraged to investigate SAP NetWeaver as their next-generation standard. Adobe LiveCycle technology is embedded in NetWeaver, supporting comparable output functions. 
3. ‡ LiveCycle Designer ES is included with LiveCycle Output ES; it does not need to be purchased separately.

• Automatically generate personalized documents in PDF, PDF/A, PostScript®, and PCL, as well as Zebra, Intermec, Datamax, and Tec Toshiba label formats 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 via PDF to PostScript conversion.
• Support conversion of PDF files to PDF/A or image formats, including multipage TIFF.
• Easily orchestrate document delivery via print, email, or the web with LiveCycle Workbench ES.
• Protect electronic document confidentiality and authenticity with PDF document encryption.
• Integrate with other LiveCycle ES4 solution components such as LiveCycle Forms Pro ES, LiveCycle Rights Management ES, or LiveCycle Prcess Management ES to extend your business processes.

Learn more about LiveCycle Output ES ›

• 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.
• Standardize on a single design environment to support a wide range of interactive, on-demand, and batch output processes.

By combining LiveCycle Output ES with other LiveCycle ES modules, you can build a comprehensive set of services to enhance customer satisfaction, increase operational efficiencies, and reduce costs by targeting communications more effectively and automating the generation of personalized documents. Customer communications can be grouped into two major categories: system driven and user driven.

• System-driven communications. Use dynamic templates populated with variable content to create personalized communications. Quickly and intelligently assemble a document package based on rules. And, support high-volume, on demand, or batch communications and scalable workflows. Examples include statements and invoices, purchase orders, and renewals.
• User-driven communications. Assemble predefined content blocks along with authored content to create personalized communications. Integrate review and approval processes to improve quality control mechanisms. Examples include correspondence, welcome kits, and supply chain collaboration. Learn more about the Adobe Correspondence Management Solution, part of the LiveCycle ES family of products.

Adobe offers a Correspondence Management Solution that centralizes and manages the creation and delivery of correspondence to make every interaction right for your customers and best for your business. It enables you to quickly assemble correspondence from both preapproved and custom-authored content in a streamlined process from creation to archival. As a result, your customers get the right communication at the right time in the right way: timely, accurate, convenient, secure, and relevant. And your business maximizes the value of customer interactions and minimizes cost and risk with a streamlined process. Here are just a few of the solution benefits:

• Make it easy for team members to personalize customer correspondence.
• Increase control and drive consistency for compliance, security, and brand integrity.
• Create interactive portfolios or digital welcome kits for new customers.
• Engage customers with two-way communications that let them click to take action.

Learn more about the Adobe Correspondence Management Solution, part of the LiveCycle ES family of 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 read the Adobe Central Output Server Migration Guide . Here are the key differences. LiveCycle Output ES:

• Is J2EE compatible and runs on Java application servers and industry-standard operating systems such as Windows, AIX, Solaris, and Linux; HP-UX and OS/400 are not supported.
• 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 email delivery, which are similar to the collector directory and email 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 to create and manage XML document templates and template fragments.
• Adds new capabilities including PDF document assembly as well as PDF conversion, including PDF-to-PDF/A, the ISO standard for archiving.
• Provides editable rather than preconfigured print device profiles, known as presentment targets or ICS files in Central; generic profiles known as XDC are edited using the XDC editor to customize finishing options such as stapling, duplex print, 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 certain output methods, including PCL6, Windows drivers, or Monarch 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 can be addressed with CPU scaling and clustering.

Yes, you can download LiveCycle Output ES — along with all the other modules — as part of the Adobe LiveCycle trial.

The Central Output Server family is scheduled to be discontinued on June 30, 2016. Following Adobe enterprise support policies, customers on any Central product version 5.7 or 5.7.1, or Web Output Pak 2.0.7, will be able to purchase core support contracts through June 30, 2014, and extended support contracts through June 30, 2016. Support services will remain consistent with previous generations, including access to technical support resources and software patches.

Version 5.7 generation products will be available for sale through June 2016, making it possible to purchase new licenses or expand existing installations as needed to support immediate business requirements. Version 5.7 generation products are defined as Central Pro Output Server 5.7, Output Pak for mySAP.com 5.7, Output Designer 5.7, and Web Output Pak 2.0.7.

Yes. We recommend that you reserve internal resources and/or budget for consulting services to support 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 Workbench environment. We encourage you to read the Adobe Central Output Server Migration Guide .

LiveCycle Output ES2 and later includes a set of LiveCycle Workbench services collectively known as the Central Migration Bridge. With it, you'll be able to run both old and new business applications on the same server during the migration period. The services provide access to the core capabilities of Central so that existing data sources, Output Designer templates, and transformation scripts can be used in a LiveCycle context. It enables a phased migration as follows:

1. Move existing Output Designer form templates and data transformation scripts to the new LiveCycle server.
2. Develop processes in LiveCycle Workbench using one of the four available Central Migration Bridge Services.

• centralMerge — running jfmerge.exe (Central Print Agent)
• centralTrans — running jftrans.exe (Central Transformation Agent)
• centralXMLImport — running xmlimport.exe (Central XML Import Agent)
• centralDataAccess — providing access to selected data in DAT files from within LiveCycle Workbench

3. Modify your existing enterprise applications to invoke LiveCycle processes, rather than Central ones.
4. Decommission your previous standalone configurations of Central software.
5. Convert Output Designer templates and non-XML data sources one application at a time, over a comfortable period of time.

Yes. The Central Migration Bridge is designed to work with Central Pro 5.7.

We recommend that you begin by reading the Adobe Central Output Server Migration Guide . This guide is designed for technologists who have experience building document generation and print solutions with the Central Output Server products and are considering migrating to LiveCycle Output ES. It compares the capabilities of the two product lines, describes varying migration scenarios, identifies potential issues, and recommends best practices to help developers migrate their applications. If you would like to have the assistance of expert services, Adobe and a number of solution partners have consulting services available to assist your enterprise throughout the process. Learn more about LiveCycle Output ES.

In January 2013, Adobe offered a new service pack release, Central Output Server 5.7.1, which included bug fixes and support for new operating systems and email servers. This release does not change support timelines or Adobe's plans to end extended support of the product line in June 2016. This service pack builds upon the 5.7 release of the Central Output Server family, which offered improved support for enterprise environments and enhanced migration support for moving to LiveCycle Output ES.

The 5.7.1 service pack updated Central Output Server, Output Pak for mySAP.com, and Central Output Designer. The release did not update Web Output Pak. The 5.7.1 release added platform support for Windows 8, Windows Server® 2012, Hyper V support, AIX 7.1, Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 6, SUSE® Linux 12, Solaris 11, and HP-UX 11i v3.  Support for Windows Exchange 2010/Outlook 2010 was also added. If you wish to benefit from the new operating system and email server support for your production environments, then you should consider upgrading to the 5.7.1 release.

The Central Output Server family is scheduled to end its extended support program on June 30, 2016. The 5.7.1 service pack release does not change the support timelines. Following Adobe enterprise support policies, customers on any Central product version 5.7 or 5.7.1, or Web Output Pak 2.0.7, will be able to purchase core support contracts through June 2014 and extended support contracts through June 2016. Support services will remain consistent with previous generations, including access to technical support resources and software patches.  Adobe recommends that customers with Central Output Server migrate to LiveCycle Output ES.

Version 5.7 generation products will be available for sale to existing customers through June 2016, making it possible to purchase new licenses or expand existing installations as needed to support immediate business requirements. Version 5.7 generation products include Web Output Pak 2.0.7. However, Adobe recommends that customers with Central Output Server migrate to LiveCycle Output ES.

If your organization held a Platinum support contract when the 5.7.1 service pack release shipped, your designated point of contact received an email containing detailed instructions on how to access the service pack. If you hold a Platinum support contract and did not receive this email then, contact Adobe Customer Service.