FAQ about ADEP for Adobe LiveCycle ES customers

Adobe's CEM offering includes a technology platform, the Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform, and a set of Customer Experience Solutions built on ADEP. The platform comes in two editions, Basic and Standard.

LiveCycle customers are encouraged to leverage their existing implementations and upgrade to ADEP, which is the latest release of their existing software. ADEP is composed of two major architecture stacks: ADEP Document Services (formerly LiveCycle ES software) and ADEP Experience Services (based on Day Software's CRX and the LiveCycle Data Services module). The architecture of ADEP Document Services is nearly identical to that of LiveCycle ES, allowing existing LiveCycle ES applications to be easily upgraded. ADEP Experience Services includes a host of new capabilities that provide a foundation for rapidly developing applications with rich content and compelling user interfaces in a variety of formats, such as HTML and SWF.

Together, ADEP Document Services and Experience Services enable the creation of easy-to-use applications that integrate with back-end processes to efficiently serve and communicate with customers and employees. Learn more about the ADEP architecture.

To ease the transition to the new platform, Adobe will continue to offer existing customers the ability to upgrade to the latest capabilities available for the specific modules they have licensed. For example, if you have licensed LiveCycle Reader® Extensions and LiveCycle Forms, you can upgrade to the latest version of those capabilities available in this release.

In addition, we are also offering the new ADEP Basic and Standard editions for customers that want to purchase the new functionality/capabilities. Existing customers have the option to "trade up" their existing LiveCycle licenses for one of the new ADEP editions. Contact your account representative for additional details on the options available for your organization.

All LiveCycle customers with active Maintenance and Support agreements when ADEP is released are eligible to receive upgrades. Most customers will receive a single email "coupon" from Adobe, which provides instructions on how to claim upgrade software and includes the required serial numbers. Some customers will receive multiple emails, where a special serial number is required to perform the upgrade. Certain customers will not receive an email coupon as noted in considerations below.

Email coupons will be distributed toward the end of August 2011. Customers that are eligible but do not receive a coupon should contact Adobe Customer Service to request an upgrade.

In most cases, an upgrade is straightforward, but in others there are special considerations. The following information is a quick summary of upgrade entitlements and things you need to know. For additional detailed information, refer to the ADEP Architecture Guide - Considerations for new and existing customers .

Upgrading a LiveCycle module is simply a traditional upgrade to the new version of that module on the ADEP software; LiveCycle services under ADEP are referred to as ADEP Document Services, which remain on the familiar JEE stack. One exception is LiveCycle Mosaic, which is available on ADEP Experience Services, our new OSGi stack. Existing licensing terms continue to apply; updated LiveCycle Workbench, LiveCycle Designer (E,F,D,J), LiveCycle Foundation, and Adobe Flash® Builder® software are all included in the upgrade.

LiveCycle Editions are made up of groups of LiveCycle modules; each module is available as part of ADEP Document Services as outlined above.

LiveCycle is a core set of capabilities within ADEP, and the modules will continue to be supported for existing customers. Customers that choose to upgrade on their existing platforms rather than move to one of our new ADEP editions can upgrade to new features and functionality at this release as well as future releases.

No, upgrades are to equivalent capabilities in ADEP software as outlined in the previous upgrade information for LiveCycle customers.

Yes, as an existing LiveCycle customer, you will be able to buy:

• Additional licenses of the modules you already own
• Licenses of other modules to expand your applications

When considering additional modules, however, a trade-up to an ADEP edition may be a better path.

You can find resources in the LiveCycle Developer Center and through the existing LiveCycle module pages. Over time, these capabilities will be referenced as ADEP since LiveCycle is now part of ADEP.

• Get general information on the Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform.
  
• Get general information on Adobe Customer Experience Solutions.
  
• Watch the ADEP Overview presentation.
• Read the ADEP Architecture Guide: Considerations for new and existing customers . (PDF)
• Access the developer center for Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform.