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Acrobat Connects Users in a Flash

mary | 08 May, 2007 08:39

4/27/2007

While Adobe's recent Creative Suite 3 release has been making headlines, intranet professionals should instead take note of the commercial rollout of two versions of Adobe Acrobat Connect, a new Web conferencing tool that uses the power of Adobe Flash to provide instant connections.

Actually, Adobe Acrobat Connect isn't a completely new product. The higher-end version, Acrobat Connect Professional, is a continuation of Macromedia Breeze, which Adobe acquired along with the rest of the company. The less expensive Adobe Acrobat Connect is a simplified version for smaller staffs.

Adobe Acrobat Connect goal is to be completely versatile in both installation and implementation. The software is available in both installed and hosted configurations, and the conferencing software runs on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris computers. It even runs on Flash-based phones found in Japan and Europe.

The software contains four areas -- training, presenting, meeting, and events -- that should cover all of an organization's conferencing needs. The application can run presentations created with Presenter, Adobe Captivate 2Adobe Flash.

Users will appreciate how easy it is to get into a Adobe Acrobat Connect meeting room. Meeting rooms have static URLs, so there's not a different address to send around each time you have a meeting, and conferences begin instantly for most people, since Adobe Flash is already loaded onto the vast majority of computers. There's nothing more to load. In our testing, there was no waiting time when entering a room. Users can add Adobe Acrobat Connect buttons to commonly used applications, such as Adobe Acrobat and  Microsoft Word, to quickly begin an impromptu meeting. Just click the button and select attendees from a pop-up list.

People who have experience with Breeze will notice that Acrobat Connect Professional feels awfully familiar. While there have been improvements to this version, they're mostly at the admin level. Acrobat Connect Professional is more reliable and more scalable, and can integrate with ERP and other management systems. It can also cluster out servers, useful when large groups of attendees are spread across several countries.

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