Adobe Systems Inc. on Monday acquired a small business-process software vendor to build greater workflow technology into its document management offerings.
Adobe, of San Jose, Calif., said it had bought Q-Link Technologies Inc. and its Java-based workflow technology. Adobe plans to integrate it into the Intelligent Document Platform part of its business, which focuses on using Acrobat and PDF to manage documents within enterprises.
Terms of the acquisition were not released. Q-Link is a privately held company based in Tampa, Fla., that has customers in the government, financial services, manufacturing and telecommunications industries.
Speaking at the JP Morgan Technology & Telecom Conference in San Francisco, Adobe Chief Financial Officer Murray Demo said the acquisition is part of the companys push to extend its Acrobat software and PDF file format further into the enterprise not only for creating and sharing documents but also for automatically tying into workflows and back-end systems.
“For customers looking at document workflow with Acrobat and PDF, we will want to be able to offer a more complete solution for them,” Demo said.
Among its recent enterprise moves, Adobe earlier this year added bar code technology to its PDF forms to make it easier to move information from paper into electronic form. Late last year, it also introduced a server-based version of its Acrobat PDF creation software.
Also on Monday, Adobe reported that it expects to exceed its previous earnings target for its second fiscal quarter ending June 4. Adobe now expects earnings per share of between 39 cents and 44 cents on revenue in the range of $390 million to $410 million.
