Company Profile Adobe Systems
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and
information. For 25 years, the company’s award-winning software and
technologies have redefined business, entertainment, and personal communications
by setting new standards for producing and delivering content that engages
people virtually anywhere at anytime. From rich images in print, video, and
film to dynamic digital content for a variety of media, the impact of Adobe
solutions is evident across industries and felt by anyone who creates, views,
and interacts with information. With a reputation for excellence and a
portfolio of many of the most respected and recognizable software brands, Adobe
is one of the world’s largest and most diversified software companies.
History of Innovation
Adobe founders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock shared a vision
for publishing and graphic arts that would forever change how people create and
engage with information. The two men met in the late 1970s while working at the
renowned Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where they researched
device-independent graphic systems and printing. Excited by the potential of
their work to reshape computing, Geschke and Warnock eventually realized that
the only way to take their ideas from the lab to the burgeoning technology
market would be to create their own company.
In 1982, they founded Adobe Systems Incorporated on a simple
premise: how could text and images on a computer screen translate beautifully
and accurately into print? A year later, they helped launch the desktop
publishing revolution by introducing Adobe® PostScript® technology, providing a
radical new approach to printing text and images on paper. For the first time,
a computer file could be printed exactly as it appeared on screen, with all
formatting, graphics and fonts intact. Adobe PostScript was licensed to printer
manufacturers worldwide and delivered unprecedented cost savings and
productivity enhancements. It continues to be a core technology on printers
today.
Setting Industry Standards
Building on its success with PostScript technology, Adobe
expanded into desktop software applications with Adobe Illustrator® and Adobe
Photoshop® software—and the design industry was never the same. These
groundbreaking applications redefined the quality and complexity of images that
could be created for print, and later extended those benefits to content
created for video, film, web, and alternative computing devices. Adobe
InDesign® software followed, shaking up the page layout market and enabling
household-name magazines, newspapers, and corporate brands to adopt modern,
integrated publishing workflows.
Furthering its vision to reinvent and improve computing,
Adobe released Adobe Acrobat® software and the Adobe Portable Document Format
(PDF), combining its expertise in desktop software with its roots in PostScript
printing. Acrobat and PDF revolutionized collaboration and information sharing
by enabling people around the world to deliver digital documents exactly as
intended across computing platforms and applications—much as PostScript
had done on paper. Acrobat achieved quick success, and today PDF is the de
facto standard for governments and businesses everywhere sharing documents
across the web, corporate intranets, and e-mail.
From Desktop to Enterprise Solutions
As demand for digital content skyrocketed, Adobe solutions
provided a catalyst for moving ideas from concept through creation to delivery
across any digital device. The appointment of Bruce Chizen as Adobe’s Chief
Executive Officer in 2000 further strengthened the company’s market leadership,
as Adobe delivered on strategies to move from a desktop software company to a
platform provider for enterprises. With its acquisition of Macromedia, Inc. in 2005—developer
of the ubiquitous Flash®technology and a pioneer in multimedia and web
development—Adobe expanded its strong technology foundation and portfolio
of customer solutions.
Industry-Defining Technology Platform
Today, Adobe’s powerful technology platform, built around
Adobe PDF and Flash technology, greatly enhances how people create, manage,
deliver and engage with information. Free Adobe Reader® and Flash Player
software—already deployed on hundreds of millions of computers, mobile
phones and smart devices worldwide—enable people anywhere to engage,
collaborate, and act on information and content, through the web, enterprise
applications, online meetings, and digital documents.
Adobe’s technology platform is enhanced by an extensive
network of third-party solution providers developing applications that deliver
proven business benefits across a range of industries.
Serving Customers Worldwide
Adobe solutions are used daily by many of the world’s leading
organizations in a range of industries, such as publishing, government,
financial services, telecommunications, and education. Customers include Hearst
Magazines, the United States Internal Revenue Service, Deutsche Bank, Nokia,
Yahoo! Inc., University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), SAP, Wal-Mart, and
thousands of other leading organizations worldwide. Primary customer segments
include:
• Knowledge Workers and Enterprises: Businesses and government organizations use Adobe
desktop and server-based solutions to improve productivity, collaboration, and
business processes inside and outside the organization.
• Creatives and Designers: With Adobe solutions, designers, publishers, photographers, and
videographers are making brands and products stand out in crowded markets by
designing compelling content for delivery in print, online, for video, and on
mobile devices.
• High-end Consumers: A
wide variety of enthusiasts use Adobe’s popular solutions to develop, enhance,
and deliver images and content in print and across a variety of digital
devices.
• Partners and Developers: Adobe’s technology platform enables developers, systems integrators,
and software manufacturers to build dynamic applications that address business
demand for improved interaction with information.
Strong Culture and Commitment to Community
Adobe’s long-standing success is built on its innovative
corporate culture and skilled employees working in countries around the world.
The company ranked number 31 on FORTUNE magazine’s
2007 “Best Places to Work For” list and was also 15th in “Best Places to Work
India” in 2005.
The company also strengthens the communities in which its
employees live and work by providing cash grants and in-kind contributions,
including donated software, volunteer support, and software training for
non-profit organizations. In 2006, Adobe launched its global philanthropy
program, Adobe Youth Voices, designed to help young people engage with their
communities by providing access to multimedia tools, training, and a worldwide
network of youth, teachers, and program leaders. The program is active in 41
schools and nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, United
Kingdom, and India.
Adobe’s commitment to revolutionizing how people engage with
ideas and information is as strong today as it was in 1982. Most every image
seen in magazines, on billboards, and in advertisements—or experienced in
movies and on television screens and digital devices—has been touched by
Adobe software. With its focus on innovation, Adobe continues to reinvent how
the world creates, perceives, and engages with information.
>
