"Business collaboration relies on exchanging important information between companies," Hale continued. "Individuals in small and mid-sized organizations, however, often have difficulty controlling information once it’s been distributed. Other security solutions only offer control for the first time a file is accessed by recipients, leaving critical documents such as proposals and legal agreements vulnerable to being shared further without the knowledge of the author."

Adobe Document Center, said Hale, is designed for the professional who shares or publishes business-, time- or version-sensitive documents:

"Whether it’s an independent graphics designer submitting designs for client review, or a legal practice exchanging sensitive files with clients, users can customize access settings, closely audit usage of their documents, and retain control over the files regardless of where they travel."

Users also have the ability to set expiration dates on documents, supersede an older version once a new version is distributed, and revoke access after distribution. They even have the ability to track who has received the documents and what recipients have done, or attempted to do, with the files.

Business professionals are able to add persistent protection and dynamic controls to files in several ways with Adobe Document Center, says Adobe. They can create PDF files with Adobe Acrobat 8 software and, through a new, one-click connection to the service, apply security settings to those documents from within Acrobat.

To protect Microsoft Word and Excel 2003 files, users simply install a lightweight plug-in that enables them to apply dynamic security settings directly from those applications, as well.

Soon, says Adobe, users will also have the ability to convert files to PDF and apply security and control settings to them directly from Adobe Document Center.

To view and interact with documents controlled through Adobe Document Center, recipients need free Adobe Reader 8 software to access PDF files, Word and Excel files. If an author has chosen to grant document access to selected individuals only, recipients will use an Adobe ID—created via the Adobe Document Center site—to gain access to the files. An Adobe ID, says the company, enables recipients to authenticate themselves with a password only known to them each time they view a document and helps ensure they are using an email address that matches the address indicated by the author.

Available now through the end of the current calendar year, Adobe says it is offering a free trial of Adobe Document Center for policy protecting an unlimited number of documents. The commercial release of Adobe Document Center is expected to be available in English in early calendar 2007 for a special six-month introductory subscription price of US$19.99/month, or US$199/year per user.