Adobe LiveCycle ES

Document management systems (DMS) and related to them Enterprise Content Management systems (ECM) like all other IT solutions are gradually embracing Enterprise 2.0 technologies. This is a difficult move for them. Because DMS and ECM - are quite old and conservative technologies/systems and it's always difficult to change for old school. Besides the main DMS and ECM users are large companies and it's very difficult to upgrade them to the next level. Nevertheless, the progress goes on. Let's take a look on how the Enterprise 2.0 technologies are implemented in DMS and ECM nowadays:

Adobe has announced the new "cloud" version of its ECM system Adobe LiveCycle ES. It can be hosted on Amazon Web Services platform. Adobe also offers own hosting service for LiveCycle ES including 24/7 maintenance and support. The new version LiveCycle ES 2 features two new modules: LiveCycle Mosaic and LiveCycle Workspace ES 2 Mobile. The first is for the building internal portals - rich personalized interfaces that provide access to the data stored in LiveCycle ES in the form of widget "mosaic". The second - provides mobile access to the system on iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile. Besides, users can access the system via browser using Flash, AIR desktop client or directly from a PDF document (opened in Adobe Reader).

Long ago Adobe invented PDF - the format designed for document collaboration. Then for this format Adobe created a set of auxiliary tools. One of these tools, Adobe LiveCycle, was designed for building web forms that save entered information directly to PDF-files. And now, on the basis of this product and in partnership with Alfresco, Adobe has released its own ECM solution Adobe LiveCycle ES that will compete with MS Sharepoint, Open Text and Oracle Content Management. Alfresco - is a very ambitious company that is  going to revolutionize the ECM market ruled by Microsoft, IBM, EMC, Open Text, SAP and Oracle. Alfresco is well-known for its open-source strategy. And now they are partnering with the "big brother" Adobe. Adobe LiveCycle ES is intended to automate all paper work - from form input to document approval and executions. And everything is accessible via a web browser. The system functionality includes: