Messenger brings good news to workgroup scanning

The elusive target market for networked scanning is once again being pursued. Adobe is positioning its just released Adobe Acrobat Messenger software as the heart of an all-in-one workgroup communications station.

Integrating with a 400Mhz or better PC attached to a scanner or digital copier, the latest addition to Adobe ePaper Solutions product family, Acrobat Messenger converts any paper document or photograph to Adobe PDF giving the ability to e-mail, fax or file on demand.

Positioned in the middle space between Adobe’s newest release of Acrobat 4.0 for the desktop, and the professional production product, Acrobat Capture 3.0.

At $1,500 Acrobat Messenger is a substantial part of a scanning workstation, which Andy Kicklighter, senior product manager estimates at $5,000 for a typical install. At this level, he points out that the purchasing decision is usually from the line of business or department managers who will use the system.

However, Kicklighter stressed that IT often must sign off on the decision. For this reason, Adobe has made the Messenger system simple to install and manage. For example, log-in credentials, and e-mail addresses rely on existing network systems, rather than their own administration.said Joe Eschbach, VP, ePaper Solutions, Adobe. "Nobody enjoys making copies, stuffing inter-office envelopes, completing express mail slips or sending faxes. Adobe Acrobat Messenger software is designed to be intuitive for office workers and to put very low demands on IT. Before long, Acrobat Messenger is going to be as ubiquitous as copiers and might even replace single function fax machines altogether."

While an integrated Messenger system offers features of fax, e-mail, scan and copy, Adobe stops short of calling it an MFP. However, analysts are quick to make the comparison.

"Adobe Acrobat Messenger is the digital salt lick here -- people are flocking to use it," said Tom Bevington, a technology analyst with Capital Group. "We've evaluated other seemingly comparable solutions but none were even remotely as useful or as easy to learn as Acrobat Messenger. It's the best multi-function device I've encountered to-date."