Adobe acquires digital rights management division of Navisware

Adobe Systems Inc . has acquired the FileLine Digital Rights Management (DRM) division of Navisware, a technology company bridging computer-aided design (CAD) and enterprise intelligence. The acquisition will provide new capabilities for Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server to persistently protect business critical documents in PDF, Microsoft Office and CAD formats, independent of how they are stored or delivered inside and outside the firewall. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Privately held and based in Raleigh, NC, Navisware developed FileLine to provide DRM capabilities for a variety of document types critical to the engineering design process, such as CAD and Microsoft Word documents. These capabilities will be integrated into LiveCycle Policy Server, enabling organizations to apply policies directly to a broad range of documents, such as financial, government, or engineering documents containing intellectual property for controlling how, when, and by whom the documents can be used.

Additionally, managers and auditors can easily view an audit log of who accessed the document, and indications of improper usage or disclosure. This same DRM technology will help ensure that version control of documents is maintained when the document owner invokes immediate revocation or date-based expiration, helping to prevent costly mistakes based on outdated documents or intellectual property falling into unintended hands.

The new DRM capabilities for Microsoft Office and CAD documents are expected to be integrated into LiveCycle Policy Server and available in fall 2006.

—David Greenfield, editorial director, Control Engineering dgreenfield@reedbusiness.com

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