Following predictions that its third quarter figures will exceed analysts forecasts (CI No 3,245), Adobe Systems Inc has been buying again, and this time snapped up DigiDox Inc with a view to getting itself into new vertical markets. Digidox, a developer of electronic catalogue and authoring tools based on Adobe Acrobat and the Adobe Portable Document Format, is based in Grand Rapids Michigan, in the heart of the US manufacturing area, and has, according to Adobe, already won some major blue chip customers for its electronic catalogue and custom publishing business. Adobe, the San Jose, California desktop publishing and document management company says it is particularly keen to keep Digidox as a separate subsidiary, which will be ‘light on its feet’ and not tied down by the sort of constraints faced by its new parent, such as having to offer its software on multiple operating systems. Digidox would be free to assess the specific needs of its vertical markets, Adobe said. What Adobe brings to the deal is obviously financial and marketing backing, and the presence to help the 40-person Digidox open large manufacturing doors in Michigan. Digidox, a privately-held company, specializes in what it calls ‘parallel publishing’, using a single source of content to produce print, CD-ROM and online versions of a company’s catalogue and other material. It offers a range of Adobe-based products, and services include integration, custom software services, production and project management, consulting, training and digital art design. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Only last month Adobe bought Tumbleweed Software Corp (CI No 3,233), for its secure web document management software, for an undisclosed sum.
