San Jose, Calif. (March 12, 2001) (Nasdaq:ADBE)--Adobe Systems Incorporated, the leader in Network Publishing, today introduced Adobe Acrobat 5.0 software, a major upgrade to one of the company's cornerstone applications. With Acrobat 5.0, Adobe is enabling organizations to reduce cycle times and increase the efficiency of business processes across their extended enterprises of customers and partners. True to its heritage, Acrobat 5.0 continues the tradition of allowing users to produce documents that retain the fidelity of the original, exactly as intended. Customers can be certain that Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files they create in Acrobat 5.0 and share online can be viewed and printed using the ubiquitous Acrobat Reader across various hardware and operating systems. But Acrobat 5.0 functionality goes well beyond this fundamental value proposition: professionals can now work more efficiently as individuals and with teams; customers have enhanced capabilities for creating, digitally signing and sending secure documents; businesses can more effectively use electronic forms to reduce costs and increase the accuracy of information in those forms; users can distribute information in a more accessible manner to people with disabilities; and IT managers can now easily deploy and maintain Acrobat software across an entire organization. "In the coming years, as business workflows move to the Web, there will be an increased need to access information anytime, anywhere," said Rita Knox, vice president and research director, Gartner. "Software that allows organizations to save time and money by supporting such ubiquitous access will be key. This involves both technology and management of user requirements and preferences." For a comprehensive list of the new features in Acrobat 5.0 software, please visit: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/pdfs/acr5nfhs.pdf.