October 8, 2003 – PHOENIX – Noah Katz, Development Analyst for Aspen Systems Corporation (Aspen Systems), will discuss use of Acrobat PDF-based document management processes by the CAIB Board at PDF Conference, November 10-12 at the Crowne Plaza Resort, Anaheim, California. PDF Conference attendees will learn how PDF was used by Aspen Systems, the CAIB support vendor, in processing the many documents acquired by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) in its research and analysis of the February 2003 accident. “Noah’s presentations showcase the very serious, formidable, and robust power of the PDF format. Today, it’s relied on for our country’s most significant IT tasks,” says Carl Young, PDF Conference producer. The CAIB had to process hundreds of thousands of pages from a wide variety of documents in order to research and prepare its reports. The material included photos, audio and video presentations, reports, correspondence (e-mail and paper), web sites, and more. All of these documents needed to be incorporated into a searchable retrieval system. Standardizing on PDF as the delivery format allowed CAIB to gain access to all documents in their original appearance, irrespective of the native applications. This was especially important in regard to retaining the original appearance of color photographs, charts, and presentations. Aspen Systems used a variety of Adobe and third-party solutions to create and convert the PDF files, uniquely stamp each file with reference to the original source, and to extract the full text of each document.