Support for the new PDF/A-3 standard and the PDF/UA standard for accessibility, export of PDF to EPUB for mobile publishing, process plans and much more…

Berlin, - callas software, leader in PDF Technology for publishing, print production and document archiving, is thrilled to announce the release of version 4 of its flagship product pdfaPilot. This new release brings full support for the new PDF/A-3 standard and the PDF/UA standard for accessibility. pdfaPilot 4 includes advanced features for highly flexible PDF document processing via new process plans and allows export of PDF to EPUB for mobile publishing.  The Server version of pdfaPilot 4 now allows network-enabled setup and offers support for load balancing through a dispatcher.

callas software, will be presenting the new pdfaPilot 4 during The World Publishing Expo from October 29-31, 2012, in Frankfurt, Germany at the Crossroads booth 461.

Support for the new ISO standards: PDF/A-3 and PDF/UA and converts PDF files to EPUB

callas pdfaPilot is always one of the first software applications to adopt new PDF/A standards. Version 4 introduces a groundbreaking and elegant implementation of the just released PDF/A-3 standard. It not only allows verification of PDF files, but also allows conversion of Office and PDF files into fully compliant PDF/A-3 documents while automatically embedding the source documents into the generated PDF/A file.

callas pdfaPilot 4 also supports the new PDF/UA standard for accessibility thanks to its unique checking feature for tagging structure in a PDF file. PDF/UA has been gaining momentum as more and more legislation requires documents to be universally accessible for everyone, including people with physical disabilities. As a result, checking against the PDF/UA standard has gained importance for service providers, governments and enterprise customers alike.

Also based on the PDF tagging is the new and unique PDF to EPUB support that converts PDFs into eBook files that can immediately be used on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.

pdfaPilot 4 brings easy PDF/A-file creation and adds flexibility to workflows

callas pdfaPilot 4 allows easy and convenient creation of digital dossiers from file and folder structures. On top of that, the new version brings highly flexible PDF document processing thanks to the new feature 'process plans'. This feature allows building logic into PDF processing and makes it possible to combine sequences of steps in a single profile.

It is now easy to create a profile that actually is a combination of various steps to be executed and then to adapt the order of the steps to the specific needs of the sequence. The execution of a processing step can be done in response to the results of previous steps. A detailed result view shows you how actions or corrections are applied while files are being processed and what the results of each step are. And most important: Process plans are not only limited to pdfaPilot Desktop but can also be used in pdfaPilot Server 4.

pdfaPilot 4 Server: Network-enabled setup and load balancing through dispatcher

pdfaPilot 4 includes a number of important architectural changes to allow configuration and monitoring of server software across the network. Using an IP based protocol (supported and allowed easily by any network), pdfaPilot Desktop can be used to setup a pdfaPilot Server installation anywhere on the network. This means a workflow manager can test everything on their own machine; and afterwards can easily setup their server, again from the comfort of their own machine. Likewise monitoring running copies of pdfaPilot Server can also be done from within pdfaPilot Desktop and without having to go to the server.

It is also possible to perform load balancing through a new 'dispatcher' mode that pdfaPilot can be used in. When pdfaPilot is used as a dispatcher, as many 'satellites' as required can connect to it. A satellite is basically a regular server that will process files; the dispatcher on the other hand is a server that doesn't process files itself but instead receives files in its job folders and sends them to the satellites to have them processed. In other words, the dispatcher has the jobs defined on it and distributes the work that needs to be done. This allows for load balancing as well as for fail over configurations so that processing does not stop even if one of the satellites is switched off.

Pricing and availability

callas pdfaPilot 4 is available immediately and comes in two versions.

callas pdfaPilot Server 4 is on the market at 4.499 Euro and offers both hot folder automation and close integration through a CLI interface and a full SDK. It also provides multi-processor support for checking and fixing PDF/A files.

callas pdfaPilot Desktop 4 is available for 379 Euro and offers the broadest PDF/A support on the market in the easiest package. callas pdfaPilot Desktop works on single documents or – using its batch functionality – on complete folders at a time. Working as a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat or as a fast standalone application, callas pdfaPilot contains a wealth of tools to make your documents PDF/A compliant.

A free demo version is available at www.callassoftware.com/download.