Adobe, local channel join forces

System integrator BCA IT has joined vendors IBM and Adobe to explore ways to satisfy their customers' content management needs.

Simon Uzunovski, marketing manager at BCA IT in Melbourne, said that discussions on a potential partnership began late last year but the real work was only just beginning.

"We'd like to think it could be lucrative," he said. "It's from a content management perspective, but looking beyond that, it is potentially an IBM DB2 and Adobe relationship, potentially utilising [IBM] Tivoli as well as some of [IBM's] hardware."

Uzunovski said the project was in an investigation stage and followed directly on from Adobe's entrance into the enterprise space some six months back.

"So we have set up a software solution team with specific skills in IBM software ... and will jointly take work to market, to take a global alliance to a local level," Uzunovski said.

Adobe has allied globally with IBM to push its software into the server market, and with other vendors such as Documentum and SAP.

Todd Rowe, US-based vice-president of worldwide channel sales at Adobe, said BCA IT was one of about ten ISVs and system integrators in Australia -- including Indigo Pacific and Accenture -- the software vendor had targeted to help its push into the enterprise.

"Adobe had significant market share via Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, with that market share growing 8 to 10 percent a year. However, to get to 20 percent growth, we needed new business," he said.

The company had gained mindshare in many businesses, with 500 million users of its free Acrobat Reader PDF application worldwide, but needed to drive new revenue streams, he said.

"Our strategy is to have [software] around content creation, content collaboration, work-flow and output," Rowe said.

That new software would be integrated into business applications by partners such as IBM and SAP, with an eye in particular on the burgeoning electronic forms market for tax returns and other official documentation, he said.

"We are now in every application you see from SAP," Rowe said. "Our enterprise unit is a US$400 million revenue stream now. It's our largest."

Lee Gale, enterprise Asia-Pacific partner manager for Adobe, said the channel-building alliances and relationships would be developed further as the year progressed.

"With BCA IT, we're certainly extending the partnership further, jointly with IBM's software group and are looking for more best-of-breed partners," Gale said.