BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Circle Twelve Inc announced availability of a multi-user plug-in for Adobe Acrobat software, the world’s leading software used for viewing and managing files in Portable Document Format (PDF). Called “DT Collaborate Extension for Acrobat,” the plug-in adds new features and capabilities to Adobe Acrobat software when used in conjunction with the DiamondTouch™ table from Circle Twelve.
The DiamondTouch table is the world’s first multi-user touch technology, which supports multiple people interacting simultaneously on a tabletop computer touch screen while identifying who is who. DT Collaborate brings the multi-touch, multi-user capabilities of the DiamondTouch table to users of Adobe Acrobat software, allowing a team of people to collaborate on a single display, making comments and annotations together. Each user has a pallet of commenting tools, so that all users can make edits simultaneously, while each new comment is labeled with attributes that provide a record of who did what.
According to an IDC White Paper reporting on a global survey of information workers and IT professionals, information workers waste a significant amount of time each week dealing with a variety of challenges related to working with documents. This wasted time costs the average organization $19,732 per information worker per year, amounting to a loss of 21.3% in the organization's total productivity. Chief among these document-related challenges were the tasks of “Gathering and consolidating feedback” and “Deciphering the feedback”. The paper reported: “General-purpose collaboration tools don't fully address information workers' needs related to these document-based activities.”1
“More and more information is being generated and shared in digital documents than ever before. PDF document reviews are commonplace for business professionals, whether they are designers, architects, engineers, lawyers, or executive managers. But the tools they are using today do not support real teamwork and decision-making,” said Adam Bogue, President of Circle Twelve. “The combination of Adobe Acrobat and the multi-user DiamondTouch table allows people to collaborate over documents in digital form, the way they would if they were working with paper: not one person at a time, but together. And face-to-face.”
The DT Collaborate extension for Adobe Acrobat is compatible with all versions of the Acrobat software product family, including Reader, Acrobat Standard, and Acrobat Pro and with all versions of the DiamondTouch hardware. The DT Collaborate is available for free download from circletwelve.com.
About Circle Twelve: Circle Twelve Inc is a privately-held company founded in 2008 and focused on helping people work together. Circle Twelve makes and sells multi-user computer hardware and software products to support small group collaboration. Additional information is available at www.circletwelve.com. DiamondTouch and DT Collaborate are trademarks of Circle Twelve Inc.
1IDC White Paper, sponsored by Adobe, Bridging the Information Worker Productivity Gap: New Challenges and Opportunities for IT, September 2012