Acrobat Connect Pro includes many new features for Web conferencing such as options for archiving and editing recorded online meetings; new presence capabilities that can allow federation with popular instant messaging (IM) clients; and powerful compliance and usage reporting tools. eLearning enhancements include break-out rooms to let students in virtual classes initiate separate conversations online; rapid authoring of video-based content; integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS) from Blackboard and SumTotal; and tools that track and organize online classes. Users also can easily tailor training sessions or meetings that help capture participants’ attention and increase knowledge retention, resulting in an online learning experience remarkably similar to an in-person class.

Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. (TABS) has been using Acrobat Connect Pro to provide dealers and employees with training and presentations ranging from compliance issues to new product introductions. “With Acrobat Connect Pro, we have been able to reach more people and maintain greater control over the content, which has given us a much higher degree of training consistency,” said Steve Bamberger, national training manager, eLearning, Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. “Integrating Acrobat Connect Pro into our online training initiatives has been enormously instrumental in helping us enhance communications and grow business lines, and we’ve been able to extend this enrichment to other teams for use in product launches and customer meetings.”

Combined with the new version of Adobe Presenter, also introduced today, Acrobat Connect Pro can enable users to hold engaging online meetings that incorporate high-impact Adobe Flash® Player compatible presentations. Adobe Presenter can give virtually anyone the power to easily turn Microsoft® PowerPoint presentations into multimedia experiences that include video, narration, animations, interactivity and advanced quizzes. New capabilities in this release include question pooling and randomization, easy-to-work-with video, and the ability to publish presentations to mobile devices or within PDF files.

“Organizations and educational institutions alike are challenged with reaching highly distributed workforces or student populations, as well as communicating, collaborating, and transferring knowledge at the accelerated pace of today’s demands,” said Rob Tarkoff, senior vice president of Adobe’s Business Productivity Business Unit. “Whether it’s meeting with co-workers across departments, or conducting virtual classes across continents, Acrobat Connect Pro can help break through technology barriers by letting virtually anyone participate in effective online communication and knowledge transfer.”

Deployed using the Adobe Flash Player, already installed on more than 98 percent of Internet connected PCs worldwide; Acrobat Connect Pro lets virtually anyone connect to an online meeting or classroom instantly using a simple Web address, regardless of operating system or browser version, and without the need to download additional software.

Acrobat Connect Pro is expected to be available by the end of May 2008, on a hosted or on-premise basis. It will be available in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese.

This newest addition to the line of Clickfree back up products gives professionals a simple way to save all their critical productivity, email, calendar, Internet and design files. With support for more than 200 file types including Microsoft Office and Adobe applications, Clickfree Office DVD is designed for anyone who wants to protect their most valuable business asset – their daily work information.

As soon as the disc is inserted into a PC’s DVD drive, the Clickfree software automatically launches, searches and backs up files, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator files and more. While the software’s default settings will probably be sufficient for most, it is user-modifiable, giving users full control over their backups.

Available now, Clickfree Office DVD will be demonstrated at Interop 2008 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, April 27 – May 2. Storage Appliance Corporation’s booth is #1984.

“Today, 85 to 90 percent of the population does not back up their PC,” said Ian Collins, president, Storage Appliance Corporation. “We hope the simplicity of our products will influence people to back up their data on a regular basis, significantly reducing the easily preventable devastation that comes from data loss.”

Because the Clickfree Office DVD is so easy to use, it is ideal for employees with limited computer knowledge, making it a perfect solution for small businesses without dedicated IT support. In addition, IT managers supporting non-technical remote workers will find tremendous value in its simplicity. Off-site employees can easily back up their laptops or home computers (that often contain work files) on a regular basis, without requiring IT help or resources. If a computer crashes, they can instantly restore their data themselves by pushing the “restore” button and be back up and running within minutes.

Clickfree Music and Photo DVDs Protect Cherished Digital Media

The new Clickfree Office DVD joins a line of existing back up DVDs offered by Storage Appliance Corporation, including Clickfree Music DVD Backup and Clickfree Photo DVD Backup. A hassle-free way to protect music collections and cherished photos, the DVDs automatically search for and back up music or photo extensions right out of the box. All popular and file formats are supported.

Back Up Your Entire PC with the Clickfree Hard Drive

For customers who want to back up all their data onto a hard drive, Storage Appliance Corporation also offers the 120GB Clickfree HD701. It automatically backs over 350 file types including Word, Powerpoint, emails and their attachments, photos, movies and music files. It even finds preferences, favorite websites and browser lists. At $149, it offers a tremendous value to families and IT managers, as one device can back up data from up to 10 computers, compartmentalizing each PC’s information for easy data identification and recovery.

All Clickfree back up devices are ideal for transferring files to a new computer. In case of hard drive failure or to share files with a new computer, simply click the “restore” button, and all the files will be brought into their original locations again.

The Clickfree Office DVD 5 Pack is available now at leading retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada. The MSRP is $14.99. All Clickfree back up solutions can also be purchased online direct from Storage Appliance Corporation. Visit www.goclickfree.com for more information or to locate a store.