Adobe Pushes Into Cloud Computing With First Product; Sees Revenue Opportunites For New Cocomo Next Year

Adobe has balanced approach to cloud computing and services, says Kevin Lynch

Adobe has balanced approach to cloud computing and services, says Kevin Lynch

Adobe Systems launched an early version of its first cloud computing software, called Cocomo, on Monday and said additional development teams were working on more services-based offerings.

At the Adobe Max conference, the company said it saw a major shift underway in the software industry to online services and cloud computing. The Silicon Valley company expects to benefit with new revenue streams and products.

Cocomo, which was released for beta testing, is a tool developers use to create online collaboration services using communications technologies such as online chat and digital video. Adobe has started hosting collaborative conferencing services using Cocomo that are linked to sites such as Acrobat.com.

Adobe sees important business opportunities from online services and cloud computing, said CEO Shantanu Narayen. The company should be able to find new revenue in services and provide server software for companies that want cloud-style applications on campus separated from the Internet by security firewall, he said

With respect to Cocomo, a variety of revenue streams from subscriptions should appear in 2009, the company said.

“The landscape is shifting in software,” agreed Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch. With the shift still in its early days, “Adobe is taking a balanced approach” between applications in the cloud and on the client, or desktop, Lynch said at the San Francisco event. “We think that is the best architecture for applications on the Internet.”

He said there are a lot of development teams working on services inside the company and for now the teams are being set free to innovate without having them look for a common umbrella to link the services together.

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