Adobe was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who established the company after leaving Xerox PARC in order to develop and sell the PostScript page description language. In 1985, Apple Computer licensed PostScript for use in its LaserWriter printers, which helped spark the desktop publishing revolution. The company name Adobe comes from Adobe Creek, which ran behind the house of one of the company’s founders. Adobe acquired its former competitor, Macromedia, in December 2005.

Today, Adobe Systems’ role as a leading desktop publishing software provider is well documented. The company offers the ubiquitous Acrobat Reader (distributed free of charge), a tool that displays portable document format (PDF) files on the Internet. The company’s Web and print publishing products include Photoshop, Illustrator, and PageMaker. Adobe’s offerings also include print technology geared toward manufacturers, as well as Web design (GoLive), its leading web conferencing solution suite Adobe Connect Pro, and electronic book publishing software. Its InDesign publishing package provides professional layout and design applications. Adobe’s Professional Services group offers implementation, training, and support.

As of January 2007, Adobe Systems has 6,677 employees, about 40% of whom work in San Jose. Adobe also has major development operations in Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; Ottawa, Ontario; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Newton, Massachusetts; San Luis Obispo, California; and in Hamburg, Germany; Noida, India; and Bangalore, India.

Since 1995, Fortune has ranked Adobe as an outstanding place to work. Adobe was rated the fifth-best U.S. company to work for in 2003, sixth in 2004, 31st in 2007 and 40th in 2008. In 2007 Adobe ranked 9th on the list of largest software companies in the world.

Adobe Key Strengths

• Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information. The company’s award-winning technologies and software have redefined business, entertainment, and personal communications by setting new standards for producing and delivering content that engages people anywhere at anytime.
• Adobe is a world-class technology innovation company, with industry recognition awards that include #40 best company to work for in America (FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” 2008), #2 software company in America’s Most Admired Companies 2006 (Fortune, 2006), and #19 in the BusinessWeek 50 (BusinessWeek’s “50 Top Performers,” 2007).
• Companies choose Adobe’s web conferencing solution, Adobe Connect Pro, because there’s no downloads, there’s instant access, and a rich interface captures participants’ attention and provides an intuitive way to interact.
• In naming Adobe’s Acrobat Connect Pro as PC Magazine Editors’ Choice 2008 Award, Oliver Rist of PC Magazine called Adobe’s product “the most complete all-in-one web-conferencing solution I’ve seen.