PINDAR SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR ADOBE INDESIGN 2.0 WITH LAUNCH OF ITS NEW AGILITY WEB-BASED CATALOG COMMERCE SYSTEM
CONTACT:
Doug Curran
Manager, Corporate Communications
Pindar Systems
+(781) 862-0034
doug.curran@pindarsystems.com
Leading UK retailer Littlewoods adopts Agility-InDesign solution for
multi-channel commerce
CHICAGO, USA, and YORK, UK, Feb. 19, 2002 -- Pindar Systems, the leader in
catalog commerce technology, announced today that its groundbreaking new
Agility Catalog Commerce Server will feature full support for InDesign®
2.0, the all-new professional page layout and design program from Adobe®
Systems.
Agility, being previewed this week by Pindar Systems at the Seybold/New York
conference (Booth #437), is the first comprehensive product information
management system built with a Java-based, J2EE-compliant Web application
server architecture. Agility will enable B2B and B2C companies to drive
sales and cut costs through faster, more creative development of even the
most complex catalogs and promotions across print, online and supply chain
channels worldwide.
Pindar Systems is building support for Adobe InDesign 2.0 into its initial
release of Agility to give existing and new customers a robust new choice in
cross-media page design, as well as to tap into the powerful synergies
between the feature sets of Agility and InDesign, and between InDesign and
other Adobe software used by so many customers throughout the catalog
development process.
In addition to support for InDesign 2.0, Pindar Systems¹ new catalog
commerce platform also features support for Adobe Acrobat® technology with
the all-new Agility PDF Generator. This enables automated creation and
distribution of interim PDF page and promotions proofs among work groups, as
well as high-resolution final PDF output, as part of Agility¹s powerful
automated workflow system.
Littlewoods plc, the well-known Liverpool-based high street retailer, has
reached agreements with Pindar Systems and Adobe. Among the top five UK
companies in store, catalog, and online sales, Littlewoods will be the first
retailer to integrate Agility and InDesign as the foundation of its
multi-channel catalog commerce operation.
"Catalog creation is an area in which InDesign¹s capabilities really shine
through," said Mark Hilton, director of Cross-Media Publishing at Adobe.
"Pindar Systems¹ catalog commerce technology combined with InDesign will
give designers the tools they need to create dynamic catalogs that can be
re-purposed for multiple media within production timeframes that make sense.
Working together, we have high hopes for becoming the layout standard for
catalog companies.
"Through seamless integration of Agility and InDesign 2.0, Pindar Systems is
creating powerful new tools for shared multi-channel commerce customers,
such as leading UK retailer Littlewoods," Adobe¹s Hilton said. "Many of
InDesign¹s strengths -- support for complex tables, XML imports for database
updates of InDesign files, and superb design tools such as transparency for
image presentation -- are a close fit with the related, catalog-specific
features and asset management capabilities built into Agility by Pindar
Systems."
"We are proud to share a pioneering role with Adobe, a true industry
leader, in making InDesign 2.0 an integral part of what we believe is a
groundbreaking catalog commerce system that opens up new ways for businesses
to collaborate, create and communicate with their customers, trading
partners and company colleagues," said Kurt Dressel, Pindar Systems Chief
Marketing Officer.
"Our association with Adobe in integrating catalog workflow and design
solutions will greatly benefit existing Pindar Systems customers and broaden
the appeal of our new Agility system," said Paul Sirface, Pindar Systems
International Sales Manager.
Littlewoods chose the Agility-InDesign 2.0 solution to manage and design 14
different print catalogs and flyers, three distinct Web sites presenting
24,000 products, and promotions to support its 300-plus stores in the UK.
Littlewoods expects to achieve significant time and cost savings through use
of a single integrated database for all product information across the
enterprise. This includes delivery of all product information to the Web,
and in targeted print catalogs. The company also expects to drive additional
sales through integration of the Agility database with its enterprise
systems for merchandising analysis and forecasting; as well as by utilizing
the power and flexibility of InDesign to create more exciting catalog
designs.
Pindar Systems announced last week that Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), the
world¹s largest seller of office products, also has signed on as the one of
the principal partners in final beta development of Agility. The system is
due to be released commercially early in the second quarter of this year.
About Pindar Systems
Pindar Systems (www.pindarsystems.com) powers catalog commerce, the
management and delivery of product information to drive sales. The company¹s
robust catalog commerce technology enables businesses, including
distributors, retailers and manufacturers, to focus on effective marketing
rather than the mechanics of the complex production process. Pindar
customers are able to aggregate product, business and media content from
many different sources into a rich product knowledge database. Pindar¹s
software presents a unified view of this information, giving merchandisers
the ability to create targeted offers that are delivered across print and
Web with significantly greater flexibility, precision and speed.
Pindar Systems is the recognized leader in catalog commerce. Clients include
W.W. Grainger, Office Depot, Spiegel, Freemans, Rexel, and Eddie Bauer.
Privately held, Pindar Systems operates globally from European headquarters
in York, UK, and North American headquarters in Chicago, USA.
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