Adobe Systems Inc., has beefed up its document management platform with the acquisition of Q-Link Technologies Inc., a maker of business process software. Adobe will integrate Q-Link's Java-based workflow technology into Adobe's Intelligent Document Platform to help customers reduce document processing cycle times, and integrate business processes more easily and efficiently across the enterprise.

This move is part of Adobe's evolution of Acrobat and PDF files toward direct integration into back-end systems and enterprise workflows, and with ERP, CRM, and product lifecycle management (PLM) software. It speeds Adobe's stated goal of adding a Java-based multiplatform component to its workflow technology.

In March, Adobe added bar code technology to PDF forms to help enterprises input information from paper forms into databases more quickly and with greater accuracy. Last year, it rolled out a server-based version of Acrobat software for creating PDF files.

"The acquisition of Q-Link provides a powerful process management engine to the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform," said Ivan Koon, senior vice president, Intelligent Documents Business Unit, Adobe Systems in a statement. "Q-Link's technology is a highly extensible and scalable architecture that will enable Adobe to give customers a simplified way to orchestrate and integrate document process management with core applications."

Q-Link sells a J2EE component-based workflow architecture that lets developers visually assemble complete applications, including workflow, forms, UI design, rules, web services, integration and business activity monitoring (BAM). Its Java-based solution is fully extensible with custom and third-party applications.