Adobe and Salesforce.com Form Strategic Alliance to Advance Application Development in the Cloud

New Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com Increases Developer Productivity for Creating Rich Internet Applications in the Cloud


SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing company, and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NYSE:ADBE), today announced the availability of a new offering that unites the power of the Force.com platform with the richness and ubiquity of the Adobe® Flash® Platform to enable a new generation of cloud-based rich Internet applications (RIAs).  The new offering, Adobe® Flash® Builder(TM) for Force.com, integrates the two platforms to bring the richness of the consumer Web to enterprise cloud applications to enable a significantly improved level of developer productivity.

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"Adobe and salesforce.com share a common vision for accelerating developer success with cloud computing," said Ariel Kelman, vice president, platform product marketing, salesforce.com. "Bringing together Adobe Flash Platform and Force.com will enable the creation of exciting new kinds of business applications that run in the cloud and are as compelling and easy to use as the best of the consumer Web."

"This strategic partnership with salesforce.com has opened up a significant opportunity to tightly integrate our platforms for the development and delivery of rich, highly productive business applications that can be quickly deployed in the cloud, adapted and scaled as the business changes and grows," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe.

Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com is a jointly developed integrated development environment (IDE) that provides a single, powerful tool for building cloud-based RIAs, which can easily be deployed to end users through the browser using the Adobe Flash® Player or directly to the desktop via Adobe AIR®. This tight integration enables client-side data management and synchronization between cloud and client, simplifying the development of applications that seamlessly run online or offline across operating systems and devices, while taking full advantage of the proven scalability, security and reliability of the Force.com platform. Developers can use Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com to extend or enhance existing Salesforce CRM implementations and custom-built Force.com applications, or build entirely new applications to provide customized user experiences for any business need.

Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com - Empowering Developers from Cloud to Client

Developers can use Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com to build applications that work the way people work:

  --  Add intuitive, interactive user interface (UI) features, such as drag
      and drop, to shorten application learning curves, increase user
      acceptance, improve productivity and reduce help-desk support calls.
  --  Incorporate advanced data visualizations, such as charts and
      dashboards, for better decision support.
  --  Turn multi-step business process applications into a one-screen
      experience that increases usability and efficiency.

  --  Provide light-weight client-side integration to unify user experiences
      across systems inside and outside the firewall into a single
      application for better business visibility.




The solution also gives developers flexibility to scale their applications to fit a variety of business needs by:

  --  Building new applications supporting both browser and desktop
      deployment scenarios.
  --  Creating new application components that are tailored to specific job
      functions or business use cases and integrated into existing
      applications.

  --  Adding rich UI elements to existing Salesforce CRM or Force.com
      applications.


  Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com includes:
  --  Professional Eclipse®-based IDE, unifying Adobe Flash Builder and the
      Force.com IDE into a common, highly productive environment for
      building a variety of Force.com applications.
  --  Code-editor, design-view, browser and cross platform compatibility.
  --  User interface capabilities with more than 100 easily customized,
      reusable components, including access to motion graphics, drag and
      drop capabilities and more.
  --  Data visualizations including built-in interactive charting and
      animation components capable of processing large data sets.

  --  Pre-built integration with Adobe LiveCycle® Data Services for
      client-side data management and synchronization services,
      automatically synchronizing data between the Force.com database and an
      Adobe AIR secure local data store on the client, allowing developers
      to build apps that seamlessly span connected and disconnected
      environments.


  Pricing and Availability


The developer preview of Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com is now available on the salesforce.com developer web site at http://developer.force.com/flashbuilder. Expected final delivery is currently scheduled for the first half of 2010.

Comments on the News

"Bringing together Adobe Flash technology and Force.com has completely changed the speed at which we can deliver great user interfaces for our clients' business applications," said John Barnes, CTO, Model Metrics. "Our customers have been thrilled with the ease of use, and the ability to continue working whether connected or not."

  Additional Resources

  --  A video demo of Flash Builder for Force.com is available at
      http://developer.force.com/flashbuilder.


  Force.com - the Industry's Leading Enterprise Cloud Computing Platform:
  --  Force.com is salesforce.com's enterprise cloud computing platform
      (http://www.salesforce.com/platform/cloud-platform/).
  --  Force.com provides everything companies need to quickly build and
      deliver business applications in the cloud, including a cloud
      database, powerful analytics, real-time workflow and approvals,
      programmable cloud logic, integration, mobile deployment, programmable
      user interface and Web site capabilities.
  --  Customers and partners have built more than 120,000 custom
      applications on Force.com to run their businesses, including, supply
      chain management, compliance tracking, brand management, accounts
      receivable, claims processing, time-off applications and much more.

  --  Force.com enables companies to build and deliver applications 5 times
      faster, at about 1/2 the cost of traditional client/server software
      platforms.


  About salesforce.com


Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company. The company's portfolio of Salesforce CRM applications, available at http://www.salesforce.com/crm/, has revolutionized the ways that companies collaborate and communicate with their customers across sales, marketing and service. The company's Force.com platform (http://www.salesforce.com/platform/) helps customers, partners and developers to quickly build powerful business applications to run every part of the enterprise in the cloud.  Based on salesforce.com's (http://salesforce.com/) real-time, multitenant architecture, Salesforce CRM and Force.com offer the fastest path to customer success with cloud computing.

As of July 31, 2009, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 63,200 customers including Allianz Commercial, Dell, Dow Jones Newswires, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks. Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all.  Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available.  Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM". For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com/, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

About Adobe Flash Platform

The Adobe Flash Platform is the leading Web design and development platform for creating expressive applications, content, and video that run consistently across operating systems and devices and reach over 98% of internet-enabled desktops. Flash Player 10 was installed on more than 93 percent of computers in just the first ten months since its release. According to comScore Media Metrix, approximately 75 percent of online videos viewed worldwide are delivered using Adobe Flash technology, making it the number one format for video on the Web. Seven out of the top ten ISVs develop applications with the Adobe Flash Platform. For more information visit http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com/.

Copyright (c) 2009 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce and the "no software" logo are registered trademarks of salesforce.com, inc., and salesforce.com owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Adobe, AIR, Flash, Flash Builder and LiveCycle are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

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DATASOURCE: salesforce.com



CONTACT:  Gordon Evans of salesforce.com, [phone],

; or Marissa Lee of Adobe, [phone],





Web Site:  http://www.salesforce.com/

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