Adobe Systems today announced the availability of Acrobat Connect Pro Web 7.5 conferencing software, a Flash-based system for holding meetings and sharing documents and information. With this update, Adobe has added support for a number of non-Web technologies, like telephony, VoIP and video conferencing hardware.

Connect Pro Web runs entirely in Adobe's Flash, which Adobe claims is already installed on 98 percent of Internet-connected PCs worldwide. Being a Flash application, Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) sees Connect Pro Web as a lighter-weight alternative to WebEx, GoTo Meeting and other Web conferencing applications.

One of its customers is Intuit, developer of personal finance software like Quicken and tax preparation software Turbo Tax. It switched after the company found customer care representatives had to spend up to 20 minutes helping customers install WebEx before they could even get around to solving the problem the customer called about in the first place, according to Peter Ryce, technical evangelist for Connect Pro Web.

Version 7.5 is focused primarily around integration with audio conferencing providers, allowing organizations to leverage existing investments. "A lot of people have existing audio conferencing setups and don't want to have to rip and replace what they have for one particular audio service," Ryce told InternetNews.com.

Telephone audio can be recorded along with a Web conference and streamed to VoIP-only meeting participants. Calls can be recorded if necessary for compliance purposes. Adobe also added integration with InterCall, the world's largest conferencing and collaboration services provider.

On the video conferencing side, Adobe increased the capacity of its Webinar broadcasts to 80,000 viewers. Connect Pro Web supports major video conferencing products like Polycom and PictureTel, along with any H.263 or H.264-compliant video conferencing call center.

Other changes include desktop sharing control, to determine who can see what on the desktop of the transmitter, administrative tools to define what applications can be shared, native PDF support for document control, scheduling meetings from Lotus Notes, and an on-premise version that works in a VMware-based virtualized environment.

Hosted, on-premise and iPhone options

Adobe has a new managed service for customers to either have Connect Pro Web services either hosted by Adobe or installed on-premises at the company's offices. For those that choose on-premise, Adobe will manage updates and service packs, so even though their Connect Pro Web servers are behind a firewall, Adobe will keep them up to date.

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Adobe is also working on a Connect Pro Mobile application, which will enable meeting participation from the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. There was no challenge in writing a Flash-based app for the iPhone, the challenge to getting Flash on the iPhone is due to Apple policy, said Ryce, but Adobe has gotten around that.

Acrobat Connect Pro Web 7.5 is available now on the Web from Adobe.