Adobe says that it is looking for companies with expertise in latest andcomplementary technologies in the areas of print and publishing and webcontent creation. "We are seeking to extend our dominance to the Web andbecome a company that can create cyber studios in the areas of contentcreation and graphic software," says Adobe managing director, south Asia,Loh Teck Heng.

He explained that Adobe would now focus on areas like digital imaging,highly advanced graphic software for creating attractive web sites, ande-paper, which the company believes are the markets of the future.

Teck Heng is planning to strengthen the distribution network in the countrythrough forging new alliances and focussing on anti-piracy programmes.

"Adobe is planning to strengthen the second tier distribution and resellernetwork," he said. The plan is to expand retailer base in Malaysia,Singapore and India, where at present, Wipro is one of the majordistributors of Adobe products. Teck Heng felt that there is a tremendousneed for auditing of software in India and China to prevent the spread ofpiracy. "There is a chain reaction involved with piracy as companies loserevenue which in turn causes the government to get lower taxes and duties. Agovernment initiative on software auditing in a must," he felt. On theanti-piracy front, Adobe is in talks with various institutions includingeducational, to provide its products at affordable rates to them. It is alsolooking at creating more awareness on the intellectual property rights.

Teck Heng said that Adobe will be increasing the expenditure on research anddevelopment in India. It has an R&D facility in New Delhi. "The move is tosupport the US centre in research in developing global products and it hasno relation with the revenue generated in India," he said. Adobe is activelyfocussing on Web and e-paper products based on PDF format, which can be usedby a Web PC.