September 25, 2007 (Cologne) - The PDF/A Competence Center and AIIM, the international association for enterprise content management (ECM), have announced a strategic partnership at the DMS Expo 2007. The goal of the cooperation is the combined and efficient use of resources, infrastructures and experience in promoting the PDF/A standard. PDF/A is the universal file format for long-term archiving and is the first (and only) recognized ISO standard developed to guarantee the reproducibility of digital documents in the future. PDF/A-1 was published in the fall of 2005 as ISO 19005-1:2005.

Press release about the cooperation.

AIIM and NPES (The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies) began looking at the subject of long-term archiving quite early. The task of preparing documents and certificates in a digital form in order that they – like paper documents – could be retained for decades was becoming one of the most burning questions of the digital age.

An early initiative to use PDF as an archiving format came from the user group of the US legal system (Administrative Office of U.S. Courts). Many documents in this branch must be archived one-to-one, and PDF is excellently suited for this need. In addition, there is a widely distributed free Reader for displaying PDF documents. The Reader is available in numerous languages and for several operating systems.

PDF is an especially suitable format to use as the basis for long-term archiving. In 2002, AIIM and NPES initiated the development of PDF/A, with the intent of having this become an ISO standard.

What is special about the ISO standard PDF/A-1, published in 2005? PDF/A is like a regular PDF file, but it has to strictly fulfill additional requirements: it must be self-contained, all fonts must be embedded, and encryption, as well as the embedding of “non-PDF files” (like movie), is prohibited. The Metadata must adhere to the XML/XMP scheme.

Additionally, access to the information needed to develop PDF/A software in the future must be guaranteed. Adobe Systems were the “inventors” of PDF, but anyone is allowed to create PDF files and PDF applications.

PDF is already being used in many public and private sectors. The American Food and Drug Administratin (FDA), for example, has standardized the submission of documents for New Drug Applications (NDA) in PDF and has greatly simplified this process.

The American national archive (US National Archives and Records Administration - NARA) is also convinced of the advantages offered by PDF. The requirements for long term archiving for this organization are particularily high: “It is our duty to retain information until the end of the Republic”.

The PDF/A Competence Center was founded in Europe in the summer of 2006. The association’s goals are to promote PDF/A and to assist users and developers with the practical implementation of PDF/A. The PDF/A Competence Center conducts seminars on a regular basis, is present at trade shows, and organizes PDF/A conferences. Users, developers, and sales personnel learn about the fundamentals and advantages of PDF/A at these events. The PDF/A Competence Center provides first-hand experience when government authorities or private companies are looking at migrating to a PDF/A digital archive.

AIIM and the PDF/A Competence Center first held talks about a strategic cooperation for promoting PDF/A while at the AIIM-OnDemand exhibition in Boston, April 2007. By combining their resources, the effectiveness of activities could be increased. PDF/A is a topic that finds interest around the globe, and an international exchange of ideas is desired.

The strategic cooperation between AIIM and the PDF/A Competence Center is announced. The partnership includes coordinating and bundeling their activites around the PDF/A standard, as well as conducting joint activities for various events and seminars. The first tangible result of the cooperation is the joint publishing of the handbook “PDF/A in a Nutshell”, describing the basics of PDF/A.

AIIM is an international authority on Enterprise Content Management (ECM) - the tools and technologies used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. AIIM is international in scope, independent, and implementation-focused. The association has a long standing tradition of representing the needs of the DMS/ECM/archiving community and has a large number of members (with a heavier focus on users/customers). AIIM enjoys an excellent standing in North America and has significant representation in Europe. AIIM is one of the initiators of the PDF/A initiative. They have close ties (through the secretariat and as the administrator for the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO TC 171)) to the ISO technical committees / working groups.

The PDF/A Competence Center was established as an association in 2006. The objective of the association is to promote the exchange of information and experience in the field of long-term archiving in accordance with ISO 19005 (PDF/A). Among the founding companies are callas software GmbH, Compart Systemhaus GmbH, LuraTech Europe GmbH, PDF Tools AG (CH) and PDFlib GmbH. The number of members has grown quickly within a very short time. The executive chairman is Thomas Zellmann, a managing partner of LuraTech. Dr. Hans Baerfuss, CEO of PDF Tools AG, Switzerland is the executive vice-chairman.