Google eBooks Adopts Adobe Content Server 4

Google licensed Adobe Content Server 4 software as its ebook content protection solution for Google (News - Alert) eBook. The Adobe Content Server is the most pervasive Digital Rights Management (DRM) solution for ebooks and other digital publications as more than 200 publishers and distributors worldwide have now deployed the server, the company announced.

With the help of Adobe Content Server, customers can purchase or lend ebooks through thousands of points-of-purchase without being tied to one store. They can download and read protected ebooks from Google eBooks in both PDF and EPUB format with support of the Adobe Reader Mobile software development kit (SDK) on more than 85 devices and applications, Adobe announced.

“We are excited about Google joining the largest ecosystem of content distributors that believe in giving consumers the freedom to read ebooks across platforms and device types,” said Dave Burkett, vice president and general manager of Creative Solutions Business for Adobe, in a press release. “Adobe is helping publishers navigate a rapidly changing media landscape, where new devices are opening up new business opportunities to distribute unique content.”

Apart from dedicated reading devices like the Sony Reader or the Barnes & Noble nook, the supported devices also include a broad variety of platforms: smartphones, tablets and desktops.

Users can now transfer their digital content to their netbooks and desktops with more than 13 million downloads of Adobe Digital Editions, a free software application for acquiring, managing and reading ebooks. They can also consume ebooks from Google eBooks on tablets like the iPad by taking advantage of a growing number of mobile applications.

Recently, the company announced that it was opening a data center in a colocation facility outside of London that will serve its Omniture (News - Alert) Business Unit customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Data centers are defined as key infrastructures upon which a variety of information technology services are developed. Data centers are the solution to the growing challenges in networking, management, storage and power/thermal aspects of the organizations.