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Adobe has selected Karlsruhe-based company asknet AG as the service provider to supply and distribute downloads to students and university staff. The partnership will allow them to quickly download Adobe software from a university’s online shop at a reduced rate. Following Adobe’s great success with this sales model in the United States, the U.S. software companyis expanding this sales channel internationally by partnering with asknet AG as its technology and fulfillment partner for the German-speaking region.

Using the download depot developed by asknet, Adobe enables research and teaching institutions to offer attractive download versions of its software to their students and university staff, which can be purchased directly from a university’s branded online shop. The ordering process is very simple for authorized users: They log on to the shop using their digital identity – ensuring that only people who have been approved can access Adobe offerings at the most competitive price. Once logged on, the user can order the software in the corresponding online shop, download, and then activate it. The licenses are provided by and billed via the university’s trading partner.

To date, students have only been able to purchase the popular Adobe tools in a box. As the digital fulfillment service provider, asknet makes it possible to deliver the Adobe products in a downloadable format. In addition to executing the delivery, asknet is also responsible for managing and distributing license keys from Adobe. asknet has developed a standard interface that directly ties the asknet download depot to an institution’s shop to make this capability available. asknet also validates digital identities and proofs of enrollment for external portals as required.

“We are pleased that we can now offer students cost-effective downloads of our creative software,” said Rainer Siebert, Adobe’s Sales Manager Education Central Europe. “asknet’s technology delivers exactly what we have been looking for: a way of distributing downloads via university online portals in cooperation with our trading partners. asknet has proven to be a reliable and competent partner in this field.”

Dr. Dietmar Waudig, Co-CEO of asknet AG, is pleased about the partnership with Adobe: “Adobe asking us to be their digital fulfillment service provider confirms our position as a leading electronic software distributor. The download depot enables Adobe to explore new and innovative sales channels. At the same time, we are ensuring that Adobe’s authorization concept is being implemented and only approved customers can purchase discounted Adobe licenses.”
The implementation of the download depot on university portals will be effective immediately, beginning with universities in Berlin, Würzburg, and Zurich. Other universities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland will follow in the coming months.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com.

About asknet
asknet offers its clients customized outsourcing solutions for global software sales via the Internet. Founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, formerly the University of Karlsruhe), the company has become a leading independent global provider for electronic software distribution. In addition to its fully integrated shop solutions for software publishers, the company develops and maintains portals for software distribution such as softwarehouse.de, one of Europe's largest platform for downloads of standard software. In 2010, asknet posted sales of approximately EUR 72.7 million. asknet’s clients include numerous providers of specialty software such as F-Secure, IS3, Nero, NetObjects, Norman, and Panda Security. The company also supplies software products to around eighty percent of German universities. For more information, visit http://www.asknet.com.