Data security specialist Workshare has released a major upgrade to its document security solution. The firm hopes its “leak-proof” PDF capabilities, and tight integration with Office 2007 and Vista will rival Adobe’s popular Acrobat format.

Workshare Professional 5 features 128bit encryption for PDFs, which can be securely created from any location, explained the firm’s general manager of document control markets, Andrew Pearson.

“We’re doing what Adobe does but more securely and in the right native format, because we support Office 2007, and we can output PDFs securely at the end of the process,” Pearson argued. “The extra security allows organisations to collaborate on and share documents in today’s perimeterless environment.”

The solution also integrates with Workshare’s Protect 5 client to provide information leak prevention capabilities at the endpoint, removing the risk of confidential data leaving the organisation. The client features centralised security policy management, auditing and reporting, Pearson explained.

Professional 5 also utilises Office 2007 features such as the ribbon and task pane layout, while review and comparison capabilities are embedded in SharePoint 2007 Extranet and Collaborative Workspaces, according to Workshare.

“In the area of the marketplace it plays in, Workshare is a very solid citizen,” said Andy Kellett of analyst firm Butler Group. “You want to be able to know, prove and control what’s been changed on the document and this is an extension of [those capabilities].”