PrinterOn: True Enterprise-Grade Mobile Printing Services
Nov 11, 2014
PrinterOn: True Enterprise-Grade Mobile Printing Services
PrinterOn: True Enterprise-Grade Mobile Printing Services | 2
True Enterprise Mobile Printing - “AirPrint®-Like” Service Everywhere .................................. 3
Vision ............................................................................................................................................... 4
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 Architecture .......................................................................................... 6
Central Print Services (CPS) ............................................................................................... 7
PrintAnywhere® .................................................................................................................... 7
Print Delivery Station (PDS) ................................................................................................ 7
Print Delivery Hub (PDH) ..................................................................................................... 7
Architectural Flexibility ......................................................................................................... 8
The PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 Directory ............................................................................... 8
Standards-Based with PrinterOn Extensions ...................................................................... 9
Standards-based Transport - IPP Everywhere .................................................................... 9
PrinterOn Extensions ......................................................................................................... 10
PrinterOn Discovery .......................................................................................................... 10
PrinterOn Advertiser .......................................................................................................... 12
Full Enterprise Deployment Examples ....................................................................................... 13
Data Center Load Balancing ............................................................................................. 13
Clustered Redundant Enterprise Rendering Service ........................................................ 14
Globally Distributed Deployment Servicing Regional Print Management ......................... 15
Your Starting Point ....................................................................................................................... 16
Phase 1 - Limited Private Cloud Deployment .................................................................... 16
Phase 2 - Full Private Cloud Deployment ......................................................................... 16
Phase 3 - Public Cloud Deployment .................................................................................. 17
Trademarks and Servicemarks ................................................................................................... 19
Copyright Notice ........................................................................................................................... 19
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True Enterprise Mobile Printing - “AirPrint®-Like” Service Everywhere
When it comes to enterprise mobile printing, a simple summary of users’ desires is “I
want AirPrint printing everywhere.” Apple’s proprietary AirPrint technology has become
synonymous with a simplified print workflow in users’ minds. However, when their needs
are investigated further, it becomes clear that the AirPrint paradigm falls short and
additional requirements emerge. In the end, it would be more proper to state that what
enterprise mobile print users need are all the benefits of AirPrint merged into an
enterprise network infrastructure. What they need is a true enterprise-grade AirPrint-like
printing service.
A true enterprise-grade mobile printing service would marry the robustness and security
of an enterprise network with the simplicity and convenience of the AirPrint workflow.
Specifically it would include:
Enterprise-grade authentication services
Enterprise-grade security and encryption
Standards-based transport services
Location-based services
Private and public cloud deployment options
And it would eliminate the limitations of Apple AirPrint such as:
Apple iOS-only operating system support. Unavailable for Android™, Windows®
and BlackBerry®
Local Area Network (LAN)-only printing. Printing across disparate networks is not
supported
No enterprise directory service integration such as Active Directory or LDAP
No integration support for print management services
As the “BYOD” trend increases in the enterprise, the limitations of AirPrint will become
more apparent, and the need for a true enterprise-grade mobile printing service will
emerge.
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This paper describes PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0, an enterprise-grade mobile printing
service. It shows how PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 goes far beyond mobile printing “apps” or
a consumer-grade mobile printing service like AirPrint and delivers a true enterprise
mobile printing platform. PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 can be deployed in the private cloud or
public cloud and be readily integrated into enterprise applications, mobile devices and the
network infrastructure itself. In short, it enables the enterprise user to Print Simply
Anywhere®.
Vision
Mary works out of the Chicago office, has a smartphone and needs to print. But Mary is
not actually in the Chicago office and what she wants to print needs to come out of the
printer in the legal department.
No matter. Mary is simply presented with a list of printers inside her organization that she
can choose from. She selects the printer in the legal department and her document
simply prints.
It doesn’t matter where Mary is. She could as easily be halfway around the world as
sitting right beside the printer. She can still print. She doesn’t need to know where the
printers are or how to connect to them. She simply selects the printer and PrinterOn
Enterprise 2.0 does the rest.
Now imagine a world where you can securely print virtually anything …
…from any mobile device located anywhere in world
…to any enterprise printer on PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0
…selected from a list of authorized printers presented to you
…without the need to know how to connect
…all managed by the existing IT support staff
…with detailed auditing and tracking
This is the power of PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0.
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Enterprise printers may be:
locally accessible via Wi-Fi
in the same building but on isolated wired networks
distributed across various networks and geographies and inaccessible via mobile
wireless carrier networks
No matter your network architecture, services or mobile carrier, PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0
can be deployed in multiple stages to deliver the ultimate enterprise mobile printing
experience.
This paper explains how.
First, improved Discovery and Advertisement tools and enhanced mobile apps have been
integrated into the PrinterOn Enterprise platform to deliver an “AirPrint-like” service
without sacrificing functionality.
Next, PrinterOn mobile apps have been enhanced to harness the power of the PrinterOn
Service Advertiser, which will enable auto-discovery of authorized printers so that they
can be simply presented to the user in a list.
And it bears mentioning that through this evolution of PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0, all the
core capabilities of the service will carry on. Core capabilities such as:
Authentication
Print Management
Disparate Network Support
Encryption and Security
These core capabilities enable PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 to deliver:
multiple OS platform support including Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows and
Mac OS X®
device access control based on user and departmental permissions
printer access within the LAN or across disparate networks all using the same
workflow
guest mobile printing
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The PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 evolution continues. As advanced as it is today, it is even
more so with the addition of simple “AirPrint-like” workflow and proactive services to
discover and present available printers to mobile users.
Read on to learn the underlying PrinterOn architecture. And afterwards, understand how
these new capabilities have been incorporated into PrinterOn Enterprise and mobile apps
to preserve its place as the premier enterprise mobile printing service.
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 Architecture
PrinterOn’s vision is to enable users to print simply anywhere. To do this requires
delivering the industry’s most complete and robust mobile printing platform and offering
unique and varied ways for users to locate and connect to printers. PrinterOn Enterprise
2.0 offers the most flexible and scalable enterprise architecture. With several key
components built upon each other, enterprise users are provided with a consistent and
secure mobile printing experience regardless of their physical location or network
connectivity.
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Central Print Services (CPS)
Central Print Services is the primary entry point for all requests submitted to PrinterOn
Enterprise. CPS is responsible for providing a centralized interface for all Enterprise
printing, including end-user web printing, mobile app printing as well as for third parties
who develop integrations to the Enterprise Server for custom print services.
In addition to providing print service access, CPS also provides a web-based
administrative console allowing administrators to manage their service and control how
jobs are received and submitted to the underlying print subsystem.
PrintAnywhere®
PrintAnywhere is the print engine at the center of the Enterprise Server. PrintAnywhere
provides job management and print processing of documents as part of PrinterOn
Enterprise print services. The PrintAnywhere Server comprises a number of software
services that facilitate the receiving and printing of documents and the delivery of the
processed documents to a PrinterOn-enabled printer.
Print Delivery Station (PDS)
Print Delivery Station’s role is to provide a bridge between the PrinterOn delivery
infrastructure and the physical printer or print queue. PDS communications are based on
the industry standard IPP protocol and delivers advanced functionality such as encryption
using PrinterOn extensions.
Print Delivery Hub (PDH)
In some enterprise deployments, delivering print jobs directly from PrinterOn Enterprise
to desired printers on disparate networks may not be possible through the PDS due to
network configuration. In other cases, leveraging a simple and rapid deployment of print
devices, such as Ricoh HotSpot printers, PrinterOn PrintConnect or PC-based
deployments will benefit from the centralized installation of PDH. In this arrangement,
print jobs are delivered to the PDH and the PDS servers communicate with PDH to detect
and download the print jobs.
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In such a scenario, the PDH service must be accessible over the network by the PDS
servers. The PDH service can be installed in a central network operating center. Access
to the PDH will be configured such that the PrintAnywhere Server, desktop PrintWhere®
clients and PDS deployments can access the PDH server. This configuration generally
minimizes network changes, as the PDH is the only service requiring access to incoming
network traffic.
Architectural Flexibility
Since each of these main components can literally be placed anywhere in the enterprise
network, the PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 architecture is supremely flexible. Components can
be placed behind the enterprise firewall, in a DMZ, or even in an external data center.
Furthermore, each can be scaled out horizontally for volume or set up in a redundant
configuration.
This means that no matter the existing enterprise network architecture, PrinterOn
Enterprise 2.0 can be integrated without network infrastructure changes.
The PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 Directory
The PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 Directory is the core of the architecture. By leveraging the
strengths of the Directory, the enterprise service retains the expected document security
while simultaneously providing many capabilities traditionally offered in cloud-only
solutions. When used as part of an on-premise PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 solution, the
Directory allows users to access private enterprise print services from nearly any network
or device with minimal configuration while maintaining security and ensuring documents
are only processed by the on-premise Enterprise server. Similarly, the Directory allows
the service to deliver print jobs to printers distributed globally.
This Directory includes key information on each printer such as:
Make, model, appropriate driver (if required)
Configured finishing options including:
- Color settings
- Duplex options
- Available paper sizes
- Cover page inclusion
Job pricing info including price/page, taxes, currency
Additional service URLs for third-party authentication integration
Alternate network locations used to deliver generated print data
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This may include alternate network locations if pushing print data directly to a release
client or if you have deployed a Print Delivery Hub proxy server.
It is the Directory that enables PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 to deliver key discovery services
including keyword-based discovery, location-based web discovery portals and more
recently, PrinterOn’s GPS-based device discovery. These are the services within
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 that contribute to making a superior user experience. All of
these capabilities are available for both PrinterOn’s private and public cloud deployment
options described below.
Standards-Based with PrinterOn Extensions
PrinterOn is committed to supporting open industry standards. However sometimes when
user requirements are combined with other enterprise requirements, such as security, it
means that functionality must be added to the standards to meet all requirements. The
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 architecture is the best of both worlds.
Standards-based Transport - IPP Everywhere
In the future PrinterOn will leverage the knowledge and insight from the IPP Everywhere
research and specifications to provide a solution that will:
Turn any printer into an AirPrint compatible printer.
Connect AirPrint compatible devices such as the iPhone® and iPad® to printers
beyond the local area network. For example, by leveraging local area network
advertising and job processing, the Apple print button can be used to access
printers anywhere in the world.
Provide “AirPrint-like” capabilities to almost any platform or device.
Support new and emerging technologies from other technology providers
including Microsoft and Google.
Support print management integrations through the simplified workflow.
Support complex and varied authentication services including LDAP, Active
Directory, PrinterOn Accounts and more.
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PrinterOn Extensions
PrinterOn can use IPP Everywhere as a foundation and extend it for PrinterOn Enterprise
2.0 because AirPrint is already a subset of the IPP Everywhere draft standard. By using
PrinterOn’s existing technology and extending it using principles of IPP Everywhere,
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 can achieve the best in breed Discovery including:
Apple’s Bonjour
Microsoft’s WS-Discovery (future)
Generic IP-based location services (future)
PrinterOn’s geo-based and keyword search
PrinterOn Discovery
PrinterOn Discovery will enable PrinterOn mobile applications to automatically discover
available PrinterOn Enterprise printers and associated services. The initial focus supports
LAN discovery similar to AirPrint while also allowing users to continue to use existing
capabilities.
By building upon existing network services instead of replacing them, PrinterOn can offer
the same automated discovery workflow whether the user is on the same network as the
printer, standing next to the printer or on the other side of the world.
When deployed as a private cloud solution, PrinterOn will next extend its existing
discovery technologies beyond those offered today. In the future PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0
will complement existing capabilities, such as geo-based printer discovery, to automate
the process of discovering available print devices. It will do this by leveraging automated
network discovery services such as Bonjour and Microsoft’s WS-Discovery. The workflow
stays simple even when configured to deliver sophisticated functionality such as secure,
release-based “follow-me” printing in a complex network environment.
PrinterOn Discovery will allow users to automatically find printers and print services
available through the PrinterOn Enterprise Server.
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This innovation enables delivery of the two critical benefits of the simplified “AirPrint-like”
experience:
automated printer discovery
integrated approach tying together PrinterOn services and PrinterOn end-user
mobile apps
Simply building AirPrint into PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 is not the objective—that would be
too restrictive and inflexible. The objective of PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 is to provide the
user experience that makes AirPrint attractive while simultaneously providing the robust
network features that the enterprise customer demands.
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PrinterOn Advertiser
To enable PrinterOn Discovery at remote locations throughout the enterprise, PrinterOn
has introduced PrinterOn Advertiser. The Advertiser is a small enabling software
component installed at these remote locations that enables a user’s device to detect all
PrinterOn Enterprise enabled printers. Initially it will leverage the same technology used
by AirPrint, Apple’s Bonjour. PrinterOn Advertiser follows the familiar PrinterOn design
theme: modular in design enabling flexible deployments. The Advertiser will also expand
and grow beyond Bonjour. Both Microsoft and Google are introducing technologies
similar to Bonjour. PrinterOn intends to support both in the future. And in keeping with
PrinterOn’s support for industry standards and implementation flexibility, the Advertiser
will be enhanced to include support for multiple discovery protocols as new industry
standards emerge, such as Apple’s Bonjour, Microsoft’s WS-Discovery and others.
PrinterOn Advertiser will serve as the lighthouse to guide the user’s application and
device to discover the enterprise services. Once discovered by an application such as the
PrinterOn mobile apps, the automated device discovery process will be initiated.
It is the powerful combination of PrinterOn Discovery, PrinterOn Advertiser and the
Directory, coupled with industry-standard network transport that serves to deliver a
superior mobile print experience for the enterprise mobile user.
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Full Enterprise Deployment Examples
What follows are several examples of PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 deployments in some
complex enterprise networks around the world. Each example highlights the flexibility of
the architecture to fit in to virtually any kind of network design.
Even though these examples show that PrinterOn Enterprise can be deployed in complex
global networks, it is equally at home in simple deployments as well. Read on to the
following section Your Starting Point, to see how.
Data Center Load Balancing
In this fully-redundant, distributed, carrier-grade Enterprise deployment the Enterprise
server is further replicated in each of three data centers to provide regional redundancy.
All print jobs are delivered to a redundant data delivery infrastructure that can both push
or pull print jobs to printers across the network.
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Clustered Redundant Enterprise Rendering Service
Sub-second authentication and email validation for 100,000 Active Directory
users
“Follow-Me” printing for large number of printers from two print management
servers
Two regional PrinterOn virtual print queues feed the print management servers
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Globally Distributed Deployment Servicing Regional Print Management
50+ independent enterprise servers
1 PrinterOn virtual printer per office location
Print to any office from any office
All servers configured to allow authentications to 12 Active Directories distributed
globally
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Your Starting Point
Phase 1 - Limited Private Cloud Deployment
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 can be quickly deployed as an all-in-one mobile printing server
in a private cloud deployment behind your firewall to support as few as 10 printers.
From a single server PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 can turn nearly any network printer into a
cloud-capable device. Flexible user authentication options like LDAP or Active Directory
integration are also included along with ACLs. The centralized server offers email-
printing, zero-footprint web-based printing and mobile device printing with minimal IT
effort.
Phase 2 - Full Private Cloud Deployment
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 can scale as users adopt mobile printing and the demand
grows. With built-in clustering services, PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 enables additional print
capacity and redundancy to be introduced in minutes.
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With Enterprise Clustering, a single-server installation can be transformed into an
enterprise-grade, fault-tolerant, and scalable platform to deliver these benefits:
Increased total mobile print service capacity
Improved response time during peak load hours
Increased service resiliency when processing complex, incompatible documents
or when a server is experiencing technical difficulty
Simplified server maintenance—servers can be upgraded independently without
stopping the service for everyone
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 scales beyond departmental deployments. Its authentication
services easily scale too and can easily support 100s of 1000s of users whether in a
single department or location, or globally.
Furthermore, PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 can fully integrate with existing print management
systems. Whether used for department auditing or complex “follow-me” printing,
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 is designed from the ground up to provide seamless support for
nearly all print management servers.
Phase 3 - Public Cloud Deployment
PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 addresses the most complex mobile printing requirements of
enterprise today and stands ready for what comes next: Enterprise Cloud Computing.
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As the enterprise considers moving services to the cloud, PrinterOn Enterprise 2.0 is
already prepared to support this deployment model. It can easily be deployed as a
private cloud deployment in a third party cloud platform service, such as Amazon AWS,
by leveraging PrinterOn’s features such as network-bridging technology and global
discovery services.
The Server Discovery platform delivers LAN-based service discovery that can easily be
extended to include remote networks across the Internet. The PrinterOn Directory offers
powerful capabilities to leverage a single, central cloud service to simplify the user
experience by knitting together various distributed deployment and management
services, such as auto config and plug’n’play, into a complete and distributed service
across the Internet.
Take the next steps towards Enterprise Mobility. Contact to [email protected]
find out how to have PrinterOn Enterprise deployed at your location.
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Trademarks and Servicemarks
The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of PrinterOn Corporation in Canada and other countries:
PrinterOn, PrintSpots, PrintWhere, PrintAnywhere, “Print Simply Anywhere”, the PrinterOn “bird”, the PrinterOn Logotype and the PrinterOn Signature.
The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of other companies:
Windows, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Visio are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
iPad, iPhone and AirPrint and OS X are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple.
iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries and is used by Apple under license.
Android, Chrome OS and Chromebook are trademarks or registered trademarks of Google Inc.
BlackBerry is a registered trademark of Research in Motion Limited.
Other brands and their products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Copyright Notice
© Copyright 2013 by PrinterOn Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of PrinterOn Inc.
Disclaimer:
PrinterOn Inc. makes no warranty with respect to the adequacy of this documentation, programs, or hardware, which it describes for any particular purpose, or with respect to the adequacy to produce any particular result. In no event shall PrinterOn Inc. be held liable for special, direct, indirect, or consequential damages, losses, costs, charges, claims, demands, or claim for lost profits, fees, or expenses of any nature or kind.
PrinterOn is the world's leading enterprise-grade Mobile Printing
Platform. PrinterOn has been delivering mobile printing solutions
for 13 years to four major verticals: enterprise, education, public
and home.
PrinterOn was the first to develop a private and public cloud
printing solution and today operates the largest public printing
NOC (Network Operations Center) in the world. PrinterOn uses
cloud technology to enable users to print documents from any
smartphone, tablet, or laptop to any PrinterOn-enabled printer in
the world. There are over 10,000 PrinterOn printing locations
worldwide.
The PrinterOn mobile printing solution is the only patent
protected, fully-agnostic solution in the market today with the
ability to connect disparate networks into one simple-to-manage
enterprise or hosted solution. PrinterOn has been deployed in
corporations, hotels, universities, airports, libraries in over 70
countries. Since its inception in 2000, PrinterOn has processed
over 10 million print jobs and has printed more than 50 million
pages.
PrinterOn technology is protected in the U.S. and internationally
by issued and pending patents including US Patents 7,007,093,
7,249,188, 6,990,527 and 7,827,293.