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EFI Announces PrintMe Mobile 2.1

Press release from the issuing company

EFI™ (Nasdaq:EFII), a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today announced the availability of PrintMe® Mobile 2.1, the company's award-winning enterprise mobile print solution. The latest additions in PrintMe Mobile software provide greater flexibility to integrate with diverse network, security and communications infrastructures and make installation even easier. PrintMe Mobile enables enterprise IT to scale a mobile printing infrastructure to support any mobile device for thousands of users across a heterogeneous printer environment. A full version of EFI PrintMe Mobile software is available for download and a free 45-day trial at www.efi.com/printmemobile.

PrintMe Mobile is a cost-effective, scalable and secure on-premises mobile printing software solution that is easy to use, deploy, support and manage. PrintMe Mobile is the only enterprise software solution that enables direct Wi-Fi printing for iPads, iPhones, and Android devices, to all existing networked printers. IT departments can install PrintMe Mobile and deliver mobile printing on any printer connected to the network in as little as 20 minutes (view demo here). EFI PrintMe Mobile includes the following new features:

  • PrintMe Mobile Link — free add-on software that enables Wi-Fi printing across complex, multi-subnet wireless network configurations.
  • Proxy Server Support — provides easy set up for network configurations that require an internet proxy server.
  • Microsoft Exchange Server — PrintMe Mobile now supports Microsoft Exchange Server over HTTPS as well as IMAP and POP protocols.
  • Mobile Printing Reports — an improved reporting capability allows export for further data analysis. Print management software can now automatically track mobile printing jobs.

Meeting the Unique Requirements of Enterprise Mobile Printing

According to a recent report by Quocirca, the diversity of mobile platforms and printer hardware makes implementing an enterprise mobile print strategy far from simple. Organizations face a complex array of hardware, software and service offerings, which vary both by mobile platform and printer device. Businesses cannot afford to ignore the consumerization impact on enterprise printing. If they do, consumers will bypass IT and potentially use consumer printer apps which offer IT no real levels of corporate security or control on what is printed.

"The future of enterprise printing will increasingly be shaped by consumer trends. The extent to which organizations and vendors can harness this trend will determine success or failure," said Louella Fernandes, principal consultant at Quocirca. "Organizations must balance a mobile print strategy with security, cost, business process requirements, user needs and delivery models. Quocirca believes that PrintMe Mobile is ideally suited to enterprises that are looking for a flexible solution that provides a universal approach to printing across a mixed device fleet and multiple mobile OS platforms."

Growing Demand across Vertical Markets

PrintMe Mobile uniquely enables all printers on an enterprise network to be capable of AirPrint-like Wi-Fi printing from Apple iPads and iPhones as well as Android devices. This is particularly useful in markets where adoption rates of iPad tablets are growing.

"Zeno Office Solutions is seeing increased demand from our customer base for a mobile print solution that can provide direct Wi-Fi printing from the iPad and which works in a multi-vendor printer environment," said Keith Roher, vice president of sales for Zeno in Tampa, Fla. "We have successfully installed PrintMe Mobile at several customers recently and find EFI's enterprise mobile print software to be an ideal solution because it covers all of our customers' mobile print needs in all of the markets we serve."

"Knowledge workers are adopting tablets for their flexibility and convenience, and are integrating these devices into their daily routines at work. But unlike laptops and PCs, tablets were not built with printing in mind," said John Henze, vice president of Fiery marketing for EFI. "PrintMe Mobile leverages more than a decade of mobile printing innovation to provide a solution that enterprise customers need today. We are removing the barriers to mobile printing, and letting users print when they want to from whatever device they have."

Discussion

By Adam Dewitz on Feb 28, 2012

At the EFI pre-drupa media briefing today Guy Gecht highlighted Cloud/Mobile Print as an area getting a piece of EFI R&D budget (EFI spends 20% of revenue on R&D according to Guy).

What caught my eye is that PrintMe Mobile aims to bring the simplicity of Apple Inc's AirPrint to enterprise environments. AirPrint is the driverless print component to Apple's iOS that makes it dead simple to print from iPhones and iPad.

As IT environments see increased mobile computing and in many cases a “Bring your own device” network environment it will be important for tools that provide effortless printing (zero / no configuration) while offering controls needed in enterprise IT environments.

 

Discussion

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