EFI, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today launched PrintMe® Mobile, a new mobile print solution available to IT resellers and managed service providers. PrintMe Mobile can help resellers with mobility practices, office technology solutions or managed-service businesses increase revenue opportunities and deliver new value-added services by meeting customers’ mobile printing needs. PrintMe Mobile provides SMB to enterprise customers with a scalable and secure printing solution that is the industry’s easiest to deploy, manage and use. (For additional details see press release issued today titled, “EFI Eliminates the Barriers To Enterprise Mobile Printing with PrintMe Mobile.”)

An increasing number of resellers with a traditional IT focus, plus those specializing in printing and workflow management, are developing practice areas focused on mobility. Companies such as Apple are further helping resellers sell mobility to businesses with programs such as the new Mobility Technical Competency (MTC). PrintMe Mobile software rounds out a reseller’s mobility portfolio, and is ideal for resellers selling into any market where mobility is a critical need. Resellers of PrintMe Mobile will have access to free demo software for all sites, qualified leads, priority technical support and volume discounts.

“Customers are asking us daily how to solve the issue of printing from mobile devices. EFI’s PrintMe Mobile addresses this issue and fills a gap that has existed in our portfolio,” said John Walker, chairman and CEO of Perfect Output in Kansas City. “It’s the first product we have seen that is both easy to install and manage, and gives the user a printing experience on their mobile device that is almost exactly like they have when printing from a PC or laptop. PrintMe Mobile is also the only truly printer-agnostic solution we’ve seen that supports wireless printing from Apple tablets and phones.”

With PrintMe Mobile (view demo here), users don’t have to download any software to their Apple, Android, Blackberry and other tablets and smartphones to print on any networked printer. IT can install PrintMe Mobile and deliver mobile printing on any printer connected to the network in as little as 20 minutes. PrintMe Mobile software is deployed on a Windows PC, server or virtual machine inside the corporate firewall, and communicates between mobile devices and existing printers attached to the network. The solution is printer-agnostic, easy to install and lets users print from their mobile device in the manner they find easiest. PrintMe Mobile provides three flexible ways for printing from mobile devices without installing printer drivers:

• Direct to Print: only enterprise solution that enables Apple and Android devices to print directly to any existing printer on the network through the company’s secure Wi-Fi network.
• Email to Print: allows users to print an email, including all attached files, by simply sending or forwarding an email.
• Release to Print: protects security and confidentiality by holding the print job until the user releases the file with a retrieval code. The user controls when and where the file is printed so personnel, financial or other sensitive documents don’t sit in the printer tray unattended.

“We have built PrintMe Mobile to meet the needs of our reseller partners and their customers,” said John Henze, vice president of Fiery marketing at EFI. “We will be expanding our existing channel by recruiting a strong set of IT resellers with mobility practices to enable us to fulfill the growing demand for mobile printing in businesses of all sizes.”

Analyst Commentary on PrintMe Mobile

“Managed Print Services continue to grow and become more sophisticated in delivering cost savings to businesses,” said Holly Muscolino, research director for the Hardcopy Peripherals: Software and Services program at IDC. “Combine this with the undeniable fact that tablet adoption in the enterprise is accelerating, and all signs point to the need for mobile printing solutions in the enterprise that can support any device regardless of OS, operate effectively in a heterogeneous printer environment and conform to corporate IT security policies. EFI’s PrintMe Mobile solution is an example of this type of solution.”

"While mobile printing can cover a number of business scenarios and user groups, Photizo sees great potential for mobile printing applications as part of a Managed Print Services engagement,” said Robert T. Sethre, senior consultant at Photizo Group, Inc. “As technologies and usage patterns evolve to include mobile applications, a comprehensive MPS engagement must support mobile document flows as well. The real value of mobile printing will be leveraged through broad device support and easy implementation and operation, and the new capabilities introduced by EFI are defined to fulfill these requirements. We especially value the fact that users can print to practically any printer without an additional app on their device, regardless of mobile platform – iOS, Android or Blackberry. The EFI approach also implies low implementation and support overhead, which is becoming increasingly critical as MPS infrastructures grow in complexity."

For more information, visit www.efi.com/printmemobile or call 800-875-7117.