01732 759725
MOBILE PRINT
32
n
Multi-vendor support.
Hardware-
centric solutions may be best suited to
organisations operating a standardised
fleet environment. In reality, most
organisations use a range of printers
and MFPs from different manufacturers.
To address the need for mobile printing
across a mixed fleet, third party solutions
should be considered, including those
from EFI, Cortado, Nuance and Ringdale.
Hardware vendors also typically offer multi-
vendor mobile print solutions. Quocirca
recommends that organisations consider
solutions that use a universal driver, which
enables print jobs to be printed to any
printer and users to preview print jobs and
change finishing options before a job is
printed.
n
Cost control and accounting.
Look for restrictions and controls to
prevent users from printing to more
expensive printers or exceeding print
quotas. If cost control and accounting
is not integrated in the mobile printing
platform, look for compatibility with
leading cost recovery tools such as Equitrac
and Print Audit.
n
Private or public cloud print
services.
As corporate network access
opens up, applications, storage and
infrastructure are moving to the cloud.
The shift towards cloud computing and
the mobile consumption of information
through applications such as Google
Apps and Office 365 open up wider
opportunities to print. Enterprises and
public sector organisations may prefer a
private cloud deployment that lives within
the firewall, to ensure the security of
sensitive data. Many organisations are now
looking to hybrid clouds that blend the
benefits of private and public clouds, and
solutions such as HP ePrint and Cortado’s
offering provide deployment options for
both types of deployment.
n
MPS.
The benefits of integrating
MPS with mobile printing support should
not be underestimated. A managed print
service reduces the cost, complexity
and risk of operating an unmanaged
print infrastructure. This is achieved
through a process of fleet assessment,
device consolidation, implementation of
document workflow tools and continuous
management. If an organisation is
using MPS and does not extend its
coverage to include mobile printing, it is
essentially opening its print infrastructure
to escalating costs and security risks.
Ensure that an MPS provider can provide
integrated control of desktop and mobile
printing.
n
Mopria certification.
Consider
Mopria-certified models to ensure mobile
print compatibility. Many vendors have
committed to addressing standardisation
around mobile printing. Many next
generation printers will support the Mopria
Print Service for Android. Meanwhile, for
printing from Apple devices, the de facto
standard remains AirPrint, which is now
widely supported by most manufacturers.
To download the full version of
The Mobile Print Enterprise, 2015,
including comparisons of the
different market offerings, please visit
.
MOPRIA
What you need to know
In response to the lack of standards around mobile printing, the Mopria Alliance was
established in late 2013 by Canon, HP, Samsung and Xerox. In February 2014, other vendors,
including Adobe, Brother, Epson and Konica Minolta, joined the alliance.
Mopria aims to align standards that make printing compatible from any mobile device to any printer.
Initially, support is focused on sending print jobs over Wi-Fi connections or ‘tap-to-print’ through near-field
communications (NFC).
Currently conspicuous by its absence is Apple, which has bypassed NFC in its new iPhones in favour of
iBeacon technology, which is based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and has a much longer range than NFC
(tens of metres versus a tenth of a metre).
The alliance aims to:
l
Establish industry standards and ensure their adoption by mobile, printer and OS industry leaders.
l
Support application developers to include print functionality in new applications.
l
Lead innovation and user experience development in the interaction between mobile
and print devices.
l
Provide product certification through the Mopria brand.
l
Educate customers about the ability to print from mobile devices.
To these ends, the Mopria Alliance has developed the Mopria Print Service, a free plug-in currently
available for Android OS (from 4.4) through Google Play. Over 59 million peripherals from different
vendors have been certified so far, including new and legacy models, indicating that they are compatible
with the plug-in.
Today, the Mopria Print Service covers basic printing features for all certified printers, plus some more
advanced features like duplex printing, paper type and ‘add a printer manually’.
Mopria is actively working with handset manufacturers to pre-load the Mopria Print Service on Android-
based devices.
Through the marketing of Mopria-certified devices, Quocirca believes that the Mopria Alliance will drive
awareness of standardisation around mobile printing and help businesses send print jobs from different
mobile devices. However, the lack of involvement from Apple means that much of the investment is around
the Android print subsystem and NFC tap-to-print technology.
...continued
