If your organization has multiple locations and relies on print servers, the chances are good that your printing environment resembles one of two scenarios:
- A centralized print server at the main location that services all branch locations.
- Local print servers at each of the branch locations.
The first printing environment makes it a bit easier to manage printing because all print functionality is consolidated and routed through the central print server—which is generally close to where the primary IT management team is based. But it also introduces several vulnerabilities, chief among them being the WAN connection.
With a centralized print server, any print jobs initiated at remote branches have to first travel across the WAN to the central print server, then back across the WAN to the local printer. If this WAN link fails for any reason during that round trip, so does that print job. Even during day-to-day printing, the overtaxed WAN link can result in sluggish print jobs. The centralized server also introduces a single point of failure throughout the entire printing environment. When that print server goes down, the whole enterprise print environment does too. That can be addressed in part through redundancy, but redundancy is expensive and comes with its own management headaches.
In the second type of printing environment, the vulnerabilities are fewer, but it’s no longer as easy to manage printing across the enterprise. In fact, it’s downright difficult. That’s because having discrete print servers at each location creates fragmentation. This in turn reduces the transparency of the company-wide printing environment and multiplies the burden on the technical and support staff. Instead of dealing with the maintenance and management of a single printing environment, they now have to deal with what are effectively several micro-environments, each with its own distinct needs.
To manage printing in any kind of distributed printing environment without the drawbacks of a centralized print server or multi-site servers, there’s PrinterLogic. Our on-premise print management solution delivers unprecedented flexibility while giving you greater control over your whole printing environment.
How exactly? Well, for starters, PrinterLogic allows you to manage printing anywhere in your organization from a single pane of glass. Using our intuitive web-based administration panel, you can easily deploy printers and drivers to end users in remote sites from a central console in the main location – manually or automatically, all without group policy objects (GPOs) or scripts. From this same console you can also alter printer settings, remove printers, and edit driver profiles. It doesn’t matter if your headquarters is in Tulsa and the remote site is in Saskatchewan. It’s straightforward and consistent to manage printing with PrinterLogic.
PrinterLogic makes it easier on your support staff too. By providing an accessible self-service portal for end users, our next-gen print management solution allows them to easily identify and install nearby printers on their own. There’s no need for them to call the service desk, because now printers can be installed with a single click in any printing environment. There’s even an option to upload floorplan maps to make it easier for them to visually locate their desired printers. This feature is incredibly useful for roaming employees who travel between headquarters and remote sites.
There’s no doubt that multiple locations present several hurdles when you’re looking to manage printing across distributed printing environments. But PrinterLogic’s enterprise printing solution allows you to sail over those hurdles with incredible ease.