New tools smooth interactions among document-management systems and printing devices

Today’s wide range of printing and imaging technologies mean end users can customize their output resources to satisfy almost any document-management system need. The problem with diversity, however, is integration headaches for solution providers responsible for installing the hardware and software and meeting ongoing service level agreements.

Fortunately, a number of tools have arrived from printing and imaging equipment vendors to ease the pain of integration. Ranging from new types of drivers to flexible development platforms, these tools can help solution providers avoid resource-draining tasks that reduce profit margins and increase complexity in document-management projects.

Universal driver

Hewlett-Packard’s Universal Print Driver provides a common interface for all HP PCL5 or HP PostScript emulation-enabled printers on a network. For solution providers, this means an end to searching for and installing unique drivers for each printer and multifunction product (MFP).

The universal driver also reduces manpower requirements when solution providers add new HP devices to customer networks—the new HP devices will automatically support the single driver.

In addition to these integration advantages, the universal driver helps solution partners provide greater security and control of the printing and imaging infrastructure. A tool within the driver, dubbed HP Managed Print Policies (MPPs), lets solution providers set customer policies defining access rights to individual devices or features within the hardware.

Hewlett-Packard distributes the universal driver without charge at www.hp.com/go/universalprintdriver.

Web services solution

Sharp Document Solutions Company of America is building on increasingly popular Web services environments to ease integration challenges between printing devices and enterprise applications, such as document-management and workflow systems.

Sharp’s Open Systems Architecture lets the LCD screens on its MFPs act as a central management console for accessing and controlling printing applications. For solution providers, OSA provides a platform for creating and launching the applications through interface screens based on XHTML and XML versions of the popular HTML markup language.

The combination of XHTML and Web services lets MFPs act like thin clients, devices that end users control to access central resources on a network. Because the printing and imaging applications run on central servers, they’re available to any compatible MFP without requiring solution providers to install the programs on each device.

Applications integrated within the OSA framework configure and control print jobs run by the MFPs using commands based on XML and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), a standard for communicating XML instructions.

Earlier this year, Sharp announced that it would make OSA available free to solution providers and developers.

Java tools

Kyocera Mita America is launching a Java-based development environment for creating applications to run on its MFPs and printers. Called WiseCore, the new platform will help solution providers tailor custom features for customers using document- and workflow-management applications. WiseCore will act as a central manager to control MFP and printer capabilities and security policies. Kyocera Mita will make the new software available to its developers.

WiseCore will offer capabilities similar to the already released Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform (MEAP) from Canon, which provides a framework for developing and integrating document-management applications with the company’s MFPs.

MEAP supports Java J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) application development. MFPs run MEAP-created applications on Java Virtual Machine software. In addition to standard printing, scanning, and copying capabilities, MFPs can use MEAP applications for data encryption, status alerts, and user-interface commands.