What does your corporate printing environment look like? Do you have a lot of different printers? Are they spread out over many locations? Maybe you have print servers too.

Here’s the good news. Your print environment isn’t unique. Many companies have a big mix of print hardware.

But not all the news is good. Diverse hardware can lead to problems. The variety is hard to support. For instance, more printer models leads to more printer drivers. That gives IT more to manage.

As a result, corporate printing can get messy. And it can also be more expensive.

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) can make the problem even worse.

VDI environments are perfect for many companies. Especially if they have remote or mobile employees. It’s a win–win for both IT and end users. Why? Because it makes computing easier. Everyone gets to be more flexible.

However, virtual desktop printing can be tricky. Local printers aren’t always recognized. So companies turn to VDI printing solutions. But those solutions often force them to use print servers.

In other words, VDI adds more moving parts. Even though it’s supposed to make things simpler.

 

A VDI printing solution that eliminates print servers

PrinterLogic changes that. With PrinterLogic, VDI and corporate printing can stop working against each other. Instead they can start working together.

Our serverless printing infrastructure is different from other VDI printing solutions. Here are some key ways:

• PrinterLogic doesn’t try to replace VDI printing. It improves the functionality that’s already there.
• It combines centralized management with direct-IP printing. That’s how PrinterLogic is able to eliminate print servers.
• PrinterLogic is all about ease of use. For example, it’s easy for users to install printers by themselves. And it’s easy for IT to manage.

 

Case in point: RC Willey

RC Willey is a large home-furnishings retailer. The company started in Utah in 1950. Later it expanded to several states. Its IT environment is mostly thin clients. It also has heavy corporate printing demands. Stores need to print invoices and reports every day.

After years of frustration, RC Willey chose PrinterLogic as its VDI printing solution. The IT department migrated the printing environment in under two hours. Furthermore, they now enjoy these benefits:

• Better print management. The IT team is saving 80 hours per driver change.
• No “ghost” printers. Old printers used to build up on the thin clients. Now IT can quickly clear and replace old printers.
• Easy location-based printing. PrinterLogic can deploy printers based on IP addresses. End users get local printers automatically.

The company also supported some users with a centralized print server. PrinterLogic made it possible for them to eliminate it. By eliminating print servers, you save more than just money. You also save time and headache.

Check out the full case study here.

 

PrinterLogic: A solution for everyone

Like most print environments, RC Willey’s case isn’t unique. They had many of the same corporate printing issues as everyone else. VDI just added to the challenge.

PrinterLogic is a single printing solution to all those problems.

For cloud-first companies, it’s available as a SaaS version. It’s also available as a Virtual Appliance. Both versions are great VDI printing solutions. Above all, both versions make life easier on end users and admins.

Although breakups can be hard, we always love to see companies urging people to part ways with their print servers. We’ve been showing enterprises how to do that for a decade. For PrinterLogic, “Eliminate print servers!” is a battle cry we’ve been sounding for years.

And now that enterprise software giants like Microsoft are starting to break up with print servers, it’s a good time to look at solutions like Microsoft Universal Print and answer some important questions.

• Does Universal Print and it’s features meet the demands of modern enterprise organizations?
• How does Universal Print differ from a true SaaS print management solution?
• Does it bring high availability to print environments?
• Can it provide platform-agnostic print management?

 

It’s Tied to Microsoft’s 365 ecosystem

Universal Print requires organizations to commit to Microsoft’s 365 cloud platform (formerly Office 365). They also have to be Windows 10 Enterprise or Education customers running the latest build. And they need to be using Azure AD too. That’s an awful lot of boxes to check. 

Some cutting-edge companies might meet all those criteria off the bat. However, it also means that they’re tied to that ecosystem for the foreseeable future. In modern workplaces where flexibility is key, that’s not ideal.

PrinterLogic’s print-management software is platform agnostic. You can certainly use it to leverage all the benefits of Azure AD or Windows 10. But you’re not locked into either one.

 

WAN-dependent availability

The Achilles heel of many cloud-based printing solutions is the WAN. If there’s no Internet connection, computers and printers can’t talk to the cloud. If they can’t talk to the cloud, no one can print. Microsoft Universal Print isn’t immune to that limitation.

In fact, its FAQ explicitly states that Universal Print is not for high-availability scenarios.

By contrast, PrinterLogic SaaS uses a direct IP print management model. Workstation clients relay their jobs directly to printers. So even if the WAN goes down, all of your users can print without interruption. You get more uptime from less infrastructure.

 

Print job data doesn’t stay local

Print availability isn’t the only WAN-related drawback. Another problem with Universal Print’s approach is that print data has to cross the WAN to reach it. That means every single print job leaves your local network to get queued in Microsoft 365 data storage.

On top of being a serious security risk, that can really slow printing speeds. It also forces print traffic to fight for WAN bandwidth. That can lead to all your vital cloud traffic bottlenecking at the WAN.

With PrinterLogic SaaS, print jobs remain safely on the LAN. Furthermore, there’s no centralized print queue. That adds security by completely removing an easy, data-rich target for malicious actors.

 

A limited feature set…

For now, Universal Print is still in its preview phase. As a result, it’s missing important features like pull printing and mobile printing. There are also no badge release options for secure printing. In other words, it’s a few steps backward for companies that have been working to lock down and modernize their print environments.

PrinterLogic, on the other hand, has had functionality like advanced reporting, versatile secure release printing and easy-to-use mobile printing for years. There’s even a self-service portal for one-click printer installation. All these are mature features that tap into the inherent strengths of our serverless print management.

 

… and equally limited driver management

Because Microsoft Universal Print is so new, the promise of easy driver management is just that—a promise. Currently, only select Canon printers can claim to have “Universal Print Ready” status. Support for other makes and models of MFPs remains to be seen.

That’s not the case with PrinterLogic SaaS. It has a single repository that consolidates all the drivers in your print environment. Using PrinterLogic’s centralized Admin Console, IT staff can add, remove, update and even roll back printer drivers across the organization. And it works with any printer.

 

PrinterLogic is a true SaaS printing solution

While we’re psyched to see companies like Microsoft moving beyond on-prem print servers, Universal Print still carries a lot of legacy baggage.

Over a decade ago, PrinterLogic looked to the future to start building the next generation of printing. We’ve been empowering IT pros with centralized print management—plus plenty of other advanced features—without the need for print servers ever since.

If you’re looking for a proven, enterprise-grade direct IP printing solution, PrinterLogic SaaS should be top of your list. Why? Because your print management solution should create new possibilities—not lock you in or tie you down.

Around the world, we’re in a period of massive change. To say that the modern workforce is adapting is the understatement of the year. As employees slowly return into the office, there’s more interest in dynamic workplace models like hoteling. Those new models create new challenges for IT.

First, let’s answer an important question: What exactly is hoteling?

 

What is hoteling?

Hoteling is a form of desk sharing. It’s based on the idea of how hotels assign rooms to their guests. In a hoteling workspace, employees don’t have a permanent desk. Instead they reserve desks in advance based on the days they plan to be in the office.

A variant of hoteling is the “hot desk.” That’s more like a first-come-first-served model.

Understandably, the shared office desk approach is already popular with companies that have highly mobile workforces. Today, however, more and more employees are working from home part-time. Therefore, traditional organizations are eyeing the benefits of hoteling workspaces too.

 

What does hoteling mean for IT?

Like anything that involves roaming users, hoteling can present challenges for IT. One tricky area is printing. If you have mobile workers, getting printers to those users can be like trying to deliver a package to a moving target.

In other words, it can be hit or miss. And when you miss, that’s when the support tickets flood in.

Some IT departments try to solve things with the “throw everything at the wall” approach. That involves giving users access to every possible printer they might come across.

Unfortunately, that can backfire. For starters, it can present users with too much choice. It’s easy for them to select the wrong device and send their print job to a distant printer. Furthermore, it can lead to driver problems if there are different printer models.

But careful control of printer deployments rarely works either. What happens when a mobile worker suddenly moves to a shared office desk on a different floor? Or in a brand-new location? They probably won’t be able to access the local printer. Cue the angry call to the helpdesk.

One thing is for sure, though. Print servers simply don’t make the cut. They’re legacy technology designed for static workplace models. And with so many users moving around, GPOs and scripts are clumsy, inefficient tools.

At the same time, a legacy direct IP printing model doesn’t make sense for hoteling. Every single printer change requires time-consuming, manual intervention. That leads to a never-ending management workload.

 

Mobile printing is ideal for hoteling

Clearly, old school printing methods make it hard to support your mobile workers. But that doesn’t mean hoteling is out of reach. Or that you’re doomed to spend the next decade drowning in support tickets.

PrinterLogic’s serverless printing infrastructure makes it easy to handle all the moving targets in a hoteling environment. Its centrally managed direct IP printing platform is unique, secure and flexible. As a result, it avoids the pitfalls of both print servers and legacy direct IP.

Here are some of the ways PrinterLogic and its mobile printing solution support today’s changing workplace:

• Native iOS and Android printing. End users can print right from their popular smartphones and tablets.
• Location-based deployments. Automatically get printers to users based on IP address or advanced AD/IdP criteria. No scripts or GPOs needed.
• Self-service portal. No printer? No problem. Users can install nearby printers by just clicking on a floor plan map.
• The power of the cloud. Using the PrinterLogic SaaS admin console, IT can manage printers and users from anywhere. And with almost instant effect. 
• Effortless migration. Moving to PrinterLogic’s next-gen platform is quick and seamless. An automated migration tool imports existing printer objects, queues and settings.

PrinterLogic takes the pain out of supporting or shifting to a hoteling or hot desk model. As your users return to the office, you can be sure they’re getting the printers they need based on their current location and workspace. That will make life way easier on roaming users as well as IT.

PrinterLogic’s Self-Installation Portal addresses this longstanding flaw of enterprise printing. It empowers your end users and simplifies the installation process for employees. And that’s true no matter how many sites or employees your organization has. As a matter of fact, this is where the simplicity and scalability of PrinterLogic truly shine.

As an admin, you can easily deploy printers to Active Directory users. Our print management solution lets you also deploy to computers, groups, containers, organizational units, or even entire ranges of IP addresses. From there, you can:

• Provide a single consistent printer installation portal across your entire enterprise
• Upload floor plan maps to enable self-service printer installation for remote employees

Suddenly, no more manual installs. The Self-Installation Portal empowers users to browse available printers, select the closest one, and then install that printer with a single click. It’s an intuitive, uniform, and secure experience no matter where they happen to be. Enterprise printing suddenly becomes about as complex as visiting a website. With that kind of ease, it’s no wonder why PrinterLogic’s enterprise customers revealed that 77% of them saw at least a 30% reduction in service desk calls.

More impressive still is that 62% of those customers saw a reduction in service desk calls by more than 50%. Even better: 41% saw a reduction of greater than 70%, while 15% saw a reduction of more than 90%.

Imagine that—a 90% reduction in service desk calls! Just think of the time and cost savings you’d achieve with even as little as a 10% or 20% reduction.

What is the purpose of a print audit?

• Provide greater visibility into your print infrastructure and activity
• Help you to understand how printers are used across different locations and departments
• Improve security and contributes to effective risk management
• Ensure compliance requirements are being met

• Shows you exactly where you could be saving time and money
• Reveals “unseen” corporate printing habits—both good and bad
• Quantifies waste and environmental impact
• Lays the groundwork for an efficient, practical print strategy moving forward

1. Identify how each specific printer is used (ask the who, what, when, where and why).
2. Rank printing usage by department and even down to individual employees.
3. Calculate the total annual cost spent on printing (toner, upgrades, maintenance, etc.).
4. Use this info plus IT input to determine weak spots in your print infrastructure.

• Automatically generate and distribute detailed reports on printing by department or location for a specified time period.
• Set up PrinterLogic to calculate real-world printing costs based on printer data.
• Capture extensive information on print jobs or printer usage and import it into your existing BI tools.
• Track print activity down to the user and device across your entire organization with PrinterLogic’s web-based admin console.
• Gain a clearer picture of your print environment for guiding printer consolidation, identifying security risks and implementing cost-saving initiatives.

It’s tempting to think of corporate security mostly in terms of locking things down: restricting access, closing loopholes, patching vulnerabilities. Those are the necessary steps you take to reduce potential exploits before they happen.

Another crucial aspect of security is oversight. That’s a more active, interventional way to catch suspicious activity.

To give an example, your car has locks on its doors. But those locks don’t care who’s using the keys. The pivotal moment comes when an observer says, “Hey, that’s Jeff’s car. So why is that stranger unlocking it? I’d better figure out what’s going on.”

The same applies to corporate printing. An employee might have perfectly legitimate access to a certain printer. Yet, if you notice them printing unusually large jobs at odd hours, something could definitely be amiss. That’s where oversight comes into play.

Through centralized print administration, your organization can get the unified oversight it needs to create a more efficient and secure printing environment. Centralization doesn’t just tighten control. It also offers easier print monitoring in even the most distributed organizations.

How serverless printing enables centralized print administration

PrinterLogic’s serverless printing infrastructure allows you to centralize print administration in your organization while eliminating print servers at the same time. That means more oversight with less infrastructure.

How does our next-gen enterprise software do this? By moving beyond traditional approaches to corporate printing. Instead of relying on print servers to do the heavy lifting, PrinterLogic establishes direct IP connections between clients and printers. The web-based admin console then lets authorized IT staff manage all of those printer objects and settings from a single pane of glass.

Using the console, admins can update (or roll back) drivers and configure changes directly on user endpoints. With print servers eliminated, those changes can be carried out in real time. Furthermore, printing is more robust when it’s based on direct IP, and centralized management makes the entire environment feel much more cohesive—even if it’s a broad mix of printers and client devices.

Increased visibility through advanced reporting

In addition to its powerful admin console, PrinterLogic also offers advanced reporting. This is a print auditing and monitoring feature that increases visibility over the entire corporate printing environment.

Advanced reporting enhances centralized print administration by keeping tabs on things like print job metadata and SNMP status. That information gives admins a better understanding of how often printers are being used and for what. They can see details right down to the user and printer level.

What’s more, PrinterLogic makes that data accessible as well as actionable. Print job metadata can be integrated with your organization’s existing BI tools, and information on consumables usage or print activity can be emailed to department heads and decision-makers at specified intervals. You can use it to curb wasteful printing or as the basis for a secure printing initiative.

Secure release printing with PrinterLogic

Of course, any secure printing initiative ought to include secure release printing. The Secure Print Analysis report from HP found that almost 90 percent of enterprise businesses have suffered at least one data loss because of unsecured printing. Secure release printing helps to combat data loss by adding an authentication step to some or all print jobs.

PrinterLogic makes it super easy for organizations to incorporate that into their corporate printing strategy. Any network printer—even legacy devices—can be configured for secure release printing in PrinterLogic’s admin control. And for even more convenience, there’s the option to use multiple release methods: PrinterLogic’s Print Release App, badge/card release, the printer’s control panel and more.

More oversight, more control, less effort

Iowa’s Northwest Area Education Agency (AEA) turned to PrinterLogic SaaS when it wanted a single cloud-based solution that would do all of the above. That meant centralizing print administration, leveraging advanced reporting and implementing secure printing in a mixed-OS environment.

With print servers and conventional direct IP, those targets were impossible. But with PrinterLogic, Northwest AEA was able to hit every one of them. The organization now has more oversight and more control over its print environment—but with far less investment of time and resources in day-to-day print administration. You can read the case study here.

Almost a decade ago, my Co-Founder and I established PrinterLogic with the mission to eliminate print servers off the face of the earth. Between our work and the general advancement of enterprise IT architectures, eliminating print servers from any modern IT environment has become table stakes and we’re proud to be the clear market leader in our space. 

In 2016, we introduced the concept of a Serverless Printing Infrastructure (SPI) via a modern SaaS deployment. The SPI model not only eliminates print servers, it eliminates all servers needed for an enterprise print management architecture and enhances the capabilities of your current printing infrastructure. By doing this we set a new standard for enterprise print management and established the core requirements to implement a serverless printing infrastructure. A true SPI solution must include the following:

• Modern SaaS architecture
• Seamless IT infrastructure integration
• User-Based Security
• Off-Network/Zero Trust Worker Enablement

The details in the delivery of each of these components will play a critical role in your ability to successfully bring a modern serverless printing infrastructure to your business. Some of these attributes provide long-established core functionality, others update your print infrastructure to keep pace with your current IT strategy, and many will future-proof your print management investment well into the coming years.

Over the next couple of months–through blogs, podcasts, videos, and slides–I’ll detail the key tenets of each SPI component through my own thought leadership as well as interviews with industry experts and top PrinterLogic leaders. I look forward to engaging with your questions and challenges as we outline the SPI components and clearly define the standards of a modern direct IP enterprise print management platform.

PrinterLogic, the world leader in Serverless Printing Infrastructure (SPI), has announced General Availability of Version 1 of its integrations with the cloud-based IdPs Okta and Azure AD. For PrinterLogic SaaS customers, this release provides support for SAML 2.0-based federated authentication. 

PrinterLogic gives organizations the ability to eliminate print servers and provides a centrally managed direct IP print infrastructure. PrinterLogic publishes two distinct web pages and installs a client on end-user workstations to communicate with the server and facilitate printing.

To function properly all these elements have the need for user authentication and authorization. This blog explains where the integration points are.

No more Active Directory

The PrinterLogic web-based Admin Console enables administrators to centrally manage both printer and driver deployments by users and groups. This console supports role-based access control (RBAC) so admins have access rights only to the information they need. Traditionally, PrinterLogic SaaS has relied on Active Directory and LDAP to authenticate admins and automate deployment of printers to end users.

PrinterLogic’s Self-service Installation Portal enables end users to perform routine printer installs by themselves with a single click, and traditionally relies on their AD identity to grant them access to only the printers they are allowed to install.

Windows and Mac clients also traditionally rely on the user’s AD identity to perform their tasks such as installing and removing printers and/or new profiles.

What is a cloud-based IdP?

Cloud-based IdPs allow IT admins to deliver SaaS applications securely and to the right person. Identity management also supports Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) and Single Sign-on (SSO). 

Authentication and Authorization are both common terms in the world of Identity and Access Management (IAM). Cloud-based IdP is a subset of this larger IAM market space.

Authentication is the act of validating that users are who they claim to be, while Authorization is the process of giving the user permission to access a specific resource or function. Authorization is often used interchangeably with Access Control or Client Privilege.

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is an XML-based standard used for exchanging authentication and authorization data between an IdP and a Service Provider (SP). The SP is typically a cloud-based application, and in Figure 1 below the SP is PrinterLogic.

In an SSO system, a user logs in once to the system and can access multiple systems without being prompted to sign in for each one.

PrinterLogic SaaS support for IdP

PrinterLogic SaaS is part of the Okta Integration Network (OIN) as both a SAML- and Provisioning-enabled Application. It is also part of the Microsoft Azure App Gallery. 

Online documentation is available for Azure AD and Okta to help IT teams configure PrinterLogic for integration with these services.

Figure 1 illustrates the integration between PrinterLogic SaaS and a cloud-based IdP.

Figure 1: Integration between PrinterLogic SaaS and a Cloud-based IdP.

How IdPs and PrinterLogic work together

The flow of communication between the the IdP and PrinterLogic is as follows:

1. The end user logs into PrinterLogic SaaS Self Service Portal via a web browser.
2. PrinterLogic SaaS generates a SAML authentication request and redirects the browser to the IdP’s SSO portal.
3. The end user enters their credentials and requests authentication from the IdP.
4. The IdP parses the SAML request and authenticates the end user.
5. The IdP generates an encoded SAML response and returns it to PrinterLogic SaaS.
6. PrinterLogic SaaS authorizes the client and grants access to the Self Service Portal.

There are two separate sign-in flows through which authentication can be handled by SAML, both of which are supported by PrinterLogic SaaS. 

1. The first known as an SP-initiated flow, occurs when the user attempts to sign in to a SAML-enabled SP via its login page. Instead of prompting the user to enter a password, an SP that has been configured to use SAML will redirect the user to the IdP which will then handle the authentication and redirect the user back to the SP as a verified user.
2. The second flow is known as an IdP-initiated flow. This occurs when the user logs into the IdP and launches the SP application by clicking its icon from their home page. If the user has an account on the SP side, they will be authenticated as a user of the application and will generally be delivered to its default landing page, which in the case of PrinterLogic is the Self-service Installation Portal page.

PrinterLogic SaaS IdP integration also supports the System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM), which allows for the automation of user provisioning. When changes to identities are made in the IdP, including create, update, and delete, they are automatically synced to the SP in real-time according to the SCIM protocol.

A look at Version 1’s functionalities

Version 1 of IdP integration supports the following core functionalities of PrinterLogic SaaS:

• Support for Windows and Mac workstations
• Access to the Admin Console and full RBAC
• Full Reporting
• Deployments by User or Group
• Portal Security by User or Group
• User login via IdP Website
• Adding/Removing IdP Groups
• Adding/Removing IdP Users

Version 2 of the PrinterLogic IdP integration will support Secure Printing while Version 3 will support the Mobile Printing modules. These updates will be automatically delivered to PrinterLogic SaaS customers later in 2020.

Support for Google Cloud Identity is also set for later in 2020, which combined with the recent release of the PrinterLogic Chrome OS Client Extension, will provide a robust solution for Chrome OS printing and give enterprises a uniform print experience independent of end user operating systems.

Seamless integration with PrinterLogic

PrinterLogic SaaS now integrates seamlessly with leading cloud-based IdPs, ensuring customers secure, appropriate and convenient user access to cloud-based networks and applications. Organizations already standardized on a cloud-based IdP can confidently take advantage of PrinterLogic’s infrastructure reduction, centralized printer management, and secure print benefits.

You can start a PrinterLogic SaaS trial here. For more information on IdP, see our Printerlogic-IdP integration FAQ here.

To talk with someone at PrinterLogic in North America, phone 1. 435.652.1288. Click here for international contact information.

Among IT professionals, it’s no secret that printers represent an overlooked security threat. When the research firm Quocirca surveyed 240 enterprise organizations across the United States, the UK, France and Germany for its 2018 report on managed print services, around half of the respondents stated that print security was part of their overall information security strategy.

If just US respondents were singled out, that number rose to 70%.

Strangely, though, only 30% of all the respondents claimed to be fully confident that their print infrastructure was safeguarded against internal and external threats.

In other words, despite understanding the importance of secure print management and secure printing, the vast majority acknowledged their enterprise print environment was still at risk. What explains that gap between awareness and action in print security?

Security pain points in a typical environment

Printers are among the most widely used devices in any organization. Regardless of your preferred printing solutions, printers are accessed by every department, every employee and even automated systems. That constant, widespread access increases the security risks surrounding sensitive documents.

Yet the need for constant, widespread access also makes the print environment tough to lock down. Print management is hard enough without all kinds of additional security measures in place. If you do try to implement more secure printing, end users who find themselves inconvenienced are either going to pester the help desk or, worse, find a (non-secure) workaround.

For IT admins, that seems like a lose–lose scenario.

Preserving the status quo is the path of least resistance, yet it leaves the print environment vulnerable. On the other hand, increasing print security using conventional printing solutions is bound to create more print management overhead. It’s also likely to leave end users unhappy or compel them to undermine the security you’ve worked so hard to implement.

It’s still absolutely crucial to harden print security

The bottom line is this: No matter what the challenges, sidelining print security just isn’t an option. The costs of data breaches are huge, and the exposure vectors are everywhere:

• Human error: Employees frequently print documents and then forget to retrieve them. That leaves sensitive information sitting in the output tray for anyone to see—or take to a competitor.
• Outdated print architectures: Legacy printing solutions like print servers store print jobs in a common queue. If hackers gain access to the queue, they gain access to every job in it.
• Halfhearted security measures: Print security is all or nothing. Any loophole will be exploited. But that also means admins have an obligation to make secure printing a natural, seamless part of their end users’ workflows.

It takes a next-generation printing solution to overcome longstanding, universal shortcomings like these.

Secure printing through serverless printing

Secure release printing from PrinterLogic leverages the strengths of our serverless printing infrastructure so that it’s simple to deploy and manage, user friendly and cost-effective. That’s because PrinterLogic eliminates print servers and all their vulnerabilities while enhancing ease of use for admins and end users too.

With PrinterLogic, pretty much any networked printer can be turned into a secure release printer. If you have an existing badge or ID card swipe system, PrinterLogic can easily integrate with your hardware readers to release secure print jobs. Alternatively, users can authenticate using the printer’s embedded control panel or our Print Release App for iOS and Android smartphones.

EPIC Management implemented PrinterLogic with a view to simplifying print management as well as streamlining the tightly controlled printing of electronic medical records (EMR). Today this California-based MSP is able to better serve its customers by providing them with the ability to print protected health information (PHI) easily, reliably and securely. Read the case study here.

Leave the flaws of traditional printing solutions behind and give PrinterLogic’s secure printing a test run—along with all its other amazing functionality—in your own organization. Sign up now and you’ll be able to demo our serverless printing infrastructure free of charge for 30 days.

By now you’ve heard that Google Cloud Print is on its way out, but at PrinterLogic we’ve developed the perfect migration option for you. The new PrinterLogic Chrome OS Client Extension empowers you to centrally manage direct IP printing for Chromebook users alongside Windows, Mac, and Linux. This means you can deliver a Serverless Printing Infrastructure with a single management interface and avoid sending your print jobs to the cloud. Since PrinterLogic licensing is not user-based, there is no additional cost required to deploy this to Chrome OS users. 

So let’s talk about what it looks like to migrate from Google Cloud Print to centrally managed direct IP printing for Chromebook. 

Step 1: Deploy PrinterLogic’s Client Extension to Chromebooks using G-Suite

Here’s the part where we start to migrate from Google Cloud Print. PrinterLogic will provide you with a Chrome OS client extension that you can push out to your Chromebooks through your Google Admin Console. Any G-Suite license will work to push out the extension. After you push this extension out, you have all the pieces in place to manage printers on Chromebooks. 

Step 2: Deploy Printers To Chromebook Users

Through PrinterLogic’s SaaS admin interface, IT admins can setup printer deployment rules that will automatically deploy printers to Chromebooks when users login. Existing Google Cloud Print printers will be silently converted to direct IP printers and made available to end user’s per existing auto-deployments. End-users can also be empowered to self-install printers through the Chrome OS client extension. Users can find printers they need and install them without having to call the helpdesk. Printers are deployed locally to the Chromebook and print jobs are rendered and sent directly to the printer. 

Step 3: Keep Print Jobs on the Local Network

You are now ready to print directly to printers without sending print jobs to the cloud. Chromebook users won’t even notice anything changed—they can continue to print using the native Chrome OS printing interface, but now the print jobs will be spooled locally and sent directly to the printer. No more cloud printing, and no print servers required. 

 

With PrinterLogic, migrating from Google Cloud Print is a simple, painless experience. You’ll have everything you love about Chrome OS, as well as one centralized print management platform for all your users, regardless of their operating system.  

If you aren’t a PrinterLogic SaaS customer your migration from Google Cloud Print is simple. Spin up a SaaS instance today by clicking here.