iPrint lets mobile employees, business partners, and customers access printers from a variety of remote locations using existing Internet connections. Whether users are located in an office building, telecommuting from home, or attending a sales meeting in another country, iPrint ensures that they can print documents quickly, easily, and reliably.
Using a Web browser, users point to a Web page that displays the available printers. By clicking a printer, the iPrint client is installed (if not installed previously), the printer's driver is downloaded, and a printer is created in the user's Printer folder, enabling the user to print to the printer from any application on his or her desktop.
iPrint uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), an industry standard, to eliminate the complexities of printing over the Internet and to make location-based printing a reality.
The benefits of IPP include the following:
For more information about IPP, see the documents available at the Printer Working Group Web site.
In addition to the benefits of IPP, Novell's implementation of iPrint adds the following value:
Using iPrint, mobile users no longer have to hunt down administrators to find out a printer's name and context and the required print driver. Instead, mobile users use a Web browser to locate nearby printers and download and install the latest print drivers. Companies can reduce communication costs by reducing the need to fax documents between offices. Instead, companies can use their existing Internet connections to print documents to remote printers.
For secure printing needs, iPrint integrates with Novell® eDirectoryTM to ensure that only authorized users can access the printer. Users are challenged with their eDirectory username and password. Print data is also encrypted to ensure that sensitive print data is kept secure and unaltered.