Blog - Plus Technologies

Print Servers vs. Output Management Servers

There is a lot of discussion about getting rid of Print Servers in the market today. Print Servers are devices that connect multiple workstations to printers so that the printers can be shared among many users. This is a good thing but print servers are also a burden on IT. They can add considerably to their workload. As a result, there are products are designed to eliminate print servers in order to reduce IT workload.  These products advertise by saying “get rid of print servers.”

Here at Plus Technologies, we want to point out that a print server is not the same as an Output Management Server (OMS). While prints servers connect workstations to printers the purpose of an Output Management system is completely different. Output Management Software provides the delivery of print jobs from their source system (either workstation or backend systems like SAP, Epic, Cerner, Oracle, etc) to the printer itself and ensures the integrity of the print function and its related business processes.

Limited Time Price Discount on OM Plus Fleet Manager (FM)

Plus Technologies is announcing a new pricing program for its OM Plus Fleet Manager (FM) product. When a Managed Services Provider signs up for a 2 year term or longer for the hosted version of OM Plus Fleet Manager (FM), 12 months of usage fees will be waived.

OM Plus FM collects page counts, toner levels and alerts for SNMP network connected printers and managed function devices. Device alerts let the MPS Provider dispatch service in a timely and accurate manner. Scheduled reports show page counts (color and mono) by device usage so that page level billing can be supported. In this situation the device data collector resides at the MSP or customer network to collect the printer data while the database and server resides at Plus technologies hosting center.

OM Plus Complements Printer Definition/Driver Management Systems

There are software tools that help manage end user printer definitions and print drivers.  However, these tools typically require software to be installed on end user workstations and print jobs from the workstation directly to the printer avoiding Windows print servers. The good news is that these solutions can eliminate the need for Windows print servers which add an administrative burden to organizations. The bad news is that these solutions rely on direct IP printing and are missing key features related to the delivery, routing, error recovery, and management of print jobs typically found in output management software (OMS) products like OM Plus Delivery Manager. For this reason, many customers deploy OMS products like OM Plus to provide functions not otherwise available.