The official Australian launch of the product, was held on Thursday August 17, at the up-market Shangri-La Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney and was attended by a keen representation of resellers and printers, with a smattering of press.
At the launch, IPL delivered an actual example of the user interface in action and the Global Print Management network was accessed via an overhead projector for all to see.
By outlining the features of the interface, the IPL staff highlighted the advantages of using the system and the ways in which it can be used by printers to save money and time, as well as to create a better managed work environment.
“I’ve been in the imaging business since 1982 and through all evolutions of it – from impact printing to laser printing, to colour printing and this is probably the biggest paradigm change I’ve seen,” says IPL CEO, Stead Denton.
“It’s the first product that can work on a company’s network and identify every imaging device and tell you the type of machine it is, how old it is, how many copies it’s done in the last day, year and month.And that’s not been possible before, unless it was brand specific,” he explains.
Using a Data Collection Agent loaded onto the customer’s servers, Global Print Management allows the reseller and user to manage the time and expense of imaging device maintenance and toner supply, simply by monitoring key flag levels and alerting resellers when these flag levels are set.
This is done by transferring Management Information Base (MIB) data back to the Global Print Management user’s reseller.
In addition, by enabling Global Print Management and its resellers to monitor printers from all vendors in one simple interface, Global Print Management’s web interface enables both the reseller and customer to track print costs as critical business process, empowering them with information to service their clients.
A similar system has been operating in the US and Canada in the last two years with over 48 000 devices operating on the North American network. So far 21 companies have deployed the print fleet service in Australia, with another 70 companies confirming their intentions to rollout the system before the end of October 2006.
As one of the first of Australian companies to take on the new system, on organisation, St John Ambulance Service has already seen enormous benefits in the first three months of use, with a 30 per cent reduction its print costs and the expectation of a total saving of approximately $ 72, 000 in the first twelve months of use.
According to national sales manager at Oki, Justin Kieseker, the biggest advantages of the system are its visibility and cost reduction for printers.
“The major benefit is visibility we’re giving empowering the user to see what they do and how they do it, he says. “Also costs. If you implement this system you’re looking pretty much at a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in cost almost straight away because there is so much benefit in regards to cost reduction in supply,” he says.
IPL Group’s Global Print Management service is available through its regional sales and marketing offices and its reseller network. The service is free of charge for customers and resellers pay a licence fee to offer the Global Print Management solution.
IPL Group was founded in 1982 by its current CEO Stead Denton to import and distribute computer peripheral products and is comprised of two companies in IPL Datron and IPL Communication.
Today the company is the national distributor for some of the world’s leading manufacturers within the IT&T industry including Oki, Alcatel and Avaya.
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